I play a twenty-year old Takamine EF 375 SW. This guitar was one of the first high-quality acoustic
guitars that Takamine produced. Now, of course, they are well-known for producing quality acoustics but before, in the
ealy '80's they just dominated the mid quality range. They produced a solid top, rosewood guitar that was affordable
with decent tone, good action and good tuners. What they didn't have was respect. These guitars were still known
as transitional instruments, something you bought when you couldn't quite aford a "good" guitar.
Then they made the 375 SW. They made a 375 previously but without the extra details. The EF 375 SW is a Martin
D-35 copy. I have always loved the Martin D-35; I prefer a bound fingerboard as opposed to the unbound fingerboard of the
D-28, and the three pice back looks nice. In the (then) new EF 375 SW they made the bindings wood and the position dots
wood as well. It came with stock wood pegs but these have since changed over the last twenty years. My guitar
has the three-piece back along with jacaranda rosewood on the back and sides. A Sitka spruce top and pear bindings and
position dots, along with a rosewood fingerboard that has nickel silver frets. It has a hidden adjustable tension rod
and a pre-amp with on slider and a battery you access through the soundhole when you change strings. Though the pre-amp
has a battery the electronics are not active (weird , huh?). The saddle and the nut are made of bone.
12 years ago I left my guitar in the trunk of my car and the when the temperature changed from cold to hot the strings
ripped off the bridge. Living in Oklahoma at that time who could I go to besides the legendary Don Teeter. (Don
Teeter is also the author of a well-known repair series, Acoustic Guitar, Vols. I and II [out of print]). He
popped that sucker back to me in less than a week and you couldn't even tell it had been damaged.
"Wow Don, you can't even tell it got pulled off!"
"Well son, that's why you took it to ME, right?"
He charged me 45 bucks. Well worth it. I don't think Don works on guitars anymore, a great loss for guitar
players everywhere.
Don also told me he had never worked on a guitar with a Takamine pick-up. "
That looked and sounded real nice. Never had to deal with one of those before. Learn something new everyday."
I had my guitar worked on in Tulsa; I was getting a slight crack in the soundboard and I wanted it shored up so it wouldn't
continue splitting. Too much thrash acoustic. I took it to a guy (I can't remember his name) who had a shop called "Sunrise
Guitars" or something like that. He shored up the top fine enough but when I asked for some new wood pegs he said he
had four rosewood and two ebony pegs. He said he could put the two ebony pegs on the end. "Great" I replied and
he did that. Trouble is, he didn't tell me that the ebony pegs weren't sized for my holes and he drilled the holes out
wider. My pick up has been screwed ever since.
When the pick up fritzs out I have to bang on the guitar to fritz it back. When I am playing a gig and it does
this I have to bang in rhythm so I don't break the mood of the song.
One of the position dots has sunk in and the knobs on the old pre-amp have gone to who-knows-where, I have a variety
of scratches (I only remember the first one, a big gash on the back) and I need a fret job.
Still the guitar sounds GREAT! Truly I have been blessed to have a fine instrument. Tatsuya Oe of Japan (Captain
Funk) used my guitar for one of his albums "Song of the Siren" (Sublime Records) one of the Top 50 albums of the year in 2001.
I wish I were on one of the Top Albums of the Year and not just my guitar.
