The company was founded in 1959, being renamed as "Takamine Gakki Ltd." in 1962. In 1978 they were one of the first companies to introduce acoustic-electric models, where they pioneered the design of the preamplifier-equalizer component.
The name comes from Mount Takamine located in Nakatsugawa.
While primarily known for acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars, Takamine produced a limited run of high quality solid bodyelectric guitars in the early to mid 1980s.[citation needed] These are the GX100 (Gibson Explorer body style), GX200 (proprietary type body style similar to a Stratocaster, stop tailpiece bridge), GX200-T or TB, (same as GX200 only with a tremolo bridge), GZ300 (proprietary design), and GZ340 (proprietary design). The GX200 and GZ340 contain factory DiMarzio made pickups.[citation needed]
Old logo
New logo
1978 F-340
EG523SC
The Takamine EG523SC came with a clear finish Spruce top and flame maple back and sides. On top is a TK-40 pickup with a tuner and equalizer powered by a 9V battery.[citation needed]
In the early 1980s, Martin Guitars issued a letter asserting that the Takamine F-340 and other models featured a logo design that was allegedly nearly identical to their own.[1] According to Chris F. Martin IV, CEO of CF Martin and Company, in a speech given to the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum members on 8 August 2005, no lawsuit was ever actually filed, and Takamine did change the appearance of their guitar logo.[citation needed]
Every year since 1987, Takamine has produced a Limited Edition Guitar model, limited to a few hundred guitars for worldwide distribution. These guitars have come with the company's latest pickup-preamplifier combination and decorative inlays, often with motifs based on nature or astronomical phenomena.[2][full citation needed]
Takamine also manufactured flamenco guitar models in the 1980s and 1990s: FG-136S and FGD-136S. The latter had a built in pickup and EQ. The FGD-136S model was famous as it was used by the French Gipsy Kings flamenco group. Both guitars are identical in construction featuring fine grained cedar top and cypress back and sides.
