Takamine (guitar manufacturer)

Takamine Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Formerly	Ohzone Musical Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Company type	Private
Industry	Musical Instruments
Founded	1959 (1959) in Sakashita, Gifu
Headquarters	Nakatsugawa , Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Yuki Tate (representative director) Mass Hirade (former president)
Products	Acoustic & classical guitars Acoustic basses Ukuleles Preamplifiers Pickups Transducers
Total equity	¥30.000.000 million (2025)
Number of employees	90
Website	takamine.com

Takamine Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. (株式会社 高峰楽器製作所, Kabushiki-gaisha Takamine Gakki Seisakusho, pronounced [takaꜜminé] ta-ka-mee-ne) is a Japanese guitar manufacturer based in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan. It's considered to be one of the world's major brands of steel-string acoustic guitars.

In 1978, it was of the first guitar companies to introduce acoustic-electric models, where they pioneered the design of the preamplifier-equalizer component by introducing its signature "Palathetic Pickup".

History

Originally founded in December of 1959 as "Ozone Musical Instruments", named after its Nagoya-based founder, Ozone, the formerly small family-run shop soon had to leave town after nearly being destroyed when Typhoon Vera passed by the region. Having his new shop located in the town of Sakashita at a viewing distance of Mount Takamine mountain, Ohzone was inspired to rename the company "Takamine Musical Instruments Co., Ltd." in May 1962 when the small business started to show signs of growth in the local market.

Before the turn of the decade, the company had already established itself as a leading builder of mandolins and classical guitars at a national level, expanding its size to 60 employees. The year 1968 saw the arrival of the master luthier Mass Hirade, the innovator responsible for massive improvements in design and manufacturing processes.

In 1975, Hirade became Takamine’s president and worked to realize his vision of expanding the company’s audience to a wider international market. By the early 1970s, Takamine partnered with American distributor KMCMusicorp (then named Karman Music), broadening Takamine's overseas reach. In 1977, guitarist Glenn Frey of Eagles famously used an EF400S 12-string model to record the iconic intro to the song "Hotel California", which instantly became one of the band's biggest hits.

Just one year later, in 1978, the company would introduce its signature Palathetic pickup, a proprietary under-saddle piece composed of six separate, fully shielded piezo transducers, one for each string, the piezos are outfitted under the bridge plate and make contact with the saddle via metal cylinders. The pickup, which is still currently produced with essentially the same design as when it was introduced, has become a staple on its Japanese-made instruments that allowed the company to become an industry trailblazer, aiming to satisfy the need for musicians of the time to reliably amplify their acoustic guitars at arena concerts that were constantly growing in size and loudness. Guitarist Ry Cooder was one of the first musicians to get a hold of the earliest prototypes of the product, which continued to develop the preamp following Cooder's personal feedback.

The next decade saw the introductions of preamp technology: The AAP model pioneered parametric equalization, and the DSP model -designed by Korg- included reverb effects and allowed the user to create and save presets. In 1987, Takamine would introduce yet another staple of the company’s products, the "Limited Edition" series: A small yearly run of a few hundred meticulously crafted guitars by the most qualified in-house builders, these instruments are fitted with state-of-the-art electronics and exotic, intricate decorative inlays, each year sporting a different model, color, and overall theme, with motifs often based on nature or astronomical phenomena.

While primarily known for acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars, Takamine produced a limited run of high-quality solid-body electric guitars and electric basses in the early to mid-1980s. Though there is a somewhat limited amount of information about these products -compared to their acoustic counterparts-, it is known that some of these guitars had bodies that evoked the iconic shapes of Fender Stratocasters and Gibson Explorers, with some high-end models sporting DiMarzio-made pickups, Floyd Rose or Kahler tremolos, and Gotoh tuners.

In the 1990s, Takamine's position as a major force in the international musical market in the coming decades led to collaborations with artists like country star Garth Brooks, singer-songwriter Steve Wariner, and multi-instrumentalist John Jorgenson, resulting in Takamine’s first signature models. In 1993 the company’s factory introduced laser-guided CNC machinery that added to Takamine’s known prowess in intricate inlay work, in the next few years the Supernatural, Nashville, Tradition, and Hirade models would be introduced.

The G-Series models would soon be introduced, aiming to offer affordable instruments manufactured outside of Japan built under Takamine's rigorous quality standards bearing the brand's name, available in all different body shapes, woods, and finishes as the Japan-made instruments, featuring simpler proprietary pre-amplifiers.

The turn of the millennium saw the brand once again embracing both innovations, with the introduction of the CT ("Cool Tubes") tube-powered preamp family; and tradition, by opening a new main state-of-the-art factory and HQ in its hometown of Sakashita, where it currently resides since 2005. Signature models endorsed by Kenny Chesney and previously mentioned long-time Takamine artist Glen Frey ere also introduced.

Since March 2015, Takamine's US-American distribution has been handled by fellow Japanese guitar company ESP Guitars.

"Lawsuit Era"

As with many Japanese-based musical brands at the time, Takamine borrowed designs and shapes from other brands before developing its own original visual identity and catalog. In Takamine's case, they used headstock and logo designs that looked similar to ones created by established American brands such as Martin and Guild.

Takamine’s use of Martin’s trademark headstock design led Martin to send a cease-and-desist letter. Takamine steel-strings with squared-off headstocks are known as “lawsuit guitars,” even though there was never any litigation (the term most likely is a reference to a 1977 lawsuit filed by Gibson against Ibanez for infringing on their headstock design). To distance its guitars from Martin and other American makers, Takamine modified certain details on its steel-strings. It borrowed a pointy headstock shape from the luthier Lloyd Baggs, who would become better known for his LR Baggs electronics.

Takamine Players

Signature Artists

• Garth Brooks
• John Jorgenson
• Glenn Frey
• Kenny Chesney
• Toby Keith

Featured Artists

• Jon Bon Jovi
• Blake Shelton
• Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree)
• Bruce Springsteen
• Nancy Wilson (Heart)
• Hozier
• Bruno Mars
• John Scofield
• Reba Meyers (Code Orange)
• Rick Astley
• Jeff Stinco (Simple Plan)
• Howie Day
• Bruno & Marrone
• Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage)

Further reading

• Acoustic Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York: Chartwell Books. 2011. ISBN 978-0-7858-3571-4.

External links

• Official website