Takamine began life over forty years ago in Japan in Sakashita with the name taken from the Takamine Mountain at whose base the company factory was situated. From here a small family business would dedicate their time to creating top quality guitars that were destined for world wide fame. At this time Japan was taking more interest in guitar playing as a first instrument and so the house of Takamine had to expand both distribution and quality. The company had to get new models out on to the market, as they players in Japan got better so to had Takamine to be.
In nineteen sixty eight a chap called Mass Hirade joined the Takamine design family and set about making superb changes and improvements to the guitars and with it the business began to gather steam. The result was the Classic model that put Takamine guitars on the world stage as a main player in the industry and so Mr.Hirade decided to take a team over to the United States of America and begin trading. Nineteen seventy five was the year that some of the world most famous guitarist's got their hands on a Takamine, and the rest as they say is history.
With the new market Takamine had to expand the range further, in nineteen seventy eight the acoustic, electric with a flat back burst on to the scene and took it by force. The technology made great headway with the takamine palethetic pick up that consists of six individual piezo transducers which are embedded into the bridge plate where they sense both string and soundboard vibration setting the standard for the industry. Takamine also pioneered the first ever interchangeable sound choice pre amp that can be changed in a couple of minutes so you can choose your favourite model and the sound it makes.
If you are interested in learning more about Takamine guitars or wish to enquire about purchasing a particular model then contact us by telephone or email and one of our helpful and friendly staff will be happy to assist you with options available to you.
Labels: guitars, Takamine
Leo Fender of California, United States of America was born in the August of 1909. Leo became interested in electronics at a young age and could often be found building radio's during his school years. Once graduated from college he started his own business but quickly became interested in the guitar and decided that he was going to make a solid body, stream line electric guitar along with his partner George Fullerton. It was 1950 and Fender had produced the Esquire and the Broadcaster, with the Precision Bass coming a year later, guitars but the Gretsch music company had a line of drums called the Broadkaster and so Leo changes the Broadcaster to the Telecaster and a legend was born.
The early fifties saw the birth of the Stratocaster. This fender guitar was named such to reflect the dynamic of a jet plane, which was slick and futuristic. The guitar was created for comfort and playability. On the back of the guitar there was a smooth cut away shape the enabled the guitar to nestle into the players torso, instead of a hard edge and the arm rest sloped back gradually so that there would no noticeable contact to the players are, instead a smooth platform on which to rest. Where the body meets the fret board Fender decided to make the body a double cut away making it easier to get access to the higher frets opening scales for more notes. The Strat also featured three single coil pickups, each one with staggered magnetic poles controlled by a three way selector switch, one volume knob and two tone controls. All of this gave the Stratocaster great versatility, you can get so many different sounds out of one that they were destined for greatness.
Some of the worlds greatest guitarists have used the Fender guitar, most famously, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix was known for his amazing ability on the guitar, a left handed man who could flip a right handed guitar around and play better than most is something to be marvelled at. Hendrix's musical roots were founded in blues and soul, he added some rock and psycadelia and a whole new sound was born. Jimi favoured the Stratocaster because the slim neck suited his slick hand speed and enabled his huge hands to play rhythm and lead parts at the same time. Through Hendrix's residency in the United Kingdom, the Fender guitar became popular with British musicians and friends of Jimi, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.
Under the influence of Hendrix, Clapton decided to take the fender guitar and make his own version by a hybrid the parts of different Stratocasters to make his perfect model and played this guitar until nineteen ninety when it finally packed up. In nineteen eighty eight for his service to the Stratocaster, Fender and Clapton developed the Eric Clapton signature series, the first of it's kind.
You can click here to see the selection of
Fender Guitars that we have in our online catalogue.
Labels: acoustic, fender, guitar, stratocaster, telecaster
