HAND MADE IN 2001 - TAKAMINE No10 - SWEET AND POWERFUL CLASSICAL GUITAR

Takamine No10

The guitar was made in 2001. It was one of the higher end models in Takamine classical guitar series of that era. It was bettered only by models No15 and No20.

Back in 2001 this guitar was priced 2 times higher than model C132S that is currently sold in USA for $1950.  Yet this No10 model sounds 3 times better that brand new C132S advertised as "concert guitar". 

While all other units of that model that I have sold in the past were “all solid woods” construction, the back of this guitar was made from very high grade “laminates” called by Japanese makers a “wonder rose”. This “wonder rose” was graded by world experts as tonally equal to AA grade solid Indian Rosewood. 

This terrific and powerful instrument certainly deserves a title of Concert Guitar. It shouldn’t be however considered as the copy of Kohno guitars. It has its own beautiful tonality, with deep, colorful and full of overtones basses and thick, round, sweet and very clear (piano-like) trebles, all well balanced, with great note clarity and separation and impressive sustain. It is super lyrical instrument.

Besides its looks, this guitar has little in common with made only for export Takamine Hirade models. It is far superior to all Takamine models currently sold in USA. Takamine H8SS is a joke comparing with instrument you are looking at. Many brand new “hand made in Spain” guitars sold in USA for $5000 don't stand a chance either.

Despite its age this guitar remains in excellent overall condition. While its body bears couple minor cosmetic imperfections (with light scratch on its top blow the bridge being the only conspicuous one) condition of fingerboard and frets suggests this guitar hasn’t been played much during its 21 years lifetime.   

Previous owner of this guitar has painted 4 position dots on the side of the neck. It seems he used a colored nail polish. With a little bit of patience you can remove these dots in case you don't want them.   

Specifications:

Top: Solid Spruce / Kohno style bracing / thin coat of amber tinted lacquer

Sides: Solid Indian Rosewood /urethane

Back: Semi-solid Indian Rosewood ("wonder rose")/urethane

“Laminated” is quite unfortunate term regarding Japanese made guitars. These plates were made from 2 layers of solid wood glued together with natural resins. They were made so well that they performed as good as solid woods while being far less expensive in guitar production and far more resistant to cracking in regular use. In recent years many guitar makers around the world adopted a new term "semi-solid" to describe these plates.

Fingerboard: Ebony

Mahogany Neck with truss rod inside

Scale 650 mm

Width at Nut: 52 mm

Its action is set to 3.30 mm under E6 and 2.80 mm under E1 with plenty of extra room on the saddle

This guitar will be shipped in a brand new Yamaha soft shell case. 

THE ONLY PURPOSE OF THIS CASE IS TO PROTECT THE GUITAR DURING SHIPMENT. I WILL NOT PROVIDE ITS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OR MAKE ADDITIONAL PICTURES, NOR I WILL ACCEPT ANY COMPLAINTS. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THIS CASE YOU WILL NEED TO BUY A DIFFERENT ONE.      

WHEN YOU BUY ANY GUITAR, YOU MUST ANTICIPATE TAKING IT TO YOUR LOCAL GUITAR SHOP FOR FINAL ADJUSTMENTS CALLED “SETUP”. DEPENIDNG ON YOUR PLAYING TECHNIQUE, THIS SETUP ON USED GUITARS MAY INCLUDE NEW CUSTOM MADE NUT AND SADLLE. IF YOU HEAR STRING BUZZ IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT GUITAR IS DEFECTIVE. IF YOU PLAY HARD ENOUGH ALL BASS STRINGS WILL BUZZ OVER THE FRETS, UNLESS THEY ARE SUSPENDED VERY FAR FROM THE FINGERBOARD. UNLESS YOU PLAY QUITE GENTLY, YOU CAN’T HAVE LOW ACTION AND NO BUZZES. KEEP IN MIND THAT CELLO-LIKE BASSES ON HIGH GRADE CLASSICAL GUITARS HAVE THEIR NATURAL “BUZZ”.  

Takamine Guitars History.

Takamine Gakki was founded in 1962 and during its first few years of operations, it wasn’t considered as leading Japanese guitar manufacture. It all changed in 1968 when Masaru Kohno took this company “under his umbrella” (most likely be became its owner or co-owner) and his pupil Mass Hirade became its director and leading Master Luthier. Until late 1970s Masaru Kohno personally supervised guitar production at Takamine Co. Right after this transition in 1968 Takamine Gakki adopted ne guitar designs launching 3 series of guitars: Elite, TG and the most precious Yamato guitars (by early 1970s renamed to Aranjuez).

Elite series had Ramirez style headstock and Ramirez style bracing. TG series guitars kept old style Takamine headstock but also had Ramirez style bracing. Aranjuez guitars had Takamine’s unique design headstock (used on Takamine guitars until today) and Kohno style bracing (which is nothing but simple lattice bracing). American luthier & guitar importer (also manufacturer of Luthier & Aranjuez strings) Juan Orozco invested and was deeply engaged in creation of Aranjuez guitar brand, even though these guitars were made only for Japanese domestic market. The truth behind Aranjuez guitars is that right from the start they were designed to satisfy less wealthy Japanese guitar enthusiasts, who couldn’t afford guitars made by Masaru Kohno or other Japanese elite luthiers. Aranjuez guitar have always offered exceptional value for the money. The bodies of all models were made by Takamine workshop. Top Aranjuez models were being finished at Kohno workshop and equipped with soundboards made by Masaru Kohno or his associates. Traditionally the very top Aranjuez model was assembled personally by Masaru Kohno. These very top Aranjuez models were nothing but Kohno guitars priced 50% down. Aranjuez 7 made in 1973 was decisively better than Kohno #10 from the same year and could easily compete with Kohno #15. Aranjuez 720 (priced 200 000 yen) made in 2000 could easily compete with Kohno model Professional R (priced 450 000 yen). Until 1976 all Aranjuez guitars had Kohno stamp on their labels. Starting in 1977 Kohno stamp was no longer used on Aranjuez guitars, even though their production was still closely supervised by Masaru Kohno’s workshop.

In the same late 1970s Takamine Gakki launched new series of guitars named simply “Guitarras Takamine”. These “new” Takamine guitars had the same construction and looks as “old” Aranjuez guitars. The lower Takamine models 20,30 and 40 had their own unique rosettes, while higher models 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 had Kohno style rosettes. The very top Takamine models 15 & 20 had Kohno style purflings and Kohno style decorated bridge. This classical guitar lineup remained unchanged until late 1980s.

Since early 1980s bodies of Aranjuez guitar were made by Ryoji Matsuoka, while the very top model still assembled at Kohno’s and later (after Masaru Kohno’s death in 1998) at Masaki Sakurai/Kohno workshop. After Matsuoka’s workshop was closed in September of 2014, bodies of Aranjuez guitars are again made by Takamine co. while the very top Aranjuez 725 is assembled personally by Masaki Sakurai who also makes its soundboard all by himself. Just like in the early days of Aranjuez guitars this model 725 is of the same grade as sold at 100% higher price Masaki Sakurai model Concert R.

Real Value of Japanese Vintage Guitars

The key to understand value of vintage Japanese guitars is to acknowledge galloping price inflation throughout the late 1960s and 1970s with its peak of 25% in 1974.

During 1960s and most of 1970s model numbers of Japanese guitars were strictly connected with their prices in Japanese yen.

The same class guitar sold in 1970 for 100 000 yen (labelled as model 10), would be sold for 150 000 yen in 1972 (labelled as model 15), 200 000 yen in 1974 (labelled as model 20) and 300 000 yen in 1978 (labelled as model 30). Therefore, you shouldn’t be surprised that two Yamaha GC10 guitars made 10 years apart are two instruments of totally different class. The same rule applies to all guitar models made by all other Japanese makers.

Japanese inflation slowed down in the 1980s. By the early 1980s and during following decades model numbers were no longer strictly associated with their prices. Some Japanese guitar makers introduced model names instead of model numbers. For several economic reasons, since 1980s Japanese made guitars were becoming more and more expensive, while their exports slowing down. Today (2025) Japanese high end classical guitar models are priced at $20000USD level.