Takamine TAN15C Electro-Acoustic Guitar review

RRP: £1,318.80
Red Dog Price: £1,099

I’m not a guitarist. I’m a singer. In saying that, I’ve played the guitar almost every day for the past year. I had a trusty Oakland for 7 years until there was an unfortunate accident involving a wardrobe and a falling suitcase. Thankfully, I’m lucky enough to work in an instrument shop so spent the next day drowning my sorrows in the dulcet tones of our extensive range of acoustics.

First stop: The Takamine Wall. I’d heard incredible things about Takamines but the one that happened to catch my eye that day was the TAN15C. It’s part of the Supernatural series – famous for their understated elegance with some unusual twists thrown in: a genuine abalone rosette, gold tuning machines with amber pearl buttons, a pinless bridge…

Honestly, on first strum, it was pretty bright sounding for my liking but once I’d worn it in and applied a cheeky string change, everything fell into place. It has a lovely, warm, rich tone to it and I’ve had endless compliments on how mellow it sounds – and this is before it’s even been plugged in.

This model includes Takamine‘s Palathetic pickup, which is known as one of the most natural-sounding pickups. It also includes a rare Cool Tube preamp – the first and only tube preamp in an acoustic guitar – which allows you to accentuate your personal style. Choose between a high degree of “CUT” for the more aggressive strummer; expanded “sweetness” with fatter lows and rounder highs; or voluptuous richness for finger-style players.

At about a grand, it’s not cheap… but there’s no doubt about it; it’s an axe for life. Man.

Want to hear a couple of our Takamine guitars in action? Pump up the volume and press play…

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