Music

We're not sure if Takamine invented the gloss black dreadnought, but players like Garth Brooks and Bruce Springsteen have certainly cemented the image of the shiny black Takamine Dreadnought into our collective consciousness. The Takamine GD34CE brings the looks and feel of this iconic guitar down to a price point that is accessible to a wide range of players.  The GD34CE features a solid Spruce top with laminated Sapele back and sides. Sapele is a very sustainable member of the mahogany family and has become an affordable high quality alternative to true African or Honduran Mahogany. Sapele is quite a bit harder than Mahogany and tends to produce a brighter overall tone while still having the broad midrange emphasis that Mahogany is known for. The net result is a big sounding Dreadnought with a good deal of sparkle and upper end detail that not all dreadnoughts have. The overall volume output is very good, and we liked how the broad frequency response makes it attractive to singer songwriters as well as strummers and bluegrass players.  In the late 70's Takamine pioneered high quality built-in electronics, and all Takamine electrified acoustics feature their own proprietary electronics. The GD34CE uses their TP-3G system with 3-band EQ. This simple system has a generous 12dB of boost/cut over three bands plus a built-in tuner. Plugged into our Traynor AM Studio, the TP-3G sounded very natural for a single-source piezo system. With a little tweaking of the notch filter and amp EQ we were off and running. 12dB of boost/cut is a lot and you'll likely find that only minor tweaking is needed with any system.  The Takamine GD34CE is an impressive guitar -- both in terms of sound and build quality -- and an excellent value. If you dig the look, it's hard to go wrong with this shiny black Dreadnought. The Takamine GD34CE features: Gloss black finish with multi-layer white binding Solid Spruce top Laminated Sapele back and sides Bound Laurel fretboard 1.67" nut width 25.35 scale length TP-3G built in electronics with 3-band EQ and tuner Includes Takamine padded GBXW gig bag Made in China