I was wondering if anybody owns or has seen a Takamine mandolin. On their webpage
they say they were building classical guitars and mandolins. I have never seen a Takamine mandolin. I would like one to go with my Takamine acoustic.
I was wondering if anybody owns or has seen a Takamine mandolin. On their webpage
they say they were building classical guitars and mandolins. I have never seen a Takamine mandolin. I would like one to go with my Takamine acoustic.
David Herman
A quick internet search brings up this thread. I have a Takamine guitar but have never seen a Taka mando.
your link is as nonexistent as the ones I found..... I did a search yesterday to see what I could find. a number of llinks came up, but everyone I clicked on had no actual mandolin even though the link said it was for a takamine mandolin......
If I miss one day’s practice, I notice it. If I miss two days’ practice, the critics notice it. If I miss three days’ practice, the public notices it.
Franz Liszt, 1894
Google searches - no luck. And while I've seen a ton of Takamine and Jasmine guitars, never seen a mandolin.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Maybe they build them and put a different name on them...If so, that should show up on their sites though....
Takamine's parent company is KMCMusicorp. KMCMusicorp is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. KMCMusicorp also makes Ovation branded instruments among a slew of other brand names they own. With that kind of mix of brand names I'm really not sure what that mandolin would look like.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
As I understand it Mike, KMCMusicorp only owns 12% of Takamine Gakki Co.
Interestingly, I found this law suit filed by Takamine Gakki Co against KMC Music, Inc., and Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, in September last year for trademark infringement.
KMC seem to have obliterated the web presence of Takamine in all countries but the USA. Once upon a time there were many different Takamine websites including a most excellent one based in Japan. It seems to me like the American fender bully boys have muscled in to trash a once great Japanese enterprise.
Update: I purchased a copy of the corporate disclosure statement in the aforementioned law suit. According to the statement; "Takamine Gakki Co., Ltd. is a privately held company without a parent corporation and that no publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of its stock." Although they spelled 'publicly' 'publically'. Odd for a legal document to have such a glaring spelling error.
If I could afford it would purchase more documents.
Last edited by Pete Jenner; Jan-25-2015 at 12:37am.
Managed to find the other websites.
http://www.takamineguitarsworldwide.com/
http://www.takamineusa.com/
http://www.takamineguitars.co.jp/
Much better than the KMC one but still no mention of a mandolin.
Takamine's Wiki page that they could easily edit shows KMC as their parent company. Unless that means something else in Japan it would indicate they are owned by that parent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takamine_Guitars
Amazingly enough they have no distribution in the US on this page even though they are building signature American CW artist guitar models. I think what you have here is a marketing department that knows its audience and is marketing to them.
It appears those other websites are all the same site being pointed to different addresses. AT best they are the same code. I'll note the KMC site mentions it owns or has holdings in the listed companies so it very well could own a portion of any of them. I'm just confused by the "parent" designation. I don't think you'd get that with 12% ownership.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
I suspect KMC wrote the Wiki page and no one from Takamine has checked it.
I doubt the court document is wrong and if it isn't then the 12% is also wrong.. I can send it to you if you like. If so, PM me your email address.
Update: I just purchased a copy of the complaint in the above mentioned law suit. I haven't read it all yet but it looks like fascinating reading so far.
According to the complaint, KMC have fraudulently obtained copyright over the Takamine trademarks and gained control of the domain takamine.com and Takamine wants them back.
Last edited by Pete Jenner; Jan-25-2015 at 10:32am.
My stores have sold Takamine guitars for the last 3-1/2 decades. I've played mandolin for half that time.
No Takamine mandolins.
I've never seen or heard of one, either.
Btw, Ted, it's a good thing Trevor doesn't ship to the US anymore, or I'd be all over your old blue Rigel! That Fender blue burst I bought from you a few years ago is still going strong. I've moved up the mandolin food chain a bit, but my brother still plays it in his church's praise band...
Chuck
The answer to that is contained in the complaint.
Takamine say there is no written agreement for KMC to distribute their products in the USA and are awaiting the outcome of proceedings to find a new distributor. So much for Fender, KMC and KMI's claims to ownership of Takamine.
Actually after reading more closely, it seems Takamine has got a new distributor but KMC is deliberately interfering with the business relationship between Takamine and the new distributor.
Last edited by Pete Jenner; Jan-25-2015 at 1:22pm.
I know of one that exists although I have not seen it and it is not currently for sale.
I suspect it was a prototype and the story I got from a totally dependable source was that the Fender Rep was in the Takemine factory, saw it hanging on the wall, said he was interested in it and was given it as a gift. I'm told it sounded great and one day I hope to see it but my source (a music shop) says he cannot give out confidential details. i.e. Owner's name. He says 100% it is a Takemine F5 mandolin.
How does one pronounce Takamine? Is it "take - a - mine". "take - a - minnie", tack - a - mine or minnie?
Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band
I’ve grown used to, Tack - a - meenie.
Though I believe the French pronounce it without the ‘ie’ at the end.
Hmmmm.
I first saw Takamine guitars back in the late 1970's, when they were still largely considered Martin copies. The owner of the store refered to them as tock-a-meany - so, that is how I came across my pronunciation.
Never seen a mandolin either . . . .
I've never heard anyone say it in any other way than "tah-kah-MEE-nee".
I own two Takamine acoustics: a 1975 F-385 (12-string) and a 1998 F-370SS (6-string). Both are really good, but the F-370SS is truly spectacular in every way.
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