Takamine Debuts ‘THE 60TH’ at the 2022 NAMM Show

In celebration of its historic 60th anniversary, Takamine Guitars has unveiled “THE 60TH,” a very special limited-edition guitar that will be available at select Takamine dealers later this year. Production of THE 60TH will be limited to only 60 individually-numbered guitars worldwide.

“Since its start in 1962, Takamine has grown to become one of the most respected and most played acoustic guitar brands around the world,” says Tom Watters, Director of Product Development for Takamine. “THE 60TH will be a coveted guitar for serious Takamine collectors, or anyone who appreciates a very rare, finely-crafted instrument.”

Takamine’s THE 60TH has a body shape based on an early design that adapted a classical body to an x-braced concert steel string, with the addition of a distinctive cutaway. The top, back, and sides are made of solid highly-figured Hawaiian koa. A completely unique three-piece bracing made of ebony sandwiched with spruce allows the koa top to offer the perfect combination of rigidity and resonance. The bracing is hand-shaped and shaved by Takamine’s master luthiers — Noriharu Sakurai and Toru Hirokawa — to reduce the weight by more than 20%, promoting significantly more top vibration sensitivity, resulting in rich vibrant tone that surpasses all expectations on a koa-topped guitar. It also features a mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard.

In keeping with its extra-special nature, THE 60TH features an authenticated genuine diamond embedded as an inlay on the headstock. Takamine’s 60th anniversary theme is also indicated in the guitar via a diamond-image position marker inlaid at the 12th fret. THE 60TH also features abalone purfling along the top, back, sides, and headstock, complimenting its natural maple binding. Like this year’s Takamine LTD2022 model, THE 60TH includes Takamine’s new CTF-2N preamplifier with the warm, dynamic sound of Takamine’s early FET preamp model, affectionately known as the “Brownie”, which offers 2-band EQ as well as modern conveniences like easy battery access, a chromatic tuner, and a notch filter.

A special hard case is included with THE 60TH. More information and detailed specifications on Takamine’s THE 60TH is available at the Takamine USA web site at www.esptakamine.com.