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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Looked at some guitars at GC ... played some taks ... I thought that Kaman was only the distributor for taki. Is Takamine now owned by Kaman? I suppose everyone here knows the answer, but I got confused by the lable.
PS: Saw some kids drooling over a high end thin body celeb ... pronouncing it as "man this is good for gigging" in a very positive sense. |
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Location: Tampa, Florida | Kaman owns Takamine, Fender now owns Kaman |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | So wikipedia is wrong and I misremembered "the book".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takamine_Guitars
Well, Fender better get crackin' and update things. |
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| Kaman does NOT "own" Takamine. Kaman Music is the North American distributor for Takamine Gakki, Ltd., which is an independently owned Japanese company founded in 1962. Prior to 1969, Takamine's guitars were imported and distributed by Coast Wholesale in California. Kaman acquired Coast Wholesale in 1968 and thus became the exclusive N. American distributor.
That info came from "The Art of Wood and Tone" by Rolf-Juergen Bruess. It's a beautifully photographed coffee-table book describing all of the Takamine Annual Limited Edition guitars and is available for purchase in the US from our very own Tupperware (or whatever handle he's using now).
EDIT - zchord, where the hell have you been hiding? I thought I was the only Ovation fanatic in Gainesville. PM me, dude! |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I know the lable said it was a Kaman Product. I wonder why they'd do that. |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by an4340:
I know the lable said it was a Kaman Product. I wonder why they'd do that. Because it's part of the Kaman Music product line? |
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| Do you remember what model Tak it was & did the label say where it was made?
I can't say with 100% certainty, but I think the Taks made in Japan are like the US-made O's, in that they are the higher-end (and generally better-built and more desirable) products. They, like Ovation, farm out production of their entry-level models (the G-series and Jasmines) to Korea, and now China.
Maybe those farmed-out guitars have a different label with Kaman's name, kinda like a Chinese-made Montana I bought for SWMBO when she thought she might want to learn guitar.
Next time I'm in my local mom&pop music store I'll take a look at the Tak labels.
edit - post your question over on the Tak board, where Mike Markure can answer it. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Probably just a bad engrish transration.
Dave |
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Location: everywhere | g8r's got it right |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Tak owns Tak.
Kaman is the US and European distributor and hence creates the marketing for much of those markets. So a model that Kaman created and is selling in Iowa, whether it's made in Japan or china or korea, will say Tak and then a Kaman music product. |
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Location: Tychy, Poland | Hey Beal, this was your 8888 post!
nice! |
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| Originally posted by Mauvais Beal:
Tak owns Tak.
Kaman is the US and European distributor and hence creates the marketing for much of those markets. So a model that Kaman created and is selling in Iowa, whether it's made in Japan or china or korea, will say Tak and then a Kaman music product. I guess this thread can now be closed & locked. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Or we could see if we can make it longer than AmeliaMatt........ |
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| According to "Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars" --""Takamine instruments currently manufactured in Japan. Distributed by Kaman Music Corporation of Bloomfield, CT. The Takamine brand was originally set up to be Martin's Sigma series with the help of Coast distributors. However, when Kaman Music Corporation (Ovation) bought Coast, Martin had to contract Sigma production elsewhere. Ovation encouraged Takamine to enter the market under their own trademark, and have since distributed the guitars in the U.S. market."" source Michael Wright, "Guitar Stories", Volume One.
Slightly off topic: The initial Takamine/Martin relationship helps explain the look of the early Taks and the "lawsuit" era guitars of the 1970s. |
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| bigB - interesting story, but inaccurate. When Martin was first floating the idea for their Sigma line they were looking for an American distributor with established contacts in the Asian guitar manufacturing industry. Takamine was at no time "set up" to be the manufacturer of Martin's Sigma line. In fact, they were already making Martin copies and marketing them (through Coast Wholesale) in print advertisements with pictures of a Martin dread next to a Tak dread, both with bags over the headstock, and the ad copy asking "Which one is the Takamine?"
I see you're a new member - here's a word of advice. When it comes to any matters pertaining to Kaman Music it's best to accept wht Mauvais Beal says as gospel. His sig line (CWK2) should give you a clue as to why. ;) |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | But he's getting old, so his memory might be suspect. (I turn 55 this week, so I'm a bit age obsessive.) |
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| Happy Birthday, Mark! I'm just a little over a year from the half-century mark, but I refuse to think of it as "old," just incredibly experienced. And if you go by Beal's ever-growing abilities as a guitarist/songwriter the best is yet to come. |
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| Originally posted by g8r:
bigB - interesting story, but inaccurate...
I see you're a new member - here's a word of advice. When it comes to any matters pertaining to Kaman Music it's best to accept wht Mauvais Beal says as gospel. His sig line (CWK2) should give you a clue as to why. ;) I guess what one reads in print and/or on the internet isn't always true... Or some sources are held in higher esteem than others... I thought my post concured with Beal's post and didn't diagree in any way...
BTW, thanks for the warm reception... :confused: Now I remember why I only lurked here without registering or posting for so long... :rolleyes: |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I think the Blue Book's use of the phrase "set up" was the problem. That's one of those that has multiple meanings.
I was half kidding about Beal's advanced age. I don't think he's much older than I am, maybe even younger. I don't think there's enough time for me to ever catch up to him on abilities, and I didn't start soon enough. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | There's plenty of info about the early history of Takamine (and the eventual relationship with Kaman) over on the
TAKAMINE FORUM.
There's also a nice Takamine reference book which you can obtain
HERE.
Dave |
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| Originally posted by bigB:
BTW, thanks for the warm reception... :confused: Now I remember why I only lurked here without registering or posting for so long... :rolleyes: Welcome. Click. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | BigB, welcome. Over on the Tak site I put down a history of Tak as told to me by Gabe Ireland who was one of the original guys at Coast Wholesale SF. They were Martin distributors, and encouraged Martin to start an imported line, but by the time the prototypes were accepted, 2 years, Coast had been bought by Kaman. Martin says Kaman is Ovation so Coast is history. Coast said to Hirade, let's do this ourselves and so they did.
That's the short version. |
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| Mauvais Beal, thanks for the welcome and additional info on Tak. It is always interesting to piece together historical events from the different perspectives of those involved. As in war, the winners usually get to write the history books.
Thanks again and all the best,
B |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Us B people got to stick together. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Like Beavis and Butthead? |
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Label in a takamine guitar said that the guitar was "Kaman Product"
