I *almost never* write product reviews. Perhaps I wrote one or two others over the 14 years that I've been using Amazon. But this guitar merits a review -- especially for those people who are considering purchasing this guitar without the opportunity to try it out first.
Almost every guitar review you'll find for any guitar on this site, the sites of other guitar retailers, etc. are overwhelming positive. I'm not sure why that is, but it makes it very difficult to determine which guitars are magic and which guitars are duds -- it did for me anyway. It's true that guitar preferences vary from person-to-person, so there are very few absolutes when it comes to good and bad -- above a certain price point, anyway. But I digress...
I'm a relatively new guitar player, which, in this case, makes me a perfect reviewer in my opinion. It's my third acoustic guitar. The first was a Taylor bought in a guitar store a couple of years ago (around the same price point as this guitar --a little less, but not much). The Taylor sounds great and seemed to play great, but I had no point of reference on which to judge the playability. My second guitar, which I bought because I wanted a second guitar that I didn't care about as much (could throw it in the back of a car, use on the beach, etc.) was an Ovation Applause AA21-4. Suddenly I had a reference point from which I could judge the Taylor and it made me love the Taylor that much more. The Ovation is a "you get what you pay for" guitar. It seems to fight against me instead of making my life easier. The sound is just okay. It's very difficult to play on the higher frets (for me anyway), but most of the reviews are glowing. It makes me wonder what their previous guitars were because I would not give it a positive review -- especially for beginners (your results may vary). And that's the paradox of buying a cheap beginner's guitar -- you come away feeling defeated because it's so difficult to play, but in most cases, it's not you, it's the guitar! I'm just glad I also owned the Taylor so I knew it wasn't "me." Don't get me wrong -- the Ovation is the perfect knock-around guitar. You friend wants to play but s/he's covered in sand and sunscreen? No worries!
Now, onto to the Takamine EF341SC. I'm not even sure where to begin but I'll start here: I'm going to sell my beloved Taylor because now *it* feels like it's fighting me! I only had to play on the Takamine for a few minutes before I realized that it was in a different league than any other guitar I had ever played (granted, that isn't saying much). This will sound cliché, but it's like butter. Chords that were still a bit difficult for me on the Taylor (and were even more difficult on the Ovation) are now trivial. In that sense, this is the *perfect* beginner's guitar (for those lucky enough to be able to swing it financially or with the help of a credit card, of course). The sound is also amazing. Really amazing -- again, in my opinion. The sustain is unbelievable. This guitar is special. There's really not much more to say about it based on my personal experience.
This is where you chime-in and ask "yeah, but what would an experienced guitar player think?" Well... I have a close friend who has been playing guitar consistently for 30 years -- composes his own music, plays classical in addition to indie stuff, etc. He's a very impressive player. I wanted a second opinion on the Takamine, so I asked him to check it out while he was over my apartment recently. While he played around with the guitar, I went into the next room to do some work. I come out a few minutes later and he's inspecting the interior of the guitar. I ask him what he's doing, and he tells me he's trying to figure out what Takamine does differently to get such amazing sound out of their guitar. He's blown away by it -- the sound, the playability, etc. Now, the net is filled with "my friends LOVE this guitar" reviews -- so many that it's hard to believe that so many friends could love so many different guitars. But my friend's opinion --again a serious guitar player for 30 years -- echoed my opinions exactly. And he has owned many acoustic guitars and has played hundreds of new and vintage guitars in guitar shops all over the country.
I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. I'll end it there because I think you get my point.
One thing I need to add: I can't judge the "electric" aspect of this guitar. It's my first Acoustic Electric and, once again, I have no reference point for comparison when it comes to the quality of the pick-up, the preamp, etc.
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