Gotta Love My Takamine! (Gibson Acoustic Guitars)

Member Name: DiFranco01

Product:	Gibson Acoustic Guitars
Date:	27/11/01 (2942 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rich sound, Great for folk music

Disadvantages: Not good for punk music

From the time that I was conceived, music has been a large part of my life. My Mom played her classical guitar (a Fender that is now twenty-two, twenty-three years old and still sounds absolutely beautiful), or she would put in a cassette to listen to. I don't know whether she contributed to it or not, but I am madly in love with music.
And so, it seemed only natural that I learn how to play the guitar. My Mom bought my first guitar when I was eight. It was an off-brand student guitar - perfectly sized for small bodies and tiny fingers. That guitar has long since broken down, and no longer sounds like anything even remotely resembling a guitar, but playing that old acoustic model started me off on what has been a wonderful journey into the world of music.

Two years ago, after several years of not so much as THINKING of playing, I finally decided to get rid of the old student guitar and upgrade to a "real one." I found myself in a tiny shop, locally owned and operated, looking at various models. The man who owned the store was out on business, but his wife - a very sweet and knowledgable woman - sold me the guitar.

THE guitar, I should say. It was love at first sight, ladies and gentlement. She was a Takamine G-series. A simple acoustic guitar with chrome-colored tuning pegs and an elegantly-shaped body that was not enormous like the Gibson Classic, but not tiny like a Strat either. It was perfectly shaped to fit against the top of my thigh when I sat down to play a few notes.
The sound was rich. Gorgeous. Beautiful notes flowed from the sound hole and into the tiny shop, with a full, rounded body to them that only a fellow music lover can understand or accept as fact. The steel-wound strings bit into my fingers, which were hardly conditioned to play such a fine instrument. I smiled with obvious pleasure, knowing in my heart that I would pay anything for this guitar. "It's on sale for $250 right now,&
quot; the woman said with a smile - it was almost as if she knew exactly what I was thinking at that precise moment.

"Great! I hope you have a lay-a-way plan."
"Of course."

Less than two months later the prized possession was mine. The woman had thrown in a basic carrying case for free so that my guitar would be protected from such obscene interferences as dust, curious cats, or other nuiances. I was in love, people - madly in love.

Acoustic guitars are beautiful to me because of the rich sounds that many of them are capable of producing. When I first started playing the guitar way back when, I had the acoustic model because, as my mother put it, "You'll be able to hear what you're playing instead of what you want to hear." With electric guitars, you can tune them oddly, twiddle with settings, and use distortion pedals to create any effect you want. If I had started with a nice Strat or perhaps a Gibson Classic, any old noise would have sounded like music to my inexperienced ears.
Ah, yes. I love electric guitars too, and drool over the possibility of buying a Gibson Classic Goth - but that's another story. In the meantime, I continue improving my skills with my Takamine, knowing that it gives me a true and accurate picture of what I am playing.
Besides which, there aren't many folk songs that sound great with any electric guitar. But, conversely, punk sounds horrid on an acoustic model. That being the case, my final verdict is that it all depends on the owner and his or her preference.

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