Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar 

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

I purchased this guitar with the understanding it needed repair. Prior to purchasing I familiarized myself with the techniques and tools necessary to repair a guitar. I am happy to say, with a little "Hide Glue", 1/8" Lexon sheets used to flatten and prevent clamp indentations, I was able to realize a significant return on my investment, as-well-as gaining knowledge on the mechanics of working with a finely crafted guitar. If you have the confidence in your wood working skill and can improvise your tools, buy it broken and fix it. You will be greatly rewarded.

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

I love the full rich sound and features of the EG523SC. But the two piece saddle causes noticeable intonation problems especially for the G,D,A (3rd, 4th, and 5th strings). It is quite noticeably out of tune when playing pieces up near the twelfth fret or higher,especially when using the bottom three strings in sequence. I've tried reshaping the saddles to correct them but they're not wide enough to make the correction. I'm looking at widening the saddle slots enough to make new wider bone saddles that will crown in the right place for correct intonation. It's too bad they mass produced a saddle system with this inherent defect.

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

I went looking for an acoustic/electric guitar and was prepared to purchase a Martin or Taylor, that is, until I tried this out. Excellent tone amplified or unplugged, but a little quiet unplugged compared to Martin or Taylor, but who cares if you're going to amp it anyway as I plan to do? You may even disagree about it's unplugged volume. It's worth trying it anyway. I saved thousands by purchasing this and It's a real beauty too!

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

After I ordered this guitar I was told that I should not have ordered a jumbo because they sound whimpy. This is deffinatly not the case with this guitar. I love the sound and the vibration of the thing. It kinda feels like the way my Fender Jazz Base vibrates. It has a very unique feel and well balance sound. Great guitar for the money; however,I don't like the binding on the fretboard~cheep.Overall I love the sound and feel of this guitar.

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

Beautiful guitar. Big sound. Just had one week, but satisfied so far with this addition to my collection.

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

to put it simply, takamine is letting you steal from them a little bit. once you get it, you may feel bad about paying so little and getting so much. but you get over that pretty quick.
aesthetically brilliant. every time I look at this guitar, i cant help but smile and wonder how i got so lucky. the care takamine puts into this series is apparent and i am glad to have it in my living room for everyone to see. ive never seen one of the black ones but all the blonde ones i have seen including my own, are just beautiful
this guitar is stout. well put together, with high quality parts. tough and pretty.
you can go buy a gibson or taylor or martin and get a great great great guitar, but be broke and probably slightly bummed about it despite your new toy, or you can get as good or better a guitar for half the price with this thing. amazing piece of equipment. truly.

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

It is worth the money
This guitar is incredible all around, bought this guitar about 2 years ago and it is still like it is brand new. Absolutey beautiful look and sound. These guitars are made to be plugged up so once you play it acoustic and then plug it up it will blow you away!!! YOu. Obviously Higher end Gibsons and Taylors will sound better but plugged in, This guitar is right with them.

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

I've had this guitar for a couple months and I absolutely love it! I was just browsing in a music store one day, picked this thing up and walked out with it that day. What caught my eye was the beautiful design on the guitar. Not too flashy, but gorgeous inlays and natural finish. When I first played it, it was by far the best sounding guitar in the store. Beautiful deep lows and crispy highs, not to mention this guitar is loud acoustically. Fingerpicking sounds great on this Jumbo. I've played it at church through the PA and it sounds even better when the top of the line Takamine electronics kick in. For the price, you cannot beat this guitar. I gave it a 9 in quality just because it needed a little bit of setup (action raised, frets re-hammered) after a few months, but now it plays even better. Just buy this guitar, it will not disappoint!

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

I give this a relatively low score for value, as my current on going experience I am having to spend hundreds extra to have the bridge fixed, a complete set up, adjustment of saddle, re-routing of the saddle slot, and a fret dress.

Should play like a dream when I get it back.
I am on my second EG523SC guitar. The first one I bought was a write off within a month because the neck warped and frets came up (and yes, I kept my guitar humidified). It was replaced under warranty by the model I have now, which I've had for a year and a half. Recently I decided to take the guitar to a service shop to get the fret ends filed, as from day one this guitar had sharp fret ends (I only had the time and money to deal with it now....). After laying the guitar on the repair bench, the first thing that was pointed out to me was that my bridge was coming off! Apparently when Takamine assembles these guitars, they mask off the area where the bridge is located before finishing. To trim the excess masking, the factory takes a razor blade and traces out the footprint of the bridge... HOWEVER, instead of lightly cutting the masking, they are cutting into the wood veneer!!! Over time my guitar has dried out, because the shop that sold me the guitar also sold me a substandard guitar case humidifier. The wood has shrunk, and my bridge is pulling loose AND pulling the wood veneer up with it!!! You can clearly see where the factory guy cut into the wood! Fortunately, the shop I am dealing with can fix the bridge. Alternatively, I could have returned it to the shop I bought it at and tried to claim warranty, but I don't want the hassle of a potentially rejected warranty, and if it is covered, I don't want the guitar replaced by another sub-standard piece of imported garbage.
See above... quality is not that well regulated. In addition to the above, there are numberous dead spots on the fret board. Thoroughly play the instrument you plan to by (the actual one).

Comments about Takamine EG523SC Acoustic-Electric Guitar:

I have played professionaly for a lot of years. this Jumbo Tak is by far the most versitile accoustic/elec I have ever played. It can be very sweet, it can be bitey, but you can be sure it will always be BIG! I get so many compliments on my guitar sound. I will never buy another brand EVER! It is a work horse, and I put it thru the test 6 nights a week. It has never let me down. And...it's beautiful!