Cooder by Takamine, ever heard of ?

[kohaku]

said to be made for japanese market only, any connection with ry cooder ?
i knew that takamine's first acoustic-electric model was developed with the help of Ry Cooder.

• Top
• Sycamore
• Side & Back
• Sycamore
• Neck
• Mahogany
• Finger Board
• Rosewood
• Bridge
• Rosewood
• Bracing
• X-Bracing
• Back Construction
• 2p
• Neck Width At Nut
• 42mm
• Scale Length
• 644mm
• Tuning Machine
• Original/Chrome
• Rosette
• Abalone
• Pick Up
• EDGE-LT
• Controls
• Volume, Presence/Treble,/Bass, Tuner on-off Switch

[fmmusicman]

I consider myself pretty much a Ry Cooder fan of the first degree, going back to 1971, and I am unaware of Ry having played a Takamine. I doubt that he would endorse them.
Not that I am all knowing, but I am just saying.

The intent here cannot be anything other than a Ry Cooder model but it seems unauthorized. It would surprise me if he agreed to a signature series. If he would, it would likely be with his first name included and with his actual signature.

Using someone's name or likeness on a brand is a trademark violation, so if Ry did not sanction this, we may well hear about it legally soon enough.

It sure looks like a nice guitar...

[kohaku]

Could it be like gibson & epiphone or fender & squire ?
It said by takamine, i doubt that a well known brand such as takamine would do that without permission


also i'm very interested about that sycamore wood they're using

[Sasquatch51]

This was Takamine's first acoustic-electric model. It was developed and promoted with Ry Cooder's help. It was released in 1979.

[Brant0086]

Hmmm..... I wonder if that black one comes in a gloss finish ?


Bryant

[robj144]

Originally Posted by fmmusicman

I consider myself pretty much a Ry Cooder fan of the first degree, going back to 1971, and I am unaware of Ry having played a Takamine. I doubt that he would endorse them.
Not that I am all knowing, but I am just saying.

The intent here cannot be anything other than a Ry Cooder model but it seems unauthorized. It would surprise me if he agreed to a signature series. If he would, it would likely be with his first name included and with his actual signature.

Using someone's name or likeness on a brand is a trademark violation, so if Ry did not sanction this, we may well hear about it legally soon enough.

It sure looks like a nice guitar...

Why would they do that?

[robj144]

It's explained here:

http://www.takamineguitars.jp/takami...rs_legend.html

[Lacking Talent]

The story on acoustic guitar pickup pioneer Lloyd Baggs (written by Andy Powers of Taylor Guitars) in issue 24 of The Fretboard Journal solves the mystery of this guitar's history.

[kohaku]

Originally Posted by Lacking Talent

The story on acoustic guitar pickup pioneer Lloyd Baggs (written by Andy Powers of Taylor Guitars) in issue 24 of The Fretboard Journal solves the mystery of this guitar's history.

Any link or something ?

[Lacking Talent]

Originally Posted by kohaku

Any link or something ?

Here's the website -- http://www.fretboardjournal.com/fretboard-journal-24 -- but, as far as I can see, that particular article only appears in the print edition of the magazine.

Long story short? In his early days as a luthier, Baggs built Cooder a custom guitar, and was quite surprised to discover from an enthused Cooder -- after the fact -- that the artist had allowed Takamine to copy the instrument down to the last detail; IIRC, the article's implication was that Baggs was not compensated or credited in any way.

Here's a comparison pic ganked from a Thai guitar webforum...

[Howard Emerson]

On Ry Cooder's Bop 'Til You Drop (the first digitally recorded rock record) he used the Takamine with a Palathetic pickup, if I recall correctly.

Find the album and the info should be on the sleeve.

HE
Hear my new one here: http://howardemerson.com/music2.html

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Lacking Talent

Here's the website -- http://www.fretboardjournal.com/fretboard-journal-24 -- but, as far as I can see, that particular article only appears in the print edition of the magazine.

Long story short? In his early days as a luthier, Baggs built Cooder a custom guitar, and was quite surprised to discover from an enthused Cooder -- after the fact -- that the artist had allowed Takamine to copy the instrument down to the last detail; IIRC, the article's implication was that Baggs was not compensated or credited in any way.

Here's a comparison pic ganked from a Thai guitar webforum...

Similar, not identical. Sound hole, shape of the cutaway, shape of the bridge, shape of the tailpiece are all different.

[Howard Emerson]

This is from the article on the Bagg's web site:

"In 1973, Lloyd began his guitar making endeavors by buying, modifying, refinishing, retuning and then returning old Gibsons and Washburns (these were in the days when you could still afford to buy them). After noodling around with some fine old instruments, the L.R. Baggs fine-handmade-guitar-and-guitar-repair business was launched. After Lloyd finished his first guitar in a Berkeley, California garage, he took it to his guitar idol, Ry Cooder, and received his first commission. Lloyd's list of fantastic guitar player customers for his L.R. Baggs Handmade Guitar included Jackson Browne, Janis Ian, Graham Nash and two instruments went to Ry Cooder. The guitar featured on Ry's "Jazz" album is an L.R. Baggs Handmade Guitar. It was during the recording of Ry Cooder's "Bop Till You Drop" album that the L.R. Baggs transducer pickup was inspired. There in the recording studio was an exact Takamine copy of the guitar Lloyd had built for Ry, with a transducer pickup system. After recovering from the shock of seeing an exact copy of his instrument (as an aside, the current Takamine headstock is the headstock that Lloyd designed for his handmade instruments), Lloyd became intrigued with the wonderful possibilities of the piezo ceramic transducer pickup for the acoustic guitar. "

It's still not clear who did what, when, but whatever.........Somebody find the cover and read what the liner notes say, please!

HE
Hear my new one here: http://howardemerson.com/music2.html

[Wade Hampton]

Howard, just to add to that, what I've read and heard from some close friends of Lloyd Baggs was that Takamine started manufacturing guitars with that exact L.R. Baggs headstock shape. This occurred right after Martin's attorneys had sent them a "Cease And Desist" letter regarding the so-called "Lawsuit Takamine" Martin copies.

The settlement that Lloyd and Takamine came to is that they sent him a quantity of their proprietary integral bridge/saddle pickups - ten or twelve of them, not an enormous number.

Once Lloyd got his hands on those, he thought: "Hmmm...I could make something like this" and then proceeded to do so. That was the origin of the LR Baggs LB6 pickup, which is still in the Baggs product line to this day. The prototype mountain dulcimer pickup that I have in my main stage dulcimer is simply a scaled-down version of the LB6, and it's still going strong after more than 25 years of active use.

All that aside, the Cooder guitar shown in the photos in the first post in this thread is not the same model that Takamine built for Ry Cooder. So does anyone have any further information about Cooder Guitars as a separate Takamine product line?


Wade Hampton Miller

[kohaku]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

All that aside, the Cooder guitar shown in the photos in the first post in this thread is not the same model that Takamine built for Ry Cooder. So does anyone have any further information about Cooder Guitars as a separate Takamine product line?


Wade Hampton Miller

Yup exactly what i was searching for, couldn't find anything on the web.
I'm interested in buying this guitar just for the name alone
its gonna be a nice conversation piece