Acoustics from discontinued manufacturers?

[larryplatz]

Have to agree with bohemian regarding the horrendous headstock and bridges on Tacomas (even though they said the bridge was engineered to distribute the sound in a way that would create more balance and better projection). I think it was these 2 things along with the flaking lacquer problem that led to their financial problems, causing them to sell out to Fender. Too bad. Great guitars. Still looking for a parlor (PK20 would be nice).

Larry

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Picking Moose

Daion (Japan.. until 1984)!

I own a L999, top of their acoustic range.
I posted elsewhere in this forum about it with pics too but I'll gladly post another pic here should anyone be interested

I'd like to see it Moose, post a pic here. Can you also post a link to your thread so I can read about it? Thanks.

[Humbuster]

Originally Posted by drive-south

In the acoustic world I wish Tacoma was still around. .

I am always on the look out for a great Tacoma.
It's a pity that Fender chose not to keep this brand afloat.

[lt20dbl]

I've owned my Tacoma PR-12 for about 9 years. It's purpose was to be my "beater" guitar and it is but it has a rich, full-bodied sound like a dread when plugged in. It particularly sounds great when strummed. I replaced a martin 000-15S with it. Though roughly the same price at the time, it is a lot more guitar than the martin 15 series. More like the 16RGT series.
I replaced the crappy tuners with Schaller minis, cut the headstock off square and added a Martin Tortoise type pickguard after the crappy clear one started falling off. I also replaced the plastic bridge pins with ebony. I installed a K&K Pure Western pickup as I have in all of my guitars. It has heavy duty fret wire that as of yet, has not needed replacing or even dressing. All in all, a great sounding, workhorse guitar. I have actually come to like the sperm whale shaped bridge, not that there is anything I can do about that, anyway.

[Picking Moose]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

I'd like to see it Moose, post a pic here. Can you also post a link to your thread so I can read about it? Thanks.

I mentioned the Daion in a few threads for different reasons and I cannot really remember in which thread I've actually gone through it's history.
Don't want to spam the forum again with this guitar but I'll pm you details of it if you like

But here's another pic of it, anyhow...

[Doubleneck]

Love guitars from companies no long in existence. Would love a chance at the Daion Doubeneck. Got a domestically made Weckter couple of years ago, heard they are in process of closing down.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Picking Moose

I mentioned the Daion in a few threads for different reasons and I cannot really remember in which thread I've actually gone through it's history.
Don't want to spam the forum again with this guitar but I'll pm you details of it if you like

But here's another pic of it, anyhow...

Great looking guitar Moose! Nice burst and a pyramid bridge too.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by larryplatz

Have to agree with bohemian regarding the horrendous headstock and bridges on Tacomas (even though they said the bridge was engineered to distribute the sound in a way that would create more balance and better projection).

No, that was some pseudo-Kasha Theory nonsense that Terry Atkins, the company's marketing director, came up with long after the bridge design had been decided upon and programmed into their CNC carving machines. So, yes, that's what Tacoma's publicity materials claimed, but that's not why that design was decided upon.

Bridges themselves do not transfer vibrations in that way. Bridges act as a unit, not with lower frequencies inhabiting only the bass side and upper frequencies only on the treble side. You get all frequencies transmitted along the entire length of the bridge.

One of my best friends was on the design team that came up with all the early and middle period Tacoma Guitar Company instrument designs. They came up with the headstock design in an attempt to be visually distinctive from other guitar brands, and the bridge design followed because it went with the headstock design and - key point here - they had the capability to make those bridges with the CNC machines that they had.

But the pseudo-Kasha stuff about the bridge shape improving the balance and projection - afraid not. It was done that way for looks.

Originally Posted by larryplatz

I think it was these 2 things along with the flaking lacquer problem that led to their financial problems, causing them to sell out to Fender. Too bad. Great guitars. Still looking for a parlor (PK20 would be nice).

Larry, Tacoma's failure in the marketplace had more to do with the inadequate distribution system they developed, and also because there was no great clamoring need for their guitars. It may be that their visual aesthetics turned off some potential customers: the visceral reaction that both you and Bohemian expressed towards such functionally irrelevant aspects as their headstock shape shows how difficult it is to do anything that's truly different in the acoustic guitar market.

But the finish problems didn't arise until fairly late in Tacoma's history, so I doubt that was much of a factor.

It was an interesting company that tried its very best to make some cool instruments, but they never sold enough of them to even break even, much less make a profit. Sooner or later that sort of business venture gets shuts down.

What's amazing is that Tacoma kept its doors open as long as it did.


Wade Hampton Miller

[patticake]

my husband had a tacoma dread that sounded really nice, and he'd still have it, but decided that 1 11/16" nuts weren't for me. i think the tacoma papoose is a really cool and interesting small guitar.

[van6143]

Had a Tacoma DM10 it was a serviceable guitar well built but I really never bonded with the sound, finally sold it a few years ago.

[Tone Gopher]

+5 for the Gurian - and wider nuts were an option (Josh White, Jr had a jumbo with a wide nut). These guitars were very popular with the likes of Paul Simon and Jackson Browne.

I still own two that I bought in the '70s and a third (S3R) that I bought from William Cumpiano (another Gurian alumni).

Here's the back story of Gurian Guitars: http://www.gurianinstruments.com/top-nav/about-us/

[mr sid]

The place to get Tacomas is ebay , guitar center or craigslist......the point of my post;the prices can vary wildly,keep an eye out for a while,if you're interested.My girlfriend has a parlour,otherwise I wouldn't have known about them.Bang for buck,the sounds are very hard to beat-try one!

[elton.bloye]

I have one of the Chinese Garrisons - an AG500ce. Solid spruce top with American Sycamore back and sides and the synthetic Griffiths bracing system. Very bright guitar, bordering on a maple sound. I played it next to a Seagull Artist Cameo and tonally it was quite similar, although far less superior projection and depth of tone, as one would expect.

But I still think I made a pretty good choice for the money I had at the time. It was far superior to the Corts and Ibanez that I tried.

I played it next to Martin HD-28V with an Adirondack top for a few hours last week.... that was the end of my delusion that a Chinese Garrison is a "nice" guitar. It sounded like a piece of tin. I now understand what a good guitar sounds like.

[AZLiberty]

Like many other posters Tacoma is on the top of my list for companies I wish were still around.

Agree that the headstock design was somewhat aesthetically lacking. The bridge looks fine on the guitars with the paisley soundholes, and pretty out of place on those with traditional center soundholes.

[MissouriPicker]

I've got a Garrison G40 and it's one of the sweetest guitars I've ever owned. It's at least 10-years-old now and I've played it every bit as much as my Gibsons. The guitars made in Canada were really excellent instruments. Their imports from Korea had some issues. I had high hopes for them when Gibson bought the Canadian facilities, but I heard that Gibson didn't keep the building for long and moved the equipment to other Gibson locations. An article in a Nashville business journal suggested that Garrison had a huge supply of excellent wood and Gibson wanted that and the contracts for the wood. What the whole story is, I don't know, but Gibson didn't use the Canada location for very long.