.jpg?maxwidth=3840)
Lot 68 TAKAMINE GUITARS
What began as a small family luthier business in 1959 located in central Japan would grow by 1962 into the Takamine Company. Takamine concentrated on the manufacturing of acoustic guitars with a dedication to quality workmanship and materials. They would base many of their guitars’ designs on those of C.F. Martin and Company. The company’s embrace of the successful Martin design extended even to their headstock logo, which uncannily resembled that of Martin, and by the 1970s they had a well-established following in the United States. It is no small wonder that C.F. Martin balked. By the early 1980s, Takamine instituted a new logo design at the insistence of the Martin company, but by that point they had established a permanent foot print in the US market.
Takamine excelled in the amplification of acoustic guitars and were the first to incorporate transducers mounted under the saddle of the bridge. Continuing to improve acoustic guitar amplification, Takamine would develop the onboard pre-amp and equalizer, making these guitars the preeminent choice for performing musicians in live stage work. During the 1980s and 90s, Takamine amplified acoustic guitars became the tools of choice for many touring guitarists and remain so today. Regardless of their concentration in amplification, Takamine remained loyal to producing guitars with quality workmanship and excellent acoustical properties.
What began as a small family luthier business in 1959 located in central Japan would grow by 1962 into the Takamine Company. Takamine concentrated on the manufacturing of acoustic guitars with a dedication to quality workmanship and materials. They would base many of their guitars’ designs on those of C.F. Martin and Company. The company’s embrace of the successful Martin design extended even to their headstock logo, which uncannily resembled that of Martin, and by the 1970s they had a well-established following in the United States. It is no small wonder that C.F. Martin balked. By the early 1980s, Takamine instituted a new logo design at the insistence of the Martin company, but by that point they had established a permanent foot print in the US market.
Takamine excelled in the amplification of acoustic guitars and were the first to incorporate transducers mounted under the saddle of the bridge. Continuing to improve acoustic guitar amplification, Takamine would develop the onboard pre-amp and equalizer, making these guitars the preeminent choice for performing musicians in live stage work. During the 1980s and 90s, Takamine amplified acoustic guitars became the tools of choice for many touring guitarists and remain so today. Regardless of their concentration in amplification, Takamine remained loyal to producing guitars with quality workmanship and excellent acoustical properties.
TAKAMINE, NAKATSUGAWA, 1986
AN ACOUSTIC-ELECTRIC GUITAR, EN-28
Closed20 June 2019
Price Realised
USD 112,500
More Information
Specialist note
Supplied by Takamine via Rose Morris and Company Limited, London in 1987, this guitar was used extensively by David Gilmour for almost 200 performances of Wish You Were Here, the title track of Pink Floyd’s 1975 album of the same name, throughout Pink Floyd’s epic A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour from 9th September 1987 to 18th July 1989. Often considered a tribute to founder member Syd Barrett, Gilmour admitted in the 2012 documentary The Story of Wish You Were Here that he never plays the song without remembering Barrett. The series of shows at New York’s Nassau Coliseum were recorded for Pink Floyd’s 1988 live concert video and album Delicate Sound of Thunder, although the guitar can also be seen in numerous photographs and amateur footage captured over the course of the tour.
Gilmour was next seen with the EN-28 at Knebworth in England on 30th June 1990, when Pink Floyd played Wish You Were Here as part of an hour-long set for a historic charity concert in aid of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre. The band topped a bill of legendary Silver Clef Award Winners including Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Elton John, Genesis, Robert Plant (with guest Jimmy Page) and Status Quo. The guitar was thereafter kept for studio use, with crew photographs placing it in the studio for recording of the soundtrack to La Carrera Panamericana, a 1992 retrospective documentary film of the seven-day sports car race held in Mexico, featuring music by Pink Floyd. Making a stage comeback over two decades later for the final two legs of Gilmour’s solo Rattle That Lock Tour from June to September 2016, the guitar was used by second guitarist Chester Kamen for performances of Faces of Stone.
Gilmour was next seen with the EN-28 at Knebworth in England on 30th June 1990, when Pink Floyd played Wish You Were Here as part of an hour-long set for a historic charity concert in aid of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre. The band topped a bill of legendary Silver Clef Award Winners including Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Elton John, Genesis, Robert Plant (with guest Jimmy Page) and Status Quo. The guitar was thereafter kept for studio use, with crew photographs placing it in the studio for recording of the soundtrack to La Carrera Panamericana, a 1992 retrospective documentary film of the seven-day sports car race held in Mexico, featuring music by Pink Floyd. Making a stage comeback over two decades later for the final two legs of Gilmour’s solo Rattle That Lock Tour from June to September 2016, the guitar was used by second guitarist Chester Kamen for performances of Faces of Stone.