Classical guitar newbie (Takamine content)

[Dan German]

I have to confess, in nearly 50 years of playing I’ve never owned a nylon string guitar. So my boss asks me to look at his guitar, which needs a new tuner knob. It’s a 1976 Takamine C128. I quickly figure out that this is the entry-level laminate top Takamine classical. His guitar teacher a few years ago raved to him about what a great guitar this was, and how much it would cost to get something as good. (This seems to be a theme with older Tak classicals.) I take it home, tune it, start fingerpicking... well, how the heck does this thing sound so full with so small a body? And nylon strings? Seriously, it’s a nice-sounding guitar. To be fair, I’m biased, because I had a ply-top Takamine dread for years, and no one could convince me that it gave up anything to any but the best solid-top guitars, and my two solid-top Takamines have been phenomenal. It’s going to be kind of sad telling him that it doesn’t have any great cash value, because it really is nice. What I need to do is encourage him to keep playing, and to keep this guitar. It may not be worth big coin, but it would take triple its value to buy an equivalent. It also makes me warm and fuzzy to know that this would have been within the first year of Takamine export sales. Whoever bought this new was probably taking a leap of faith, or just loved the sound.

 

[Dan German]

On a related note: how do you lubricate the tuner posts in a slot head classical? I’ve never done such a thing, and they’re kind of creaky (which may have contributed to the tuner knob breaking).

@P Thought ? @Freeman Keller ?

 

[Deeve]

Actually, it's kinda neat to have a guitar of very limited cash value, but that it would take quite a bit of money to replace or improve.

I never had a nylon guitar before this dumpster- find, and I accept that it's a humble ply-top of no cash value, but I'd be spending north of $500 to get something that feels/sounds as nice.

Peace - Deeve

 

[Freeman Keller]

If I do anything I put a tiny drop of lubricant on the interface between the worm gear and cog and wipe off the excess. The posts themselves need no lubrication.

There is no reason an inexpensive "student" level guitar shouldn't sound good, Takamine has made some fine guitars over the years. My current nylon string guitar was built totally out of scrap wood (and not fancy tone wood at that) but I really enjoy sitting in the evening and picking on it.

 

[Dan German]

If I do anything I put a tiny drop of lubricant on the interface between the worm gear and cog and wipe off the excess. The posts themselves need no lubrication.

There is no reason an inexpensive "student" level guitar shouldn't sound good, Takamine has made some fine guitars over the years. My current nylon string guitar was built totally out of scrap wood (and not fancy tone wood at that) but I really enjoy sitting in the evening and picking on it.

Good to know. I was going to start with the obvious, but wasn’t sure about the posts. I see that fancy-schmancy ones use roller bearings; that seems like overkill.

 

[Killing Floor]

Those older Taks are fantastic. Really well made.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Good to know. I was going to start with the obvious, but wasn’t sure about the posts. I see that fancy-schmancy ones use roller bearings; that seems like overkill.

Good quality classical tuners should last the life of the guitar but there are many good replacements and the nice thing is that dimensions are pretty standardized. Gotoh, Schaller are both reasonable, Sloan are top of the line, You can get into hand made ones that cost more than most guitars.

I've never seen bearings, if yours are particularly mucky take them off and squirt WD40 or Triflow in the gears, then get as much out as possible. There are many techniques for stringing classical guitars (some of them quite bad), I bring the string up in front of the roller and loop it under the main string, then a couple of turns on the roller. You don't want a lot of string around the roller - they will stretch for weeks . Try to orient then on the rollers so they don't rub the sides of the slots or bind

If you are new to classical guitars the action will be quite different from what you are use too. I can walk you thru the steps if you would like

 

[Dan German]

The tuners looks pretty clean, they’re just creaky. I will give them some light lube today and see if that fixes is. If not, I’m going to try to convince the owner to just let me replace the tuner set, because it looks like all the knobs have a least slight cracking. There’s really no reason to do anything about the action; it plays beautifully (and has no truss rod), and I adapted to the feel of it pretty quickly. Playing a classical reminds me how much I prefer a wider neck, though. Also, I pick with my fingertips, not my nails, so I sound squeaky on nylon strings. Not much I can do about that after 40+ years.

 

[Dan German]

Bearings: (Rubner among others makes them, too) I said roller bearings, but they’re ball bearings. Whatever. Came as a surprise to me.

https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-h...cal-machines-with-leaf-bronze-baseplates.html

 

[Freeman Keller]

You can buy a decent student grade classical guitar for the price of a set of Sloans. And I'm sure they are quite nice but mine tune just fine, thank you.

 

[Dan German]

You can buy a decent student grade classical guitar for the price of a set of Sloans. And I'm sure they are quite nice but mine tune just fine, thank you.

Yeah, that’s how I look at it.

 

[Ron C]

In 1978 I went classical guitar shopping and got a Takamine C128 for $125. It blew me away; where others got progressively more dead going up the fretboard this one stayed great. Construction was wonderful too. My teacher - a monster player who split his time between Julliard for classical and a Zeppelin style cover band with a Les Paul down around his knees -- loved it too.

 

[stormsedge]

Love my Takamine...it's a '76. Just a great guitar in every way.

 

[WingedWords]

The tuners looks pretty clean, they’re just creaky. I will give them some light lube today and see if that fixes is. If not, I’m going to try to convince the owner to just let me replace the tuner set, because it looks like all the knobs have a least slight cracking. There’s really no reason to do anything about the action; it plays beautifully (and has no truss rod), and I adapted to the feel of it pretty quickly. Playing a classical reminds me how much I prefer a wider neck, though. Also, I pick with my fingertips, not my nails, so I sound squeaky on nylon strings. Not much I can do about that after 40+ years.

https://rmclassicalguitar.com/technique/

This is Rob McKillop's website. He's an enthusiastic for playing nylon strings without nails. It might be worth a look.

About the creaky tuners - any mileage in taking them off and using a little candle wax to lubricate the bearing holes in the headstock? Please shoot me down if it's a stupid suggestion.

 

[Dan German]

In 1978 I went classical guitar shopping and got a Takamine C128 for $125. It blew me away; where others got progressively more dead going up the fretboard this one stayed great. Construction was wonderful too. My teacher - a monster player who split his time between Julliard for classical and a Zeppelin style cover band with a Les Paul down around his knees -- loved it too.

See what I mean? Everybody’s teacher loves these old Tak classicals!

 

[P Thought]

I had one of those; technically maybe I still do. One of my students had perma-borrowed it; maybe he'll return it someday. Cool guitar, laminated spruce top, sounded great. Specs here.

Several years ago I replaced the tuners on my C-140SH. Fixed it right up.