REVIEWED


Takamine EG Mini TAKAMINEEG Mini


The simple control panel presents no barriers to getting great amplifi ed tones


This compact electro acoustic from Takamine proves a small body doesn’t necessarily equate with bite-size tones...


Words: Tim Slater


It wasn’t too long ago that Takamine were THE go-to brand for professionals looking for a top notch electro acoustic for stage use. Competition from the US and the Far East may have changed the landscape since the days when Takamine ruled the roost but the Japanese giant remains a competitive and innovative brand with a great range of instruments to suit most budgets. The EG Mini belongs to


Takamine’s Korean manufactured G Series electro acoustic guitars that offer upmarket features like solid tops, several attractive fi nishes and very effective onboard active electronics within an affordable framework. This guitar’s compact size falls somewhere in between a


TAKAMINE EG Mini


SRP £346.80


All prices include VAT CONT


ACT


Fender GBI T:


01342 331 700 W: takamineguitars.eu/uk 28 pickup


travel guitar and a full sized acoustic, it’s certainly an incredibly cute looking little guitar and you can easily picture one of these nestling unobtrusively in the corner of your home studio.


In the small park... This wee six string features a scale length of 580mm (a fraction under 23-inches), which is roughly an inch and a half shy of a typical full-sized dreadnought or jumbo. The body is essentially a pint-sized version of a traditional jumbo; the tightly tucked-in waist helps to highlight the elegant contrast between the wide lower bouts and the narrower rounded shoulders whilst the body sports a fairly generous depth of 92mm compared to the 100mm of a typical full-sized EG Takamine electro-acoustic jumbo. The Mini sports a solid cedar top with features traditional X-bracing, fl anked by a laminated two-piece mahogany back and laminated mahogany sides. The gloss black fi nish on our review sample lends the guitar a deeply sumptuous sheen and whilst gloss black is notorious for highlighting even the tiniest fi ngerprint or blemish it should still offer generally better resistance to wear than the natural satin fi nish that Takamine currently offer as an alternative on this model. Playability-wise the Mini scores


highly; the glued-in mahogany neck has a 14th fret neck join, small vintage sized frets and a rosewood fi ngerboard with small abalone dot inlays, aided by conventional white side dot markers. The nut width measures 41mm, which isn’t far short of a conventional dreadnought or jumbo and there is plenty of room to fret chords and generally move around without feeling too cramped. The EG Mini’s generous depth and


well judged body dimensions lend the guitar a surprisingly full-sounding tone that feels closer in spirit to the bolder sound of a full sized guitar. There are hints of the boxiness that you’d expect to fi nd in a typical compact travel instrument but the Takamini generally scores highly in its open sound and impressive projection. The overall tone is fairly bright but well balanced, there is a hint of brashness in the treble frequencies but generally this comes across as a pleasing shimmer, mellowed by the guitar’s superb


natural sustain. The low end might not deliver the equivalent of a full-sized acoustic guitars boom- factor but there is sweetness and enough presence in the upper midrange to help to fi ll everything out without sounding muddy. The simple passive preamp is located in a small compartment inside the guitar and is linked to a transducer pickup under the bridge saddle, controlled by a pair of side-mounted rotary tone and gain (volume) controls. The amplifi ed sound refl ects the same general character as the purely acoustic tones; there is fractionally less warmth but the tone control does help to dampen down some of the treble, which transducer pickups often seem to boost. Generally speaking, though, the amplifi ed sounds refl ect this guitar’s naturally bright and shimmery voice, which we like because any guitar with such a distinctive appearance should ideally produce a somewhat individual sound. PM


SHOULD I BUY ONE?


The Takamine represents an intriguing blend of a travel guitar and a compact standard acoustic. We like its transparency and power and are generally impressed with the way that Takamine has managed to tune-out the stiff boxy sound that you often fi nd with small bodied acoustic instruments. The build quality and fi nish are both outstanding and refl ect the usual high standards that Takamine consistently delivers throughout its range. Would you play it much, though? It depends on your needs; if you are planning a backpacking trip the Mini is probably just about small enough to carry around (and it does come with a nice gig bag) but after a month or two lugging it about in airports you might fi nd it a bit unwieldy after a while. For less peripatetic requirements, this guitar is perfect for anyone living or working in an environment where space – or the lack of it – is an issue. Do we like it? Oh yes!


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