Hey there! I just got my first Takamine the other day, a vintage F-340, in excellent shape. First two digits of serial number read 74. Paper decal in soundhole is missing, but has "Takamine est. 1962 Japan" and "F-340" stamped,or burned into the wood strip down the middle of the guitar back.

SO I was suprised to get home and discover the strap button actually doubles as a jack input and there is a single black wire running from it into a hole alongside the 1st string bridge adjustment post. No equalizer/vol controls of any kind.

IS this a stock pickup, or an aftermarket one?

Sounds like a Martin Thinline was added at some point. I did that to my 1977 about 10 years ago.

Aftermarket for sure. I was surprised to find one in the F400 I bought a few years back ... I just assumed the guitar was completely acoustic and the previous owner had no idea it there was a pickup installed at all! Sounds good though!

HmmmM...that would be a nice unexpected find for me Well I hooked a cable and electric tuner to it and nothing registers when I pluck a string. The input/strap button was loose so maybe the single wire got messed up previously.
Guitar sounds kinda dark so I might put lighter gauge strings on it. Appears to have 12's on there right now. Would a change in better bridge pins remedy the darkness? Current ones are plastic.

THANKS for the info!

Pins won't matter much. A tusk nut and saddle would make more of a differerce. PB's also

I figured since I play with a pick and not fingers that this guitar would be brighter than what it is. Yeah I should investigate the bridge option. Any suggestions as to a direct replacement tusq saddle?

Guess string recommends for a brighter set of 12's would be cool to.

Sorry I don't know offhand what " PB's" is. just not very familiar with acoustic lingo. LOL

Thanks guys

I take it back....they now make saddle pins out of titanium that some are swearing by (check latest ad in acoustic guitar magazine). You never know.

PB's are phospher bronze strings. They seem to be brighter to me, at least for the first 2 weeks.

Speaking of the old 77 Tak, here is a video of mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOfoOca4wwo

Disagree with ya there, dbg. Pins will make much more of a difference than the nut. A good source for high-quality pins, saddles and nuts is Bob Colosi's Custom Guitar Saddles. You can find Tusq nut and saddle blanks at Stewart MacDonald. PB's refer to Phosphor Bronze strings - available in most major brands. Oh, and welcome, BTW!

Nice dbg! I wish I would sound as good on my Zoom Q3!!
I had already given it to DH to "hide" before I got your email...besides, if I filled the box with dog treats, the dogs would have "ratted" me out (or at least opened the box!)

Keep them videos coming
-dm

I have a 74 F340 also that I have owned since, well 74.
Probably, the top is laminated, not solid, and will not be as crisp on the high notes as you are used to.
PBs in a light to medium gauge on 1 - 3 will help. On the other hand, you can't fault the booming bass of this model at this age.
Also you might check, since I had a problem with this once, the bridge adjustment mechanism and make sure it is correctly configured and doesn't, for instance, have that pickup wire pinched in there somehow which would reduce the saddle effectiveness. (I assume from your post that it has the adjustable saddle like mine does).

Have fun with it. I sure have with mine.

Dave

Yep it does have the adjustable saddle and ill be sure to investigate that single wire running from the bridge to the input. How a pickup can have only 1 wire is confusing to me though.

I will switch to a lighter gauge string (which I prefer anyhow) despite the ease at which these 12's play on this Takamine. Actually has lower action than either of my electrics! Is this neck a "V" neck? Simply the easiest neck I've ever played on an acoustic.

Anyone know what these things retailed for back in 1974?

Thanks for all your help guys!

I bought my 360S in '77 for about $250 (as best as my drug altered mind can recall)

Great playing on the video! Yeah I think the one variable not explored till yesterday solved the "darkness" problem with my guitar.

I generally use Dunlop Jazz 3 picks and a few other picks of similar sizes for my electrics. Grabbed like the 12 or so picks I had around and cycled through them, and a Dunlop Tortex L3 works great to give me a great range of treble to bass!

Sounds great to me and I won't need to swap out to a lighter gauge like I planned.

Thanks for all the help