# Norman or Takamine



## bruggar (Sep 14, 2009)

This will be my first guitar. I have never played before but am going to start. I am thinking about buying one of these brand guitars. A friend has a Takamine EG340c and loves it. Budget around $750. Any opinions? All help is greatly appreciated.


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

It's been said here in various ways many times but...
Try every guitar you can get your hands on at your price range. Between two (or more) equally appointed and valued brands you will find one that just fits better in your hands and/or sounds better to your ears. It's a very individual process. Your friend's Tak may be perfect for him but may not feel as good to you as a Norman or another brand. Maybe it'll be better, who knows till you try? Everyone is different. If you're looking for endorsements of certain products I'm sure you'd find fans of either of the brands you mentioned and many others so it comes down to what works for you. 
Have fun searching!


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## bruggar (Sep 14, 2009)

Are there any differences between the two that would make learning easier?


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

bruggar said:


> Are there any differences between the two that would make learning easier?


None that I know of but I think it will be easier to learn on a guitar that feels good and stays in tune. If you are a beginner this may be harder to determine since you're not used to the "feel" of a guitar good or bad. 
Both Takamine and Norman are well regarded guitars and if you spend $750 you'll probably have a better instrument than most people start on. 

How "easy" it is to learn depends more on you. It takes some determination to get over the sore fingers and seemingly impossible chord shapes but it gets easier over time if you stick with it. 
To go back to my original suggestion it's easier to get over those challenges when you have an instrument that fits.


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## Skndstry (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm with hamstrung. If you've got $750 to drop on your first guitar, you are going to have a very sweet one indeed. At that price, there are a lot of guitars of many makes that are well above entry level. 

This is strictly my opinion, and you can go ahead and do what you want, but there are really good used guitars out there for far less. For example, there's a guy with a nice Blueridge here that is letting it go with a tuner, music stand, guitar stand, pick up, etc., for about $350. 

My suggestion would be to check out your local kijiji or bargain hunter, read some reviews about the guitar if you see one you like, ask about it on these boards, and then learn to play. If you are still at it in a year or so, or decide you love it so much that you can't imagine not playing, then go ahead and sell that one, add the other $400 you didn't spend, and you'll still be in the range for something quite nice. 

Otherwise, the scenario that stands to play out is that you decide you DON'T like playing, or find it harder than you thought, decide to sell that nice $750 guitar, end up taking the hit for a few hundred bucks, and somebody ELSE scoops the sweet deal.


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## Skndstry (Jul 21, 2009)

Oh, and to answer your question. 

I have a nice Tak that was given to me on an open ended loan by someone who got wood for playing guitar, bought it, then never learned to play! 

So I know of whence I speak.

And to be honest, I don't play it at all. I never liked the sound or the neck. I haven't played any Normans, but they are Canadian made, right?

So for my money...:smilie_flagge17:


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## bruggar (Sep 14, 2009)

Would you consider the QUALITY comparable between these two brands??


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## Skndstry (Jul 21, 2009)

On a final note, you may notice that hamstrung and laney have both recently bought Norman guitars - for $79 and $120 respectively. 

You won't see those deals everyday, but when seasoned guitar players are buying guitars, even cheap ones, they still have to sound good. 

That ought to give you your answer, and maybe an indication that you needn't blow the whole wad on a decent guitar right away.


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## bruggar (Sep 14, 2009)

it all sounds like good advice, thanks to all that replied


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## bruggar (Sep 14, 2009)

*Garrison g35*

Found this guitar locally with hard shell case for a little over $300. Read a couple reviews and they all say "the action is too high". What does that mean? What would be an cost estimate to "lower the action"?


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## Brennan (Apr 9, 2008)

The action of a guitar is the height of the strings off the fretboard. A higher action will be more difficult to play as you have to press the strings down further to make contact with the frets (not necessarily a bad thing, but for a beginner it can make learning harder). Lowering the action could be as simple as a small truss rod adjustment or require some major surgery, depending on the specific guitar.

That said, the few garrisons I've played were all very good guitars for the money. If you can, I would suggest you bring out your guitar playing friend when you go looking at them, let him try them out and get his opinion first hand. It always helps to have someone more knowledgeable than yourself come along (and a second set of eyes and ears can't hurt even the most experienced of players).

As far as the comparison between Norman and Takamine; as others have said, they are both respectable brands and anything they offer in the price range you are looking at should be a great guitar to learn on. And again, bring along someone who knows what to look for when you buy one if you can.


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## neogardguitar (Dec 6, 2007)

I have played Norman's but never owned one. 

I have owned 2 Takamines. A really early one with the Martin-like headstock and a more recent G series one.

I think both are good for the price. Play them and see what you like.

However...

If my budget was $750, I would be looking used. You can sometimes find used Larivees in that price range and buying used you get a lot more bank for the buck .. and no taxes.

My 2 cents if that helps.

N


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## Skndstry (Jul 21, 2009)

I have a Garrison G50. Can't speak to the one you are looking at, but I LOVE mine. And lowering the action shouldn't be a problem. Just go play it.


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## GuitarPix (Jan 11, 2007)

It also depends on what style of music you want to play. 

I know - its probably "everything." largetongue

But, if you're planning on getting heavy on fingerpicking, I'd go with the Takamine. If you're planning on doing more strumming - singer/songwriter style, I'd go Norman. That's just based on the guitars I've played, other people may have different experiences.

I'm not sure I'd buy a used guitar without knowing the owner or having the ability to have it checked over by a repair person before buying - a least until you've been playing awhile. A guitar with high action could have a broken truss rod - which is not cheap to repair. Might just be not set up right, but....


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## Denis Trudeau (Mar 27, 2010)

Norman all the way!!

Solid top in spruce or cedar, good sound, confortable neck, and listen to the différence in sound, Takamine guitars to me sound weak in bass and trebles are not sweet.

Norman are more even and also less irritating in the treble, they have good action and confortable neck

try the B-18, B20 and B-50

It is just my opinion of a guitar tech with 25 years expereriance

( sorry for my english)

Denis Trudeau Luthier


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## Steve Adams (Dec 31, 2009)

as an owner of two tackamines, I will say norman. Tack's are overated and over priced.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I've owned both. Mid '70s Tak Martin dread lawsuit-whatever, mid '70s Tak classical with terrible intonation, and a Norman cedar top dread. The Tak dread was great, classical was mediocre. Norman was stellar, bought low, sold high, and the current owner has bashed it about a lot and it still sounds great. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I have a Norman B-20 that I really like. The few Taks that I've played sounded thin - the Norman is a boomer and really well made for a relatively inexpensive guitar. I bought it 10 years ago to take the load of my main guitar and now it's sort of my main guitar.


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I can't imagine spending $750 on a first guitar. My first guitar cost about $40. My second one was free. 

My advice - spend some time playing something cheap but good, to figure out whether you even like playing guitar, before you invest a pile of money in it.

Norman is a good place to start. Arts & Lutherie, too. Seagull. Yamaha has some very nice solid top guitars for about $250 new these days. Go to a guitar store and check out everything they have that's under $500 or so. You'll be surprised at how nice they are.

Of course, if $750 is just pocket change to you, knock yourself out. There are loads of quality guitars in that price range. It wouldn't make much sense to restricted your selection to Norman or Tak.


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## Mike MacLeod (Nov 27, 2006)

I suggest you budget up to $100 for a set-up on whichever guitar you acquire. Don't judge the instrument by the way it plays under the fingers. That can be changed - and should be changed to suit you. Judge the guitar by it's sound. Try to play some very expensive guitars $5K and see if you can get a sense of why they are expensive. This will help you a little. But you must still be the final judge. If you buy used, make absolutely sure the person you take with you is clued in to guitars. 
Tak's probably hold their value a little better than the Norman as Norman is still a "new born-again name" You might look at Simon and Patrick and Seagull as they will likely have a better re-sale value than Norman and they are made by the same folks. I'm not sure where Garrison is these days. It might be an 'Orphan'. I lean on the resale value because if the guitar bug 'hits' you will likely be looking to sell or trade to move up to a significantly more expensive guitar. A few folks on the list thoroughly enjoy getting great sound out of cheaper instruments, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of the players I know think nothing of investing several thousand dollars into a single guitar - and a few have multiple instruments. Just be glad you didn't pick fiddle or mandolin. Most moderately competent fiddlers can't find a playable instrument for under $10K.

Above all, have fun. It's only a guitar, after all. ;-)


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## Alain Moisan (Jan 16, 2010)

Mike MacLeod said:


> I suggest you budget up to $100 for a set-up on whichever guitar you acquire. Don't judge the instrument by the way it plays under the fingers. That can be changed - and should be changed to suit you.


Couldn't agree more.


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