Known for being one of the forerunners of the acoustic-electric guitar, Takamine still has a soft spot for classic designs, as evidenced by their parlor guitar models. The result of this new and old combination is the acoustic-electric parlor guitar GY93E New Yorker.
“New Yorker” is Takamine’s label for their small bodied acoustic line, so in my opinion it would’ve been easier to classify if they had named it a parlor guitar instead. Regardless, this classic looking guitar is as modern as it can get, complete with built-in pickup and preamp system.
The guitar’s body follows traditional top design, having a solid spruce top supported by scalloped X-bracing. Nothing unique about that, but it’s the safest route so to speak, and easily the most sought after type of wood for acoustic guitar tops. The sides are crafted from rosewood, also following conventional configuration, but the back is a different story because instead of just having it crafted from rosewood, Takamine had it built using 3-piece rosewood and quilt maple combination, which gives it an elegant and distinctive look – well at least from the players point of view. Tonewise, this guitar would not stray too far from the usual spruce topped small body acoustics, having a more balanced sound with more emphasis on the mids.
While the body still follows traditional specs, the neck on the other hand provides modern comfort and playability. It has a slim profile with a 12″ radius bound rosewood fingerboard on top. It has a total of 20 frets and meets the body at the 14th fret following more recent acoustic guitar designs. Scale length is also standard at 25.5″ while the nut width is narrow at 1.6875″, giving this parlor guitar a smoother and familiar playing feel. Abalone dot inlays serve as fretboard markers.
As expected from Takamine, this parlor guitar comes equipped with its own preamp system, TK-40D. It gives you the stereotypical crisp and open sound that’s been the identity of the brand, albeit with more midrange oomph than big bodied acoustics. The preamp comes with a nifty built-in tuner, and tone shaping via the three-band EQ and gain controls, mid contour switch. There’s also a notch filter and EQ bypass switch just in case you need them.
Cosmetic appointments include maple binding on the body neck and headstock, darkwood rosette and body purfling. Other hardware include synthetic bone nut, rosewood headstock cap, gold die-cast tuners with black buttons, and Takamine’s unique “split bridge” design saddle.
The Takamine GY93E is currently retailing for just under $800. Head over to Takamine for further details.
More options are available in our roundup of Acoustic-Electric Parlor Guitars.
