Takamine Nashville model Guitars (from Takamine's website):

Hand-crafted of all-solid woods by a special team at Takamine, Nashville models are as close to a luthier-built instrument as you will find from an international guitarmaker.

The tops are solid, hand-selected "bear claw" spruce which creates a rare, naturally occurring pattern. Each soundboard is individually voiced to maximize its power and dynamic range.

The back and sides are solid, bookmatched Indian Rosewood, chosen for both its appearance and acoustic integrity. The ebony fingerboard is fitted with nickel silver frets, leveled and finished by hand for perfect playability and intonation. The soundhole and perimeter of the top are inlaid with hundreds of pieces of beautiful abalone shell. Nashville models are available in pure acoustic form or equipped with a Takamine pickup and CT-4B preamp.

More About the Cool Tube Pickup:

The CTP-1 "Cool Tube" preamp introduced at the January 2004 NAMM show in Anaheim, California is the most significant development in "on-board" acoustic signal processing since Takamine presented the Acoustic DSP, the industry's first on-board "digital" acoustic guitar preamplifier in 1998. The Takamine CTP-1 "Cool Tube" preamp is an on-board acoustic- electric preamp that utilizes a 12AU7 dual triode vacuum tube. The CTP-1 packs a huge amount of features and amazing tone into a compact package that fits neatly into Takamine's "SoundChoice" docking port. This new "Cool Tube" preamp joins a range of five distinctly different preamps that are all interchangeable, giving the Takamine player several great options to fit their personal style and taste.

The CTP-1 "Cool Tube" preamp gets its name from Takamine's unique and new technology that runs the Tube at very low voltages, therefore the tube does not glow or produce high levels of heat. The tube actually runs at only two or three degrees above ambient, so there is no concern over the delicate tone woods being affected by radiant heat. With the Takamine CTP-1 "Cool Tube" preamp, the playing will be hot, the tone will be warm, and the tube always remains cool.

Cool Tube Features
Takamine players will find a most useful array of features to enhance their recording or live performance applications:

* A chromatic tuner available at your fingertips keeps the guitar in tune. The tuner is capable of being calibrated from A438, to A445. An LED display reveals the note being played and directs the player with illuminated arrows that show sharp and flat.
* The EQ section utilizes a shelving, graphic EQ, which can cut or boost bass and treble frequencies. The mid range is shaped using a semi-parametric EQ section comprised of a rotary knob used to choose the mid point of the midrange frequency. The midrange frequency can be cut or boosted with the mid slider. The range of frequency covered by the rotary knob is 200hz to 8.5Khz.
* The tonality of the preamp is further enhanced by the use of the rotary knob labeled "Cool Tube" With this control, the player chooses the depth of effect the tube places on the signal generated by the proven Takamine "Palathetic" pickup. With this knob the player can choose from a high degree of "CUT" for aggressive strumming; expanded "sweetness" and harmonic density with fatter lows and rounder highs; or levels of rewarding richness for finger style players.
* An auxiliary input jack and volume knob, which can control an additional add-on pickup of your choice. This facility can accept a magnetic sound hole pickup, or a soundboard transducer. The AUX control knob is used to blend the add-on signal with the Takamine pickup. A small switch in the back of the preamp can be used to match the varying outputs of different pickups with the preamp. The output volume slider can then control the blended signal. The CTP-1 is powered by 4 AA batteries, which will deliver approximately 24 hours of playing time.

More About the Tri-Ax Pickup

TAKAMINE TRI-AX
The world's first active triaxial soundhole-mounted acoustic guitar pickup
Triax Triax
TRI-AX FEATURES

* Sound board sensitive, dual coil magnetic pickup
* System matched to our Cool Tube preamp
* Noiseless class A all discreet line driver
* Adjustable pole pieces for balance control
* Highly feedback resistant
* Passive/active switch
* Volume control
* 1000 hour battery life with CR2032 coin cell

Takamine Guitars, the industry leader in acoustic electric guitar technology is proud to introduce its first "add-on" acoustic guitar pickup. Takamine's Tri-Ax is a tri-axial dynamic body sensing, soundhole mounted pickup that is "System Matched" to perform with the Takamine CTP-1 Cool Tube preamp. When installed in the CTP-1 auxiliary input, the TRI-AX gives the player a greatly expanded palette of tonal possibilities.

The Tri-Ax is also an excellent stand-alone pickup that can be installed in any acoustic guitar for a level of realism and fidelity that was previously unattainable. The Tri-Ax features both passive and active operation and a volume control in active mode.

WHAT IS "TRIAXAL"?

The dynamic body sensor contained in the Tri-Ax pickup responds in three dimensions to the guitar's vibrations. Traditionally the humbucking coil in a stacked humbucker is rigidly attached to the main coil and does not generate a useful signal.

Triax
* Unique to the Tri-Ax, a body sensor is created within the pickup by physically disconnecting the humbucking coil from the main coil and strategically suspending it under the magnets in a way that allows it to vibrate in three planes in response to the guitar top's vibrations

* As the suspended coil vibrates, a signal is generated by its interaction with the magnetic field. The three dimensional body sensor sounds more rich and complex than any single axis body pickup and seamlessly blends with the string signal for a level of realism never before achieved by a soundhole magnetic pickup.

Cool Tube with the Tri-Ax
* Tri-Ax is "System Matched" to augment the CTP-1 preamp. The pickup comes with the cable to connect to the aux input.
* In passive mode the Tri-Ax uses the CTP-1 Aux control to blend effectively with the Palathetic pickup for a new level of tonal bliss.
* The Tri-Ax is silent and adds a brilliance to the midrange and fattens up the treble strings, especially beyond the 7th fret.

The Joe Mills Microphone

Mills microphones are a well-kept secret among professional acoustic musicians. These microphones are produced in Nashville, TN and are used by a number of country, bluegrass and folk recording artists. As Joe Mills says, these mics are "ear tested and picker approved". Mills mics are unusually high quality , internal mount electret condenser microphones which can be used alone or in combination (stereo hookup) with other kinds of transducer style pickups.
Key Features:
low impedance electret condenser microphones
Size is approximately 0.250 x 0.125 x 0.625 inches (it's small folks)
can be run from an internal or external power source (6-15 vdc)
Comes with a mounting clip and extension arm for attaching to internal instrument bracing
Instructions including for optional installation of an internal 9v power supply
(professional installation suggested)