My first experience with koa came via a 'ukulele; i absolutely love the tone and the sound it produces and knew i wanted to find an all koa guitar to start playing ki ho'alu (slack key) with. After doing a lot of research i decided on the Takamine EF508KC and I absolutely love it! the sound is soft and warm, the action is amazing and it is an absolute joy to play. If you haven't played koa before, be aware that you won't get a booming bass or sharp treble with this wood. But for what i wanted to play on it this guitar is perfect and I can't speak highly enough about it!

When I picked up the Takamine EF508KC, I knew it was a keeper. My wife said it was the most beautiful guitar she'd ever seen. Myself and many other people agree. The koa has a flamed look in the light- it's brilliant. The rosewood fretboard is dark and feels very nice. Now for the sound quality: I have been working on my 2nd album for over a year. I have recorded with some other Takamine's and also a few Martin's and Taylor's. Finally I got in the studio with this Koa beauty and everything came alive. We mic it up with 2 mics and plug it in direct and blend it all- sounds crisp and clear. There have been MANY compliments on the sound. I also play in a live setting every week and I found out some interesting things when it's plugged direct into a PA. 1st of all, I highly recommend using Elixer stings because plugged direct, if the strings are slightly dead it just doesn't sound that great. The strings it came with died after two weeks. Also, the bottom end and mids are pretty boxy. There IS a fix. Turn the lows and mids all the way down and keep the highs flat and now it sounds terrific. I had one more test before I decided to buy it. I had my friend bring in his $3000 Martin John Mayer Signiture Acoustic and compared them side buy side unplugged and then plugged direct. This was the deal breaker folks; there was no comparison. I was not the only one that realized this. The Takamine Koa is an amazing product for the money. It sounded much more alive and looked a thousand dollars more expensive. I feel so lucky to have stumbled upon it!

I play for a living...a good living and I currently own a Taylor, Martin and Breedlove to name a few. I felt it was time to pick up a new guitar so I sat down at the old giant music store and played several new models for about a hour. As I was about to leave, I noticed the EF508 hanging on the wall. (It looks beautiful!) The sells guy takes it off the wall and says..."Try It". After about 45 secounds of playing it I stood up...handed it back to the sells guy and said, "I'll take it!" It sounds great! Looks even better and you can tell that it's built to last. I don't touch my other guitars much anymore. Enough said.

I was just playing for a few months when I saw this guitar. Of course I was not sure to buy this, since I was just a beginner. But I could not resist and I never have been sorry. Very easy to play and beginners just want to do better on this one I can tell! Learning becomes a real joy on this baby! Great sound, very low action. Great for strumming and fingerpicking. I have tried several guitars, but I will surely hang on to this beauty!

I bought this guitar about 18 months ago and have been nothing but totally pleased with it. The electronics are very good and the on-board tuner is very accurate. The figured koa is as pretty as any I have seen in pictures of guitars made by the small, independent luthiers, at a fraction of their cost. Add in gold Gotohs, a free deluxe hardshell case and you have outstanding koa value.