I've had this guitar for about 1 1/2 years. Prior to this (similar to a previous reviewer) the love of my life was an '76 Epiphone 12 string. It's sound had awsome depth to it until a strap accident that left it split up the side. I'm picky about the sound of my guitars, and I only had to play this Takamine once to be convinced. I also LOVE the on board tuner. It simplifies the job of keeping all 12 strings in tune, and everyone that sees the built in tuner is envious. I did not give this 5 stars on quality because the electric jack developed a problem - probably shy of 12 months. I looked on line and ordered a replacement. You will not be dissapointed with this guitar. If I had this to do over again, I would still buy the same one.

I had a 12-string before I ordered this guitar but needed an ax that was plugged and after all the research that you're now doing I chose the Tak 523. Wow. What a beautiful guitar with all the right curves. Everything about this guitar shouts working' in show business! She does everything I bought it to do…plug it up and it dominates the stage from sweet finger-picking to aggressive strumming and looking great doing it! Unplugged, the sound goes from WOW to pretty good. My much cheaper '74 12-string Epiphone has a deeper, bolder sound believe it or not, and, because the Epi has a narrower neck it is a bit easier to chord - but more difficult to finger pick. The Tak is great for finger picking but the wide neck gives the left hand a real workout. Everything has its pro's and con's but you have to look long and hard to find this Takamine's con's, and whether I like it or not, everyone who sees mine loves it, and everyone who hears it on stage respects it. Good luck!

got this one couple days ago, built in tuner helped a lot, you will be tuning it every time you play it, this will happen on any 12 string though. mic is good, the maple makes it seems like the sound goes forever.

This guitar (Takamine EG523SC12) is everything you would want in a 12-string. I saw this in the shop and I just picked it up to play it because I had never played a 12-string guitar before. Once I played it, I fell in love with this instrument. I'm not sure if Takamine could do any better than this here. After I purchased this from a local store, the only thing that needed to be replaced was the strings. Since then, it has been nothing but beautiful sounds from this guitar. The only reason I put value at 4.5 instead of 5 is because I see that it could have been bought for cheaper online. The body is pure excellence, the jumbo style is really accomplished here. Once again, if you are considering buying this guitar, I would highly recommend it... it has yet to let me down.

I'm really impressed with this guitar. I've been playing for 40 years and I haven't found anything better. I bought this guitar from musicians friend about 3 years ago and only changed the battery and strings. This guitar gets played 3 times a week every week and hasn't fouled once. It has an onboard tuner that works well and it a Godsend for a 12 string. The electronics are superb but 523 12 string sounds great unplugged. This is a beautiful instrument visually and set up was good right out of the box. I'm seriously considering buying the 6 string version. Buy this guitar you'll love it.