Makoto Terasaki

One of Japan’s most influential luthiers, Mr Makoto Terasaki’s designs have made Takamine guitars a near-universal presence on the world’s concert stages. He joins us to bust some myths about acoustic tone and share his setup secrets...

- Jamie Dickson

Normally, in these pages, we visit a well-known luthier’s workshop. This is the first time, however, that the workshop has come to us. But then Mr Makoto Terasaki isn’t your average guitar-maker. His elegant business card describes him as Director, General Manager, Artist Relations and Guitar Technician at Takamine. In most guitar companies that would be about four different jobs but, as we find out, it’s Makoto Terasaki’s close connection to musicians and real-world stage environments that’s enabled him to design and craft some of the most dependable and tone-rich acoustic guitars ever made. For while Takamine is best-known for its workhorse electroacoustics, the company’s roots are in handcrafted luthiery.

 

A thoughtful balance of form and function has guided Makoto’s guitar designs from the start, which he has his first guitar to thank for. Like many of us, he started on an instrument that even a virtuoso might struggle with: the inevitable cheap, nylonstring acoustic. Understanding why it was so difficult to play gave him his first insights into guitar design.

“When I was seven, my father gave me a poor-quality classical guitar,” Makoto laughs. “But my older brother owned a steel-string acoustic guitar, so I compared his guitar to my guitar. His guitar had a super-low action, so it was very comfortable for fingering. And of course my guitar had nylon strings – but too high. So I developed an interest in guitar construction at the same time as my playing improved.”

The interest in tinkering with acoustic guitars flowered into an ambition to build them. He got his first break when he was in college.