1980s Tama back in action - anyone else know about these?

TheBigDipper

My 78 year old neighbour owns a Tama TW-09 that he bought in the '80s. It's been hanging on a wall since he moved into his house 6 years ago. To look at, it's a dreadnought-style guitar, covered in grunge and strings corroded to a fashionable shade of black. He likes listening to music, so I asked him why he didn't play any more. The specifics aren't important. What transpired is he agreed to let me take it away and sort it out because actually, he'd like to have a casual strum from time to time.

So, it's at my place right now. I washed all the crud off (gently), polished it up, cleaned the fretboard and gave the frets a polish. When I took the strings off, the nut came with them (!), so I've cleaned that up and glued it back into place. Finally, new strings....

To be honest, I expected more. I know my neighbour paid £300 or so when he bought it new, and a bit of research on the Internet suggested this was all solid wood and "hand-finished". The action is OK, but the intonation is out on the B string. It strums well enough and sounds balanced, yet lifeless. The clear finish on the wood seems quite thick by todays standards - perhaps that's having an effect.

So, anyone out there know more about these guitars? Anyone got one and love it?

KKJale

The nut is supposed to come off!! On Tamas, it hides the truss rod nut and is held in place by string pressure!  

 I've got a 1978-'79 Tama TG-120 which is much the same thing: dread, solid spruce top, solid back/sides of some form of rosewood/jacaranda, maple binding, ebony board. It's a nice enough guitar that compares quite favourably with many Martins of the '70s (ie the worst Martins).

 Just guessing, but I think your neighbour's Tama might wake up a bit with some playing time.

TheBigDipper

KKJale said:

The nut is supposed to come off!! On Tamas, it hides the truss rod nut and is held in place by string pressure!  

Oh! Are you sure? I could see the truss rod in its slot when the nut came off, but there was lots of glue left on the guitar (which I cleaned up) so I never stopped to consider anything else other than re-gluing the nut with two drops of superglue.

The guitar also has a Gibson-esque truss rod cover on the headstock. I've just removed it and can see the end of the truss rod. It's big enough to get an allen key into the end of the rod without taking the nut off. 

It's not a bad guitar, far from it, and will suit my neighbours needs really well. Let's hope he plays it enough to get things singing sweetly again. 

Ta for the feedback, BTW. 

KKJale

TheBigDipper said:

The guitar also has a Gibson-esque truss rod cover on the headstock. I've just removed it and can see the end of the truss rod. It's big enough to get an allen key into the end of the rod without taking the nut off. 

Hmm, interesting.

My guess is it's been modified to make truss rod access easier. I've just looked at all the pics I can find of MkII Tamas (the ones with the "T" headstock logo, not the earlier mid-70s "vertical script" ones) and I can't find a single one with a Gibson-esque truss rod cover. 

Nice work, hope your neighbour appreciates your efforts  

TheBigDipper

KKJale said:

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My guess is it's been modified to make truss rod access easier. I've just looked at all the pics I can find of MkII Tamas (the ones with the "T" headstock logo, not the earlier mid-70s "vertical script" ones) and I can't find a single one with a Gibson-esque truss rod cover. 

So, I started Googling images to see what came up and could see what you meant - nice clean headstocks. Then I found one with the truss rod cover plate just like my neighbours, so I suspect they changed the spec at some point. Here's a pic to show you what his looks like (stock pic, not his actual guitar).

TheBigDipper

Well that didn't work too well! Anyway, if you're curious enough, @KKJale, then it isn't too hard to find a pic if you Google "Tama TW-09".