Don't know what model it is, but I'll need to pull it out tonight and see. I recall it retailed for about $800 new back when I bought it around 1980, and it was a lightly used model that I think I paid about $400 for. We were originally looking at Guilds and Taylors and Ovations, but fell in love with the sound of the Takamine. I had never even heard of them before then. Every once in a blue moon I'll see one in the hands of a professional musician, but pretty rare.
I never cared much for Guilds, overbuilt and overpriced. Ovations are controversial. Their necks are well set up and they have decent tops. They pump out the sound. But I'll tell ya, as an armchair player who sits around and plays and plays, they are actually quite awkward to hold.
I never warmed up to Ovations. I actually have one in my house that my son's aunt gave him. It plays like an electric and sounds okay. But I'll take all-wood any day, even ply over their sound. They also were the first to hit the market with built in electronics and were hugely popular with electric players who wanted to use 'em in bands and such. They were the brainchild of Charles (?) Kaman, an inventor who got rich creating military tech (I think it was some kind of helicopter innovation).
As I recall, the Takamine steels were the "F" series; F-10, F-40 and such depending on body size. They made a suh-weet 0-size, I think it was the 10. They also made a great solid-top 12 string. I loved selling those guitars, they walked out the door with a happy customer.
The biggest flaw of most steel-strings is what I mentioned before, they are quite often overbuilt because makers worry about the torque of the strings over the life of the instrument. This will offend some, but I NEVER thought Martin guitars were all that great, they were just good and well-made.
Keep in mind that my perspective is based on knowing and playing classical guitars. It's a much harder job to get good sound with nylon strings, those builders have traditionally had to work a lot harder. John Mello, who is one of the finest craftsmen in the world, make a few steels, that were phenomenally lightweight (all of his guitars always have as little wood as is necessary, making a delicate and memorable sound, not everyone's cup-o-tea) and great sounding.
When Taylor, Santa Cruz and other new-gen builders started focusing on the Steel-string guitars design (this would be the 1970s forward), they quickly exceeded Martins in sound quality. I always kept my opinions about Martins to myself, but who cares now. People will argue and argue about how great they are, but I think these newer guys make beautifully sounding and playing guitars. You get into the zone of loyalty, tradition and blind prejudice when you criticize Martins. Oh well. They were better than Guilds for sure...Gibsons were overbuilt and overfinished as well.
