Takamine' long history in traditional classical guitar construction manifests itself in the P3FCN contemporary nylon string acoustic/electric, designed to deliver classic nylon string tone in modern live and recording environments. The solid cedar top features hand-scalloped X bracing and ivory binding, with dark purfling and a gorgeous concentric-ring rosette with wood marquetry. An elegant Venetian cutaway offers optimum access to the upper registers. The unique Takamine split-saddle bone bridge provides faultless intonation and excellent acoustic coupling to the top. Other premium features include a solid sapele back, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard with wood œdot-in-dot inlays, gold tuners with amber buttons, natural satin finish and the highly acclaimed CT4B II preamp system with three-band EQ, volume control and built-in tuner.

The Palathetic pickup
Using six individually shielded piezo-electric elements, one for each string, the Palathetic pickup is not a just a UST (under saddle pickup). In fact the Takamine design employs twelve times the element mass of the typical under saddle pickup. The six elements penetrate the bridge plate, soundboard and bridge to make direct contact with the saddle creating a sonic linkage with the string. The pickup casing is mechanically attached to the guitars top and bridge creating a sonic linkage with the soundboard. The result of this design is a signal that possesses the articulation of an isolated string signal and the rich harmonic content delivered by the resonating soundboard for a full, complete and accurate acoustic guitar tone at high sound pressure levels.

CT4B II Preamp Features
The CT4B II preamp is designed for ease of use and purity of tone. The CT4B II consists of 3 bands of graphic EQ tone control, a volume control slider and a built-in chromatic tuner.

The 3 band EQ provides control over the bass (LOW), midrange (MID) and treble (HIGH) frequency response. With the sliders set at the midpoint (0) the electric signal from the guitar is evenly balanced across the frequency range. The desired tone is then dialed in by using the sliders to add or subtract frequency response as desired. Each frequency control slider will raise or lower the band response by +/-5db.

The volume slider adjusts the output volume of the preamp.

The convenient built-in chromatic tuner is extremely accurate and very easy to use. The tuner is activated by pressing the TUNER POWER button. To tune your instrument, simply pluck any open string. The tuner will then display the name of the note that has the closest frequency of the string played. The amount of deviation from the note (higher or lower) is displayed by red arrows indicating sharp or flat. When only the green center light illuminates, the note indicated in red has reached precise tuning. When the guitar is unplugged, the TUNER POWER switch acts as on and off.

Your CT4B II tuner is also capable of being calibrated to frequencies other than standard A440. When the PITCH button is pressed, the frequency that is currently set will be shown by a flashing red light above the frequency number. While the reference light is flashing, press the Pitch repeatedly to set the desired reference pitch. With each press of the button, the reference pitch will increase by 1Hz increments from 440Hz to 445Hz. Once the pitch has reached 445Hz, the next press will decrease the pitch to 438Hz. When the button operation is stopped, the reference pitch is set and the tuner will stand by for tuning.

To facilitate silent on-stage tuning, the TUNER POWER button also acts as a mute switch when the guitar is played amplified. If you wish to be able to tune with your signal amplified, simply press the TUNER POWER a second time. Press a third time to shut off the tuner function. The tuner will shut off automatically when there is no signal for a couple of minutes.