Takamine EF360GF vs Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS
Reasons to Get
Takamine EF360GF over Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS
Reasons to Get
Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS over Takamine EF360GF
Other Key Differences
Takamine EF360GF vs Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS
Shared Features
Takamine EF360GF vs Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS
Common Strengths
- High-Quality Nut
- Expensive Wood
Common Weaknesses
- Solid Side Wood
- Pickup Alter Switch/Knob
- Locking Tuners
- High-Quality Frets
- Compound Radius Fretboard
- Luminescent Sidedots
- Strap Lock
- 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- Active/Passive Preamp
Price History Comparison
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Which One is Better for Beginners?
The Takamine EF360GF meets 4 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS meets only 3. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.
New Player Friendliness
Takamine EF360GF- Easy-to-use bridge
- Tall frets
- Narrow nut
- Comfortable neck
- Comfortable shape
- Comfortable fretboard
- Short scale
- Soft Strings
- Locking tuners
New Player Friendliness
Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS- Easy-to-use bridge
- Tall frets
- Comfortable neck
- Comfortable shape
- Comfortable fretboard
- Narrow nut
- Short scale
- Soft Strings
- Locking tuners
Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing an instrument, you should pick the one more compatible with your personal style. Still, below we'll try you to give you our results as objectively as it's possible to help you decide.
Sound Quality Comparison
The most important thing that will determine the tone of an acoustic guitar is the wood. Let's take a look at the differences between both .
Woods Used in Both
Mahogany is a fairly rare wood nowadays. It's used mostly for bodies due to its relatively lightweight. Gibson popularized it with their Les Paul guitars during their golden years, so this wood has a lot of good reputation behind it. The most expensive type comes from South America and it's still used by Gibson even today. Find out more about Mahogany.
Spruce has a light color with tight grain patterns. It's very stiff but relatively light. It's known for producing a well-rounded tone with a broad dynamic range. Find out more about Spruce.
Woods Used in the Takamine EF360GF
Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.
Woods Used in the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS
It's a hard wood with a chocolate color that is often used to give an elegant finish. Since it's quite expensive and rare, it's mostly used for guitar tops. Find out more about Walnut.
Winner: Takamine EF360GF.
Electronics
The Takamine EF360GF comes with a preamp that allows you to connect it to an amp, unlike its competitor. This allows it to have more versatility and sound quality if you want to record with it or play live.
Winner:Takamine EF360GF.
Final Sound Quality Scores
Build Quality Comparison
When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Takamine EF360GF compares to the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS.
Country of Origin
The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. The Takamine EF360GF is built in Japan while the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS is made in Indonesia.
Japan has a long history of high-quality guitar building. Little has changed in terms of their manufacturing and quality control over the years. Many guitars made in this country can be compared—and even beat—others made in the US.
Indonesia is becoming the most popular country for guitar building because they can make good instruments for a low price. Some people think that they're 'the new China' when it comes to build quality. But the truth is that Indonesian guitars are more consistent, although Chinese quality has improved a lot in the last few years.
Winner: Takamine EF360GF
Nut Material
If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.
The Takamine EF360GF has a Bone nut. It's a type of nut found in high-quality instruments. They sound similar to Ivory since they give a lot of sustain and a bright sound (at least when striking open strings). The only problem they can run into is that you may get a bone piece that simply doesn't sound as well as others because that's just how natural materials are.
On the other hand, the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS comes with a NuBone nut. It's made by the same company that makes TUSQ nuts. It's slightly softer but hard enough to give you a brighter sound when playing open strings. It's also self-lubricating, so it's good for tuning stability.
Winner: Tie.
Fret Material
Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.
Unfortunately, none of them come with stainless steel frets.
Winner: Tie.
Tuners
Both come with regular tuners. The Takamine EF360GF's are Takamine while the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS's are Die-Cast
Winner: Tie.
Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:
Takamine EF360GF
- Made in Japan
- Expensive Wood
- Bone Nut
- Top Brand Pickups
- Electronics
- Bone Saddle
- Solid Top Wood
- Solid Back Wood
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- Laminated Side Wood
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS
- Expensive Wood
- NuBone Nut
- NuBone Saddle
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- Made in Indonesia
- No Top Brand Pickups
- No Electronics
- Laminated Top Wood
- Laminated Side Wood
- Laminated Back Wood
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Final Build Quality Scores
Playability Comparison
Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.
Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.
Nut Width
The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS has the wider nut with 43mm (1.693'') vs 42.5mm (1.673''). This is a 0.5mm (0.02'') difference
This means that it will be more difficult to do bar chords on the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS, especially closer to the nut. However, it's also easier to play without muting strings accidently. This favors people with big hands.
Scale Length
The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.
The Takamine EF360GF has the longest scale: 25.4". The Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS is only 25.3" long. This is a 0.099999999999998'' (2.5mm) scale length difference.
This longer scale means that the strings need more tension to get in tune. This is good if you want to avoid fret buzz, which can happen when the strings are too loose and touch the frets while vibrating. This is especially important when playing in lower tunings. This will also let you reduce the gap between fretboard and strings (low action) to make them easier to press down. However, this higher tension will also make it harder to perform bends and vibratos as the strings will feel stiffer.
This also means that the frets have a longer separation between each other, so this will make it harder for people with smaller hands when playing some chord positions.
Another characteristic of a longer scale is that it makes the guitar sound 'snappier' or brighter. This is due to the extra separation between harmonics and overtones produced by the tension. This influences tone more than any other factor (except the pickups).
Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.
Neck Profile
No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.
In this case, both have different neck shapes:
The Takamine EF360GF has a Asymmetrical type of neck. Even though this neck shape looks like a poorly-made job, it's, in fact, the neck that most naturally adapts to the arc of your hand when grabbing a guitar neck. You'll notice that the lower part of your palm makes a more pronounced, deeper curve while the upper part makes a more subtle arch. This is the shape that adapts the best to that natural arch your hand makes while playing.
The Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS, on the other hand, has a C neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.
Fretboard Radius
Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.
Both the Takamine EF360GF and the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS have the same fretboard radius of 12". This is the radius used in most Gibson guitars. It gives you a good balance for playing chords without muting, but also good comfortability for playing single notes and bending.
Hand Size Comfortability
Everyone has a different hand size, and that's why it's recommended to try a guitar before buying, even if others tell you that it's comfortable to play. However, we can know whether a guitar favors small or large hands just by knowing its exact measurements.
And after taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that the Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS favors large hands more than the Takamine EF360GF. But it's still more comfortable for people with small hands, as you can see in the score meter below.
Takamine EF360GF:
Fender CD-60 Dreadnought V3 DS:
Fret Size
Both have a Medium fret size. If you like feeling the fretboard when you play, but also appreciate some easiness to press down the frets, this size offers a good balance for that.
