Each year, Takamine releases a limited edition guitar that celebrates the culture and beauty of the Gifu prefecture, where Takamine has built guitars since 1962. These beautifully-crafted instruments feature artistic inlay designs that will never again be repeated. For 2018, we are proud to present Gifu-Cho, a guitar with a very special theme.

The delicately inlaid butterflies presented here herald the arrival of the Spring season. These butterflies, also known as "Spring Ephemeral", cannot survive in the deep forest. They only thrive for a short time in the hills and meadows between the forest and the villages of Gifu, Japan. During this brief period, they flutter around the violet flowers as if enjoying their relationship with the neighboring human beings.

LTD-2018 Gifu-Cho is an NEX-sized acoustic-electric guitar with a solid cedar top and ovangkol back and sides. It features a mahogany neck with an ebony fingerboard and pick guard that are inlaid with a beautiful abalone "Gifu-Cho" motif. The guitar features Takamine's renowned Palathetic pickup with a CTP-3 CoolTube preamp, a bone nut and saddle, abalone purfling and rosette, and gold tuning machines with ivoroid buttons. It has a unique "antique whitewash" treatment to the cedar top, along with ivoroid binding and a superb gloss natural finish. The LTD-2018 Gifu-Cho is shipped with a Certificate of Authenticity from Takamine.