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Is Tagima a new trend or...?

I recently found on Reverb couple of interesting shapes. It says Tagima brand. Never heard of them before. But, prices are competitive. Anyone knows more about it?
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They are very old in Brazil. more than 30 years old. but recently they took their production to the next level in terms of machinery, industrial process and partnership with chinese manufacturers for entry level at fair price. They are very competitive in Brazil stores too. just watched an youtube doc about it. In brazilian review channels everyone says "I wish they were this good during the 90's" when i was a student. (cause every brazilian musician is a warrior, as you may have heard). They say their line named Millenium Imbuia or so (4 and 5 strings) are of relative success in the US. Ever heard of it?
 
They are very old in Brazil. more than 30 years old. but recently they took their production to the next level in terms of machinery, industrial process and partnership with chinese manufacturers for entry level at fair price. They are very competitive in Brazil stores too. just watched an youtube doc about it. In brazilian review channels everyone says "I wish they were this good during the 90's" when i was a student. (cause every brazilian musician is a warrior, as you may have heard). They say their line named Millenium Imbuia or so (4 and 5 strings) are of relative success in the US. Ever heard of it?
I follow several Brazilian Manufacturers and I am amazed with their quality, design and innovations. That was one of my earlier posts about Tagima and people are finding more and more about them.
 
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As opposed to tried and tested basses that you might buy instead?
Other than that, it's a Brazilian company selling basses made in China.
NBD! Tagima Woodstock Jazz 73

Quick and dirty Tagima review.
If you're from South America, I maybe it's a viable option.
They have 2 tiers of basses.
The more expensive and better made are made in Brazil.
The lower tier less expensive basses are made in China.

Here's Phillip McKnight reviewing a Tagima guitar (wish he'd review a Tagima Bass)
 
They have 2 tiers of basses.
The more expensive and better made are made in Brazil.
The lower tier less expensive basses are made in China.

Here's Phillip McKnight reviewing a Tagima guitar (wish he'd review a Tagima Bass)

Someone has done it. In portuguese, obviously, there are hundreds of these millenium imbuia reviews. Be carefull not to mistake The chinese line for this one. I want to buy a tagima bass justa can’t decide wether i should get their brazilian made jazzbass or this imbuia one.
 
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I follow several Brazilian Manufacturers and I am amazed with their quality, design and innovations. That was one of my earlier posts about Tagima and people are finding more and more about them.

That’s super nice man! Small manufacturers in Brazil are very high level. What’s nice about tagima is that they are really succeding in modern globalized market. At least in Brazil. You wouldn’t believe how expensive is a Squier jazz bass in the streets of São Paulo. The chinese Tagimas are really really Helpfull to begginers. And they also make professional instruments at their top facility in Brazil at a very affordable price. What the other guy said above about great bass players from here endorsing their basses is really true. They actually use Tagimas at their gigs.
 
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So much for those, who are ready to spit on whatever is not under "F" corporation (right after my first post). There is a post about $2000+ "F"-thing right now on the board, which is falling apart and being sold to consumer as such.
The good thing is, people are not stupid.
 
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I recently found on Reverb couple of interesting shapes. It says Tagima brand. Never heard of them before. But, prices are competitive. Anyone knows more about it?
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I know em because I play em. Whether it is my Brazilian Millennial Imbuia or the Chinese Woodstock JB or the TJB 5 they are impressively stage worthy like my Fender American Deluxe PJ. No shame to have a China Tagima on stage.
 
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Tagima is a well known brazilian company that makes great instruments for many years.

They sell diferent types of instruments and they have great basses available. The lowest level line of instruments are made in China but they sound great and are on level with Squier basses.

But they have medium level and higher level too. The better instruments are made in Brazil and they use great exotic woods to build them. They look and sound awesome. Many great bassplayers from Brazil use Tagima. Just check Michael Pipoquinha, Artur Maia (RIP) or Ana Karina Sebastião. These are great players, world level that could use any instrument in the world but play with Tagima.

I have a Tagima TJB4 Special and this bass feels great and sounded really good on its own. It could compete with any MIM Fender.
But I upgraded the pickups, installed a John East preamp and changed the bridge and now I wouldn't trade it for an American Fender. I just feels and sounds that good.
Tagima is a well known brazilian company that makes great instruments for many years.

They sell diferent types of instruments and they have great basses available. The lowest level line of instruments are made in China but they sound great and are on level with Squier basses.

But they have medium level and higher level too. The better instruments are made in Brazil and they use great exotic woods to build them. They look and sound awesome. Many great bassplayers from Brazil use Tagima. Just check Michael Pipoquinha, Artur Maia (RIP) or Ana Karina Sebastião. These are great players, world level that could use any instrument in the world but play with Tagima.

I have a Tagima TJB4 Special and this bass feels great and sounded really good on its own. It could compete with any MIM Fender.
But I upgraded the pickups, installed a John East preamp and changed the bridge and now I wouldn't trade it for an American Fender. I just feels and sounds that good.
Placed American pots, changed middle knob to pan and set up a master volume with stock pick-ups on TW-73 JB. Tone is butter. Maybe Fralins later.
 
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I never heard of Tagima until I came across them in a shop that used to sell Ken Smith, Modulus, Zon, etc. I played a Tagima five string jazz bass (because they didn’t have a 4 string) and was blown away by how good it was. Then I played a strat and fell in love. I went back a few days later to make sure the love was real and it left the store with me shortly thereafter. These Tagimas are legit. Definitely better then the new generation of Indonesian made classic vibe Squiers.
 
These Tagimas are legit. Definitely better then the new generation of Indonesian made classic vibe Squiers.
The success of Tagima is far reaching.

Back in 2007 a fella called Zheng Chuanjiu , along with his brother , operated a small guitar factory in Guangzhou .
Tagima placed an order for 300,000 guitars and as you can imagine gave the company a huge lift.

4 years later Zheng moved back to his home in Guizhou province and took the company with him. Zhunyi Shenqu Musical Instruments employs 600 people building 500,000 guitars a year. Other companies followed with some local start up operations too.

Province now hosts 29 guitar factories building 5 million guitars per year. Before this Guizhou was one of the poorest areas in SW China ; folks eked out a living on farms or ,leaving their children with Grandparents, moved to big cities for work.

Today those folk earn Big City wages on their doorstop in the guitar factories , also means they go home to their kids every night instead of seeing them once or twice a year :thumbsup:

Without that Tagima order I doubt any of the rest would have happened :)
 
this is an incredible story. I wonder if the Tagima factory in Brazil (the original plant) also changed because of that deal. Because the top instruments from tagima are built in Brazil. I always thought there was chinese money involved. they redesigned every single instrument, they hired one of the top Luthier's in Brazil (Zaganin) and they own a big CNC machine which leveled up their ability to produce more with quality control. You guys here should get to know Tagima's for their "Hand made in brazil" stamped instruments. they are actually good.
 
I bought one because it looks just like my moon J-B5 bass except it has the 70s pickup spacing. It will be fun to have two identical looking basses with just that one minor difference. I know I will have to upgrade a few parts on it but I have so many J bass parts from previous projects that I probably won't have to buy anything.I should be getting mine tomorrow. Really looking forward to it. I might keep the single coil pickups in it because on that bass I'll probably have both pickups on all the time. I have a sadowsky preamp that will probably be a good upgrade.
 
100%. The fret work on the Chinese Tagimas is essentially perfect. I don't think they're Plek'd but it's darn close to that level of playability.
I agree compared to my plek'd Xotic bass the fretwork om my TJB 5 is easily as good if not better. 2/32 on the highest frets except for the E 3/32 and B a little less 4/32" very little relief and no buzzes even with a pretty firm attack. A great modding platform. I like the mid 70 J bass sound, so for that I had to move the neck pickup forward (about 1/4"). There was enough room in the cavity for that but I had to modify the pickguard.NBD
 

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