Glenn Frey - The Life & Times of Number One

In September of 1991 a rosewood back-and-sides, spruce-topped model, EF360S SN - 91072458 would reach final stages of completion at the Takamine Guitar factory in Sakashita, Japan. There it would be set-up, play-tested, cosmetically inspected then forwarded to shipping where it would be cleaned, waxed, bagged and packaged.

In this sense it was no different than any other guitar to leave the Takamine factory that day, or that decade. It would have benefited from the same uncompromising quality-control standards as any other hand-crafted guitar from that world-class factory.

But this particular 6-string had a date with destiny. It would arrive at Takamine’s West Coast Distributor, Coast Wholesale Music in Los Angeles, be inspected once again – selected - then gifted to a particularly talented and successful American singer-songwriter named Glenn Frey.

Glenn had been a Takamine player since the mid-70’s, well before the brand had introduced their game- changing Palathetic pickup. In fact, one of the most recognizable acoustic guitar parts ever recorded, the minute-long 12-string intro to the 1976 recording of Hotel California, is in fact the voice of Frey’s pre-electronics Takamine F385.

After the band’s split in 1980, Glenn’s solo career would produce several top 40 hits like Smugglers Blues, The One You Love, You Belong to the City and The Heat is on, but his acoustic-based Eagles compositions were still very much a part of his live-concert mix, as were his Takamines. A rare circa 1982 photograph shows Glenn being presented an early acoustic electric model PT-015-ST by Takamine’s now legendary leader and master luthier, Mass Hirade.

By early 1992 the Eagles had been apart for 11 years and the only agreed upon timeframe for any sort of reunion was “When Hell Freezes Over”. Still, when Glenn learned his friend, Bobby “Norton” Thompson, former Eagles road-dog and founder of N. Hollywood’s Third Encore and Nashville’s Soundcheck had a strong connection with Takamine West Coast Artist Relations, Glenn asked for a meeting to be arranged.

By the end of the several hour visit at Frey’s Coldwater Canyon home, where everything from touring with Nils Lofgren to Joni Mitchell tunings was discussed, the official relationship between Glenn Frey and Takamine guitars had been firmly established. He would soon take delivery of 2 new Takamines, an EF400S 12-string and the before mentioned EF360S.

It would be another artists’ recording of an Eagles classic that would finally facilitate the band’s reunion. Travis Tritt’s 1993 recording of Take it Easy warranted a video - and when the band was asked to participate, all agreed. The vibe was good and by the spring of 1994 Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit and Don Felder were in a Studio City Soundstage rehearsing for the MTV Unplugged performance that would eventually be released as their first post-reunion album, appropriately titled: Eagles: Hell Freezes Over.

Glenn’s EF360S would soon be accompanied by a growing number of Takamine models acquired to facilitate the band’s ever expanding set list. Henley, Frey, Walsh and Felder would all play Takamine at one point or another during the MTV Unplugged performance. From that point on, Glenn’s EF360S would simply be referred to as Number One

The Hell Freezes Over tour was a huge success and extended right up until the band’s release of their double-album, Long Road out of Eden. It was at this time that Glenn and his longtime guitar tech, Victor Rodriguez began discussing the idea of having Number One duplicated to serve a backup. That opened the door to the idea of creating an honest Glenn Frey signature model. Frey liked the idea and would later describe the subsequent process in a May ’09 interview with Premier Guitar.

“Some designers and engineers from Takamine took my Number One for a couple days and made extensive measurements of every part of the guitar” Frey said, “from the thickness of the top and exact placement of the braces, to the thickness of the finish—everything about it. We took a pretty straightforward approach to it” he continued. “The only extra is the little ‘GF’ on the headstock. I’ve had ten or twelve of these in my hands, and they all sounded great and needed very little set up.”

And so, as signature model guitars go, Glenn Frey’s EF360GF is about as genuine as they come. It quickly became one of Takamine’s best-selling models and remains so to this day. Glenn took great pride in its quality and authenticity - And for everyone at Takamine Guitars, it didn’t get any better than that.

But it all began with that original EF360S – and between 1992 and his tragic passing in 2016, Glenn and that guitar would team-up for over 800 Eagles concerts around the world.

Even after he left us, Number One would continue to appear on the Eagles stage in the talented hands of his eldest son, Deacon.

The power of the guitar. It’s a phrase we use a lot - and never more clearly demonstrated than in the case of the great Glenn Frey and his beloved Takamine Number One.