.
THIN LINEUP
Guitar World Acoustic/ December 2005. The T5 is featured in a roundup of 10 thinline acoustic-electrics. The story (“The Thin Crowd”) traces the development of the hybrid concept back to Gibson’s 1982 launch of the nylon-string Chet Atkins Standard (followed by the steel-string SST in ’87), and notes the influence of semi-hollowbody electrics like the Gibson ES-335.
Among the variety of solidbody and chambered-body models that guitar makers have introduced since then, the T5 is rightly lauded for not just blurring but transcending the categories that have long defined the “acoustic-electric” realm. The T5’s pickups and five-way switch dramatically distinguish it from the other guitars in the pack (including the Godin Multiac Steel SA, Gibson Americana Pioneer Cutaway, and Fender Acoustasonic Strat), most of which utilize a piezo pickup platform. As in most other magazine reviews, the T5’s extraordinary versatility and amp compatibility are cited for giving the player a diverse range of tonal colors.
Also in this issue, the cover story on Neil Young mentions his Taylor 12-strings; the “First Stringer” section features three artists who play Taylors (Iron & Wine [Sam Beam], Ali Handal, and Bob Burger); and an LR Baggs ad shows Jim Messina playing his DDSM.
FENG SHUI, JOY TO PLAY
In the August issue of Guitar World, writer Emile Menasché bestowed the T5 with the publication’s Platinum Award for Quality and Design. Menasché began his “Soundcheck” gear column by admiring the T5’s “design harmony”, dubbing it “feng shui, guitar style”, from the body contours to the f-holes to the visible humbucker near the bridge, which, he writes, “rises from the body as if it grew there.”
In his hands, Menasché found the T5 “a joy to play”, noting the physical traits that make it readily compliant with either electric or acoustic applications. The neck’s thin profile, unobtrusive neck joint, and cutaway offer easy access to the upper register, he says, while the electric strings facilitate electric-style bending. The T5 “maintains the solid foundation needed to play acoustic material,” he continues. “It reminds me more of an archtop jazz box than, say, a Les Paul. The string spacing is more akin to an acoustic than an electric, which makes it easier to stay under control when playing fingerstyle or strumming open chords. Still, the light, thin body lets you play it at an angle reserved for electric guitars, without having to reach for the strings over a large acoustic body.”
After exploring the sonic range afforded by the different pickup positions, Menasché concluded that “for rock, jazz, blues and country, there’s plenty here to make you grin.” His bottom line assessment: “this fine and innovative instrument is a landmark for Taylor, a sweet voice with a pretty face worthy of attention and respect in any setting.”
MARKET FRESH
Meanwhile, in the June issue of the music industry trade mag MMR, editor Don Johnson chronicles the T5’s development and hugely successful rollout at the Winter NAMM and Musikmesse trade shows, along with the ensuing production ramp-up to meet the high demand from both domestic and foreign markets. Johnson interviewed Taylor CEO Kurt Listug and VP of Sales Robert Sandell, both of whom address our innovative new pursuits in the realm of electronics, which build upon Taylor’s reputation for acoustic guitar excellence. From the Expression System to the T5 to the current development of an amplifier, Sandell, says, “these products represent a chance for us to refresh our point of view about how we address the marketplace.”
SIMPLY FABULOUS
Across the Atlantic, the June issue of the UK’s Guitarist serves up a glowing five-page T5 spread that features both an extensive review and a backstory article detailing the guitar’s design evolution, with commentary from Brian Swerdfeger and David Hosler.
Writer Dave Burrluck opens the review by citing the difficulties instrument makers historically have faced when stretching outside their locus of expertise to craft a different style of instrument. Taylor’s bold stroke with the T5 not only produced a truly innovative success, he says, but creates an exciting new musical space for players, broadening the expressive possibilities of the guitar.
“For musicians working in, most obviously, a country, rootsy or modern rock/pop environment it’s a godsend,” Burrlock opines, “especially if you use both acoustic and electric amps and either switch between them, or have them running together.
“We could wax lyrical for pages about the T5 but we won’t,” he continues. “It’s simply a fabulous musical instrument that could seriously change the way that many of us make music. Its electro-acoustic sounds are among the best we’ve heard, and although it’s not designed for real high-volume playing — it is a hollowbody — you’ll probably be surprised by the range of electric tones you can achieve.”
Burrlock concludes by reiterating the inspiring potential of the T5.
“For now, the T5 remains a thinline electric-acoustic hybrid that offers great electric sounds. But don’t dwell on the category — just make music. It won’t let you down!”
GUITAR PRAYER
Worship Musician editor Bruce Adolph had nothing but praise for the guitar in his product review for the magazine’s May/June issue. Adolph was first smitten back at Winter NAMM, when he attended a demo session at the Taylor booth and chatted with Bob Taylor about the T5’s development. We later sent him a blue S1 (with a flamed maple top and an edgeburst) for a hands-on evaluation. Adolph loved the 24-7/8-inch neck scale and the fast-playing fingerboard.
“I was playing some riffs I could never pull off on a regular acoustic guitar, yet hearing rounded wood guitar tones,” he writes. Adolph also lauds the T5’s versatility, noting its appeal as a veritable “Swiss Army knife for church stage guitarists.”
“Having the T5 strapped around my neck would give me the confidence to know I could play anything from a lovely acoustic accompaniment to a blazing electric guitar solo with the flick of a very conveniently placed pickup selector! It may just also save you from hauling several guitars back and forth from band rehearsal and your weekend worship services.”
IMPULSE BUY
Elsewhere, the June issue of Cargo, a buying-guide-style publication devoted to the recreational pursuit of cool, bank-account-draining consumer goods, devotes a page to the T5 as one of the “Nine Things We’re Wanting Right Now”, tagging the cherry sunburst T5-C1 a “Hot Instrument”.
“Most thin-bodied acoustic guitars tend to sound, well, thin,” reads the companion blurb. “That’s why we were eager to get our hands on the Taylor T5-C1 acoustic-electric. It’s the venerable company’s first foray into electrics, and if anyone can create a hybrid that doesn’t compromise sound, Taylor can.”
EDITORS' PICK
Another killer magazine review and gear award for the T5 arrived with the June issue of Guitar Player. Senior Editor Art Thompson had a chance to visit the Taylor factory back in March to get the inside scoop on the T5’s development from Bob Taylor, David Hosler, Brian Swerdfeger, and PR’s Andy Robinson. We later shipped three different models to Thompson — a black, spruce-topped T5 Standard; a maple-topped Custom red edgeburst, and a koa-lidded Custom with a tobacco edgeburst.
Thompson’s detailed review reflects his extensive examination of the guitars’ craftsmanship, both inside and out. He also played the guitars through different amps and was able to compare the tonal nuances of the different soundboards.
A cool full-page photo helps set the mood: the three T5s lean against worse-for-wear bar stools in a dive bar (The Ivy Room in Albany, California), as daylight floods through the doorway in the background. Thompson wastes no time asserting the T5’s innovative presence in the guitar market.
“[Taylor] has created something that redefines the notion of what constitutes acoustic-electric,” Thompson writes. “The T5 is a unique animal that’s more electric in nature than typical thin-bodied acoustics, but also more acoustic than any piezo-equipped electric.”
Thompson goes on to detail the impeccable craftsmanship of the guitar, applauding the technological tools that inform the construction and aesthetics. He later moves on to the seductive physical traits of the guitar in his hands, noting that the T5’s “lightness and comfy body contours” gave the guitar a great feel from the moment he picked it up.
Acoustically, he found the spruce-topped T5 to be “brighter and noticeably twangier” than the maple and koa models, and felt the koa had the “creamiest sounding midrange”. Thompson pointed out that the same tonal nuances that gave each guitar its own unique identity acoustically also held true when they were plugged into a series of amps. In the first pickup position (neck pickup + body sensor), the spruce maintained its crispness; the maple “offered mellower highs and a thicker low end”; and the koa “afforded a wonderful balance of warmth, complexity, and high-end sheen.”
Thompson loved the versatility the different pickup settings provided, and was easily able to dial in some Fender-esque twang and Gibson tones (ES-175 in once case, ES-335 in another).
What Thompson found most inspiring about the T5 was “how naturally its acoustic and electric personalities co-exist,” which he likened to having two guitars in one.
“A guitarist in a modern rock band who strums more than solos could find the T5 ideal for crafting huge tones that have the shimmering dimension of an acoustic, but with more solidbody-style focus and presentation!. A soloist in a hot acoustic band might revel in how the T5 can sound like a flat-top while playing with the sleekness of a really well set-up electric, while someone who regularly slings a solidbody could be absolutely thrilled at how they can cruise along replicating the sound of a box guitar with a soundhole pickup, and then morph seamlessly into grind mode simply by kicking on a distortion pedal and flicking the 5-way to its rearmost setting.”
Thompson wraps up by recommending the T5 for any player “who has ever wished they could willfully bend their sound in a more acoustic or electric direction” or for anyone “who seeks new avenues of six-string expression.”
“No matter what style you play or whether you predominantly do your thing on acoustic or electric,” Thompson concludes, “you’ll likely find the T5 to be a mighty intriguing guitar — one that certainly deserves an Editors’ Pick Award.”
ALL GUITAR
“This guitar is truly a breath of fresh tone,” assessed Guitar One Associate Editor Douglas Baldwin in a glowing review of the T5 that appears in the publication’s June issue. Baldwin was sent a koa-topped C2, a “seductive beauty” whose visual aesthetics were merely the first wave of attraction that deepened the more he played the guitar.
Baldwin prefaced his road test by acknowledging the air of skepticism that commonly — and justifiably — surrounds most “acoustic-electric hybrids”, asserting that such guitars ultimately fall short of their promise due to the presence of “pie-pan piezo pickups”. Not so with the T5, which he regards as “an electric that’s been rethought from the ground up with a focus on the dynamics and response of an acoustic instrument.”
After exploring the different pickup settings controlled by the T5’s five-way switch, Baldwin found that he was able to tap into a “full palette” of electric and acoustic sounds, “from a warm, nearly acoustic tone” to a “sassy yet gritty voice” to “a thick yet unclouded output”.
“The best thing that can be said of any musical instrument is that it inspires creativity — and the T5-C2 did just that,” he continues. “Unplugged (and strung with .011-.049 nickel-wound strings, including a plain G), its sound is about as loud as a semi-hollowbody electric, but much warmer, and with more outward projection. Its snap and heft immediately revived a long-forgotten riff of mine. Plugged in, the T5-C2 laid down full, bright chords and, with varying degrees of overdrive, all manner of lead guitar chores. Think of a P-90 pickup with more high-end definition and less midrange resonance, and you’ll be close to appreciating the T5-C2’s magic.”
In the realm of multitrack recording, Baldwin observes that although it’s common practice to use different guitars to create different sonic textures, the T5-C2 could easily do the work of several guitars, covering “acoustic sweetener, electric rhythm, and fat lead all on the same tune.”
“And consider the chores this axe could handle on a live gig! Acoustic? Electric? Who cares? The T5 is all guitar.”
In fact, Baldwin liked it so much he gave it Guitar One’s “1 Award” for product excellence.
Guitar One subscribers can also experience the T5 via the CD-ROM that’s bundled with the June issue. Associate Editor Michael Ross presents an audio/video demo that shows off the guitar’s amazing versatility.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Our 30th Anniversary XXX-RS made a great impression on guitarist Jerry McPherson, who reviewed the short-scale beauty for the March 2005 issue of Pro Audio Review. McPherson, who has handled either stage or session duties for the likes of Amy Grant, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, and Trisha Yearwood, begins by citing the “wow’ factor the guitar triggers at first glance, then notes the clean, pristine craftsmanship that extends into the finest details of the guitar’s construction. From there, McPherson reflects on his test-drive.
“The guitar comes out of the case ready to play. The setup and feel of the guitar make it a pleasure to play. The compensated bridge and comfortable action just seem to invite you to travel up the neck. Notes speak clearly and sustain surprisingly well with no buzzing.
“The XXX-RS is a responsive guitar that works well for fingerpicking. In my experience, other small-body Taylors tend to compress when you really lay into them with a pick. This model does not compress because of the forward-shifted bracing.
“Sonically, this guitar plays well with others in the studio. Because you’re not dealing with a dreadnought-sized instrument, this is a well-balanced acoustic that would find its own sonic space on a track. On many sessions, recording engineers end up EQing a bigger-body guitar to tame the extra bass that comes from miking. The XXX-RS has a nice midrange focus — without the low-end loading up or overtaking the sound.
“At their worst, acoustic pickup systems can sound harsh in the mid-tones with smacky-piezo highs, blubberous low end, and a lack of dynamic range. The Rupert Neve-Taylor Expression System takes a step forward in solving the direct acoustic dilemma.
“Does it sound exactly like a miked-up acoustic? No, but the overall electronic tone of the guitar is much smoother and has increased dynamic range. It really sounds good. In the studio, you could mike the guitar up and pan it to one side, then take the direct sound to another track and pan it to the other side.
“If you have heard a player who has jumped through hoops to get a good live sound with high quality outboard preamps — and a tube DI box to sweeten things up — this is what the Expression System can do right out of the box.
McPherson wraps up by toasting the guitar’s versatility.
“The acoustic sound is intimate, responsive and a natural for fingerstyle, but by no means does that rule out strumming or flatpicking. The size makes for a friendly-to-handle guitar and is perfect for intimate songwriting sessions as well as studio and road work.
“In the studio, the Taylor is perfect without the need for extensive EQ. Plus, the electronics give the engineer a great-sounding DI.”
"PEARL CRAZY"
In the February/March issue of Guitar World Acoustic, our 30th Anniversary XXX-KE enjoys a nice profile as a “contemporary classic” that delivers “a particularly rich, bell-like treble and a smooth, balanced mid-range with ample resonance and sustain,” writes Chris Gill. “This well-crafted Taylor shimmers with vintage appeal even as it delivers timeless sound and playability that’ll never get old.”
DOUBLE COURSE DELIGHT
The Taylor 455 struck a chord with a trio of reviewers from Acoustic Guitar magazine, in a roundup of six different brands of 12-strings for the May issue. AG’s review panel was comprised of three San Francisco Bay Area artists who play 12-stringers on a regular basis: gear editor and gigging musician Teja Gerken; blues/ragtime fingerstylist and AG contributor Pete Madsen; and singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson. It’s worth noting that all three already own Taylor 12-strings. Gerken and Madsen each own a 355 that they use for playing fingerstyle. Nathanson’s main guitar is a 655, which, as the review notes, he is passionate about.
Gerken wrote the reviews, incorporating the input of Madsen and Nathanson.
“Our review guitar reinforced Taylor’s reputation for perfection of craftsmanship, fit, and finish,” Teja writes, acknowledging that the guitar’s big dimensions were tempered by its easy-playing set-up.
“The instrument offered impressive volume with various kinds of attack, was well balanced, and had lots of dimension,” he continues. “The guitar had the widest string-spacing at the bridge of the guitars we’ve reviewed, and combined with its dynamic voice, we agreed that it was the best choice of the bunch for fingerstyle playing. The Taylor is also no slouch for strumming, and especially when I retuned the lowest pair of strings to D for some low-pitched explorations, its jumbo body produced a thunderous voice.”
MIX REACTION
Taylor’s acoustic electronics earned sweet accolades from Mix magazine editorial director George Petersen in the pro audio monthly’s November issue. We sent Petersen a 614ce and a K4, and before he even plugged in, he found the guitar itself to be an “amazing instrument.” It only got better from there.
“For the first time from a pickup, I heard a natural, uncolored sound that required little tonal tweaking,” he wrote of the ES. “This is miles removed from the surgical, radical EQ needed on a standard pickup to make it sound even vaguely natural.” Petersen tested the guitar in both coffeehouse and festival performance environments and loved the resistance of the ES to feedback.
“Another point worth noting is the amazing amount of headroom!offering clean reproduction at any playing level from subtle harmonics to heavy slammed chording. Yeah!”
After putting the K4 through its paces, Petersen tagged it “plug-and-go.”
“The EQ is smooth and musical, whether using the shelving LF (450 Hz) and HF (1.6 kHz) or the parametric MF band. Calling the latter a “mid” band is somewhat misleading, as it has an extremely wide 80 to 8,000 Hz range. With a touch of EQ, ES truly rivals a well-miked acoustic guitar setup. I particularly liked the convenience of overdubbing acoustic guitar parts in the control room — something I would have never attempted before the ES.”
SUPERSIZING
The Taylor 815 was one of nine jumbo flattops reviewed in the November issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. Gear editor Teja Gerken enlisted fellow AG staffer Andrew DuBrock (whose main axe is a Taylor 314k) and singer-songwriter Christopher Smith to help evaluate the models. Teja began with a little historical background, tracing back to the birth of the jumbo size with Gibson’s J-200, introduced in 1937, and noting the design tweaks from different luthiers along the way to transform the jumbo from a big and sturdy gitbox that required a strong attack into a more refined instrument that yielded greater versatility and dynamic range. The 815, not surprisingly, exemplified these latter traits, excelling both for flatpicking and fingerstyle. Our signature Taylor qualities of playability, precision tuning, intonation, along with “great definition and a balanced sound” registered among the players, and as Teja wrote, “made this guitar shine.”
“It had a nice, round bottom end that got increasingly brighter as it was played harder,” Teja continued, adding that the 815 “easily handled all of the playing styles we threw at it!its versatility means that it would be an excellent choice for a player looking for one guitar to handle all flattop duties.”
INTO HIGH GEAR
Glowing reviews of the Taylor K4 Equalizer continue to grace the pages of guitar and pro-audio magazines. The K4 made a believer out of Guitar One associate editor Douglas Baldwin, who gave it his “Gear Box” stamp of approval in the mag’s April 2005 issue. After testing it out with both a 510ce and a piezo-equipped Hohner O series outfitted with a Shadow P4 preamp, Baldwin declared the K4 “a veritable Swiss Army knife, designed to complement any acoustic source”. With the help of the K4’s magic, he was able to tame the Hohner’s piezo “pie-plate” tone to sound nearly identical to the 510ce — “a testament to the K4’s quality.
“The K4’s sound is smooth, well-mannered, and virtually foolproof,” Baldwin continues. “It has almost infinite headroom!The tone controls add and subtract with such organic grace that you hardly hear their effect until another setting is tried. The variable mid-range eliminates troublesome feedback tones, with none of the hollowness that other feedback suppressors often generate.”
Baldwin says he would have liked an input/output meter to set levels between the different pieces of gear he was using — “a sensation compounded by my desire to run everything through it,” he adds, but concludes with the assessment that the K4 “delivered a whole lot of sweet sonic perfection in an attractive little box.”
Russ Long, a Nashville-based producer/engineer put the K4 preamp/EQ unit through its paces for the July 2004 issue of Pro Audio Review, while Guitar Player gear guru Andy Ellis extols its merits in the magazine’s August 2004 issue.
Both tested the system’s versatility, using not only ES-equipped Taylors, but other gear as well. Ellis plugged in with an ES-endowed 512ce, a ’92 Taylor 512c with a Duncan MagMic soundhole pickup, and a Takamine ENV760S with a CTP-1 Cool Tube preamp. Long used an ES-equipped 514ce, another brand of acoustic guitar that had a quality acoustic tone but poor piezo sound, a Shure SM57 to record a snare drum, and a classic studio mic, the ElectroVoice EV RE-20, to capture voice.
In Guitar Player, Ellis makes the point that beyond its virtues as an EQ tool, the K4 excels as a studio-grade analog preamp that offers many of the relevant features of a recording console’s input strip. He liked the unit’s intelligent, user-friendly controls, as well as its flexibility, noting that the K4’s input connection will accommodate active or passive, and high- or low-impedance input signals.
“Thus, you can plug in a guitar equipped with an onboard preamp system, a passive saddle or soundboard transducer, a magnetic soundhole pickup, or even just an onboard low-impedance dynamic mic.”
Ellis was also jazzed by the K4’s “potent yet straightforward tone-shaping circuitry”, and the switchable effects loop, which enables the user to apply effects either before or after the tone is EQ’d.
“Compared to the passive tone controls of a vintage tube amp, the K4 wields shocking sonic power,” Ellis writes, also noting the unit’s ease of use. “Using the K4, I was able to quickly refine my amplified tone, whether I was running a flat-top through studio monitors or a combo amp. If I needed to soften the bite of a saddle pickup, add shimmer to a magnetic pickup, clarify strummed chords, or surgically reduce feedback, the K4 was up to the task.”
Ultimately, what helps set the K4 apart from the crowd of other, less expensive outboard EQ products, Ellis says, is the “undeniable magic” of Mr. Rupert Neve’s circuitry. “Acoustic players who are serious about their amplified sound will appreciate the rich warmth of the K4’s preamp, EQ, and transformer-coupled inputs and outputs. When you realize you can bring some classic Neve voodoo to your next gig, suddenly the K4 seems like a bargain.”
In his “Project Studio” column for Pro Audio Review, Russ Long refers to the K4 as “the ultimate second stage of an acoustic guitar’s direct output”. Long kicks off his test application with a 514ce and says: “In every instance (with the Expression System-equipped guitar) I was able to attain the desired sound by solely using the high and low bands.”
The K4 turned out to be a “miracle worker” when applied to another acoustic guitar with an “awful” sounding piezo pickup. “I was able to take an apparently unusable sound and shape it into a perhaps not flattering but nonetheless completely usable sound,” Long writes. From there, Long plugged the SM57 into the K4’s XLR input and had “good results” EQ’ing the snare drum he mic’d, while the K4 also came in handy with the EV RE-20 he used for voiceover recording. Long concluded that the K4 is feature-packed, and that it will do the trick for both studio and live applications.
Look for more K4 reviews coming soon. Also, don't miss Taylor clinician Pat Kirtley's article, "The Versatile K4", in the Summer 2004 issue of Wood&Steel.
STUDIO STALWART
Although the Taylor Expression System was developed for live performance, it has quickly emerged as a viable tool for recording as well. This isn’t surprising, given that the magnetic sensors of the ES function more like a quality studio microphone than other types of acoustic pickups. Pro Audio Review scribe Russ Long put the ES to the test for the magazine’s January 2004 issue, recording a cedar-top 514ce first with a microphone (an AKG C28) and then using the output signal from the ES.
Long found the tone captured by each pickup source to be of comparably high quality, and instead of recording with two mics, opted to use one mic and the ES direct.
“When sitting in front of the monitors with the signals panned to 9 and 3, the artist, the producer, and myself found it extremely difficult to tell which was the direct and which was the mic,” Long writes. “The ES system faithfully reproduced every nuance of a performance, including subtle picking, hand dynamics and stylistic performance techniques.”
When he plugged into an amp, Long was also impressed with the Expression System’s feedback resistance. Ultimately, he concluded that the ES offers a quality alternative to miking a Taylor.
“The Taylor Expression System is downright amazing in its natural warm sound and its ability to reduce feedback.”
ALMOST ORCHESTRAL
The March 2004 issue of Guitar World features a nice review of our Brazilian rosewood 810ce-L1, from our Fall 2003 LTDs. Writer Emile Menasché wanted to explore both the acoustic and amplified tone of the guitar, and came away doubly impressed.
“The 810ce’s tone is so complex — with shimmering harmonics, bold, percussive low notes, and rich, resonant chords — that the guitar sounds almost orchestral,” Menasché wrote. Plugged in, he took note of the Expression System’s feedback resistance and overall performance. “Its ability to handle variations in dynamics and attack was especially noticeable with high-impact playing!. It also captured the depth and nuance of the guitar’s tone without the noise, phase, feedback and coloration issues introduced by onboard — or external — microphones. The variations in technique you would use in a purely acoustic setting came through the pickups in all their glory. Taylor has definitely raised the standard in electro-acoustic tone.”
INSPIRINGLY COMPLEX
Guitar Player Senior Editor Art Thompson was plenty impressed with our Walnut 754ce-L1 LTD in his “Bench Test” review for the magazine’s February 2004 issue. Among his comments:
“Though not as loud as one of Taylor’s Jumbo 12s, the compact 754ce-L1 speaks with a voice that is wide, dimensional, and inspiringly complex. Strum a chord and you’re rewarded with a balanced ringing sound with round bottom and strong, but not honky, mids. Probably due to the resonant qualities of the walnut body, the 754ce-L1 sounds open and encompassing. Notes pop from the soundhole with plenty of sustain and presence, but the 754ce-L1 isn’t about cannon-like projection — instead, this intimate guitar satisfies with its openness, sweetness, and incredible warmth.”
Thompson also gave the Expression System high marks, noting the warmth and balance of the amplified tone (he played it through Schertler Unico and Trace Elliot TA 100R acoustic amps). “I noticed no harsh tonal artifacts, even when pounding the snot out of the strings, and by keeping the EQ flat on both the amp and the guitar, the tones sounded rich and well-represented.” As for tone-shaping, the soft-touch ES knobs gave him all the control he needed (“I found it unnecessary to use any midrange cut or bass boost on the amplifiers, which is pretty unusual”). Thompson also noted the “organic textures” that distinguish the tone of the ES from that of a piezo pickup.
Thompson wraps up by dubbing the guitar one of the nicest production-line 12-string acoustics available. “Factor in its rare woods, great setup, velvety sound, and superb build quality, and you’ve got a mighty attractive instrument for live performing or studio work.”
THE REAL McCOY
Our 214 earned a rave review in Issue 67 of Guitar World Acoustic (featuring Dave Matthews on the cover). Reviewer Emile Menaché spent some time with the affordable model to assess how its tone and playability measure up with our higher end models, and came away charmed.
“It’s a player’s neck,” Menaché wrote, taking note of the “comfortable, fast and stable” feel and true intonation that yield a “tight, responsive feel and quick, percussive attack.” He goes on to distinguish the 214 from our upper end models: “Taylor’s more expensive guitars remind me of high-end sports sedans that successfully offer both luxury and performance. The 214, on the other hand, is more like a tough little pickup, ready to go anywhere and maybe even get a little dirty along the way.”
Tonally, Menaché liked the comfort of the Grand Auditorium body, and was impressed with its volume, along with its clarity, fullness, and resonance.
“The tone is sharp, with plenty of midrange, and harmonics played on the instrument will shimmer your timbre!Lows are strong but not boomy, and the highs cut without being too strident. These qualities are enhanced by the 214’s excellent sustain.”
STRONG BENCH PRESS
Guitar Player senior editor Art Thompson reviewed the 110 for the August 2003 issue’s “Bench Test” feature (along with our 514ce), giving it high marks for “excellent playability”, “loud, crisp tones with lots of bottom”, and “superb value”. Thompson also had this to say:
“Among the first things you notice about the 110 are how big it sounds and how nicely it plays. In true dreadnought style, its bright, deep voice booms out of the soundhole with cannon-like authority, and you get a palpable kick in the chest when you dig into the low strings. The bass/treble balance is very satisfying, the volume is impressive, and the response to touch is very immediate!. Factor in its inviting feel!and you’ve got a guitar that should find favor with flatpickers, folk strummers, fingerstylists, singer-songwriters -- and anyone else who needs a powerful, affordable acoustic for solo or ensemble work.”
As for the 514ce (“a masterful statement of guitar craft”), Thompson liked its rich, complex sound (“deep bottom, sweet highs, and robust mids”) and responsiveness: “little effort is required to obtain blossoming response -- yet it doesn’t cave-in or lose focus when you strum hard”. As much as Thompson dug the 514ce’s natural tone, he seemed equally fond of the Expression System’s ability to capture its sonic identity, noting its “astonishingly accurate representation” of its tone. He even recorded with the ES -- to ADAT and to hard disk -- and found the recorded sound “rich and detailed, with a mic-like sense of warmth, clarity, and dimension.”
Thompson ends on a high note, observing that “the future is here for acoustic guitarists who simply crave the same plug-in-and-play satisfaction that solidbody players have always enjoyed. Getting great amplified acoustic tone shouldn’t be any more complicated than plugging a Les Paul into a Marshall, and Taylor’s Expression System is definitely a great leap forward in the realization of that dream.”
FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME
The July 2003 issue of Guitar World includes a stellar review of our ES-equipped 512ce and 610ce. One of the enjoyable discoveries about the ES among discerning players is the way the acoustic nuances of each model’s respective tonewoods and body size are conveyed through the pickup system. In GW’s gear column, “The Hole Truth”, reviewer Eric Kirkland tunes into the distinctive voices of the 512ce and 610ce -- first acoustically -- and then through the ES (played through a Fender Acoustasonic SFX amp).
“Honestly, I felt like I was hearing the acoustic guitar amplified for the first time,” Kirkland enthuses. “The Expression System captures the very essence of the instrument. It reveals the guitar’s full range and is sure to change the face of amplified acoustic performance. More than a vastly improved pickup system, this innovative advancement represents a new approach to amplifying all instruments.”
PLAYS LIKE A CHAMP
Our 712 ranks among 14 “Featherweight Champs” profiled in the July issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, in a survey of appealing small-bodied flattops under $3,000. Gear editor Teja Gerken (whose main axe is a 712c) enlisted a few associates to round out his playing panel, including AG music editor Andrew DuBrock, whose main guitar is a Taylor 314K. In the evaluation process, the reviewers opted to hone in on the individual strengths that distinguished each guitar, and to identify the playing techniques that best suited them. The 712 stood out for its versatility and for its signature Taylor traits: playability and tonal balance.
Also in the July issue, Taylor clinician Chris Proctor contributes a fingerstyle lesson, focusing on evoking rich melodies on the 12-string guitar.
“LOUD & LOUDER”
The June 2003 issue of Guitar One includes a sweet review of the K20ce. From all angles -- the guitar’s aesthetic beauty and immaculate craftsmanship, its bold new dreadnought voice, and the responsiveness of the Expression System -- reviewer Douglas Baldwin was clearly smitten.
“No matter how hard you hit it, the highs remain crisp and detailed, and the bass feels like a BMW’s tricked out audio system,” he comments. Later, he confesses: “Reviewing this guitar was not easy. Since its volume so greatly surpassed that of any guitar I currently own, I had nothing to compare it to.”
SWEETNESS
The May issue of Guitar Player (featuring Ry Cooder on the cover) hones in on some of the hottest new guitar gear of 2003, and the Taylor Expression System earned a special mention as one of the magazine’s “Top 50 Hits” from the Winter 2003 NAMM show. In an expanded “Tech Talk” sidebar, Senior Editor Andy Ellis raved about the ES, noting the demo session he attended at the Taylor booth during the trade show in January.
“The Expression System produced the most natural, sweet, and dynamic amplified acoustic sound I’ve ever heard,” Ellis wrote, referring later to clinician Dan Crary’s on-stage A/B comparison between a piezo-equipped Taylor and an ES-outfitted model. “The difference was profound and immediately obvious: offering a cleaner, more open sound with far more dynamics, the ES smoked the piezo pickup.”
CANNON FODDER
In case there was any question of whether our revoiced Dreads are winning over old-school flatpickers, consider guitar reviewer Kevin Stevenson one of the latest converts. Stevenson, a recurring contributor to Flatpicking Guitar magazine, had visited the Taylor factory back in 2001 with other acoustic guitar journalists to get a more in-depth understanding of our innovative production methods. While Kevin clearly appreciated our quality standards and the Taylor tone for applications like fingerstyle, as a flatpicker he was the skeptic of the bunch: it was obvious that he felt our ’10s were lacking compared to his boomier Martin and Collings axes.
We sent him a revoiced 810 to review for Flatpicking Guitar, and he liked it so much that he bought it. He asked the PR Department’s Andy Robinson to congratulate everyone who worked on his guitar, and we thought we’d include a little slice of his review, which runs in the May/June 2003 issue of FG:
“OK, it’s a beautiful piece of woodcraft, but how does it sound? I was able to conduct an extensive taste test with several ’holy grail’ Dreadnoughts in my arsenal, over several weeks. These included a Collings D-2H, a ’70s Gallagher, a 1949 Martin D-18 and the Dan Crary Signature Model Taylor that I bought from Dan at Flatpick Kamp a few years back. Everything got a new set of strings, and I was able to swap back and forth at will.
“By comparison to these other guitars, the new Taylor 810 is loud. Most of the comments I received suggested that the Taylor was louder than all these other guitars, except the Collings, and about the same as it. This new Taylor also has a big low end. If you hammer on that low sixth string from F# to G, it just growls. Still, the voices of the inner strings remain very distinct and crisp. It has what I’ve heard called a dry sound!.If you’re a player interested in the ultimate bluegrass cannon, then you’ll need to seek out one of these re-voiced Taylor Dreadnought guitars for your own comparison.”
STYLIN' NYLONS
Our NS62ce and NS72ce recently cast a seductive spell on Guitar Player senior editor Andy Ellis, who reviewed the nylons in the magazine’s April 2003 issue.
“Both guitars are a gas to play, providing comfortable low action, yet full, ringing notes along the entire, gently radiused fretboard,” opined Ellis in his “Bench Test” review. “And thanks to their compensated saddles, they have the best intonation of any classical guitars I’ve ever plucked.”
Ellis put the guitars through their paces both acoustically and amplified, and also explored their tonal attributes in a recording environment.
“While these guitars hold their own acoustically against other production classicals, they really shine when plugged in. I was astounded at how well they record when connected directly to a mixer. The soundboard transducer sounds especially sweet, although it’s much quieter than the saddle pickup, which brings muscle and definition to the party. To my ears, a ratio of 90 percent soundboard to 10 percent saddle produces an ideal blend of warmth and edge. Add an external condenser mic to the equation, and you’ll revel in a stunning amalgam of acoustic and direct tone.”
REVOICED DREADNOUGHT “LOUD AND PROUD”
A pair of revoiced Taylor Dreadnoughts scored a nice dual-review in the October 2002 issue of Guitar Player magazine. The 610-LTD and 810-LTD, both offerings from our 2002 Fall Limited Edition lineup were dubbed “Daring Dreadnoughts” by Senior Editor Art Thompson, who had this to say: “[Taylor’s] revoiced 610 and 810 guitars are fresh designs that blend dreadnought muscle with the balance and clarity of the company’s Grand Auditorium models. Like fine wines that combine two or more varietals, these new Fall Limited Edition models excite the senses while incorporating flavors that are very familiar.”
On the visual appeal of the guitars, Thompson calls the 810’s vibrant three-piece cocobolo back “one of the most explosive displays of exotic wood I’ve ever seen on a production acoustic”. He also cites the “radiating golden beauty” of the 610’s quilted maple back/sides and spruce top, and the striking hues of the cocobolo bridge and peghead veneer. Thompson gives both axes high marks on all fronts, including tone, playability, workmanship, hardware, vibe, and value. He gives the 610 a slight edge -- and a Guitar Player Editor’s Pick Award -- for its “zingier” response, and tags it “loud and proud”, a good match for an aggressive bluegrasser, although he notes that either of the two new Dreadnought flavors may well lure country and bluegrass traditionalists into the Taylor camp.
TECH-CELLENCE
On Saturday, October 30, Taylor Guitars was recognized with the highest honor in the pro audio industry: the Technical Excellence & Creativity (TEC) Award, in the category of musical instrument technology, for the Expression System pickup/preamp. The prestigious award was announced at the 20th annual TEC Awards dinner, presented by the MIX Foundation for Excellence in Audio. The audio industry’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the TEC Awards honor the individuals, companies and technical innovations used to provide sound for music recordings, films, TV, and live performance.
Taylor’s Acoustic Electronics Product Development Manager and inventor of the Expression System, David Hosler, accepted the award together with audio engineering legend Mr. Rupert Neve, who designed the preamp circuitry for the Taylor ES. Held at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco and hosted by actor Harry Shearer, the show’s other award winners and presenters included filmmaker George Lucas, renowned recording engineers George Massenburg and Elliot Schiener, and Walter Becker of Steely Dan. Backstage, Hosler was personally congratulated by Lucas, along with storied music producers Al Schmitt and Phil Ramone (both winners of multiple Grammy Awards).
Hosler was deeply moved by the ringing endorsement of the pro audio community. “The Expression System is a completely new concept in acoustic guitar amplification that we feel marks a significant shift in the performing and recording industry,” he said. “It’s truly an honor that a prestigious organization like the MIX Foundation has recognized the work we’ve been doing in such a big way.”
Coinciding with the TEC Awards each year is the convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), a professional organization devoted to advancing audio technology. The NAMM of the pro audio world, the show attracts audio gear manufacturers, FOH (Front-of-House) sound engineers, owners of recording studios, and other key audio tech figures. This year’s convention, held October 28-31, marked the organization’s 117th gathering, and Taylor was the only instrument maker to have a booth at the show. Hosler said that there was a constant Taylor buzz running throughout the show, with a lot of visitors to the booth eager to check out the ES and K4. Not surprisingly, many in the pro audio field play guitar, and several pointed out that the guitar is a central ingredient of the pro audio industry. Others, like George Peterson of MIX magazine applauded Taylor’s innovative spirit, noting that the pro audio industry is excited by Taylor’s commitment to develop a better amplification system for the acoustic guitar. And producer Phil Ramone, no stranger to recording guitars on studio projects, had this to say at the Taylor booth: “When you see a Taylor come into a session, you know it’s going to sound good, and that everything is going to work out.”
For more information on the TEC Awards, visit the MIX Foundation for Excellence in Audio, at mixfoundation.org.
[Above photo (L-R): David Hosler (holding Taylor's TEC award) with Mr. Rupert Neve.]
ES GOES RETRO
We’re pleased to be able to offer an Expression System retrofit both for Taylors with “New Technology” (NT) necks and for pre-NT Taylors as well. Ever since the official launch of the ES at the 2003 Winter NAMM show raised the bar on amplified acoustic tone, the pickup system has been lauded by performing artists, reviewers, and live sound technicians for its ability to capturing Taylor's rich acoustic tone in a plugged-in setting. ES retrofits will enable more pre-ES Taylor owners to upgrade electronics for their favorite Taylor without having to buy a new guitar.
“While we love to sell new guitars, we’re also in the service business,” Bob Taylor acknowledges, noting the special, long-term relationships people develop with their instruments. “A lot of people out there have an older Taylor that they just love. If they got themselves a new Taylor with the ES, really like the way it performs, and wish their other Taylor(s) could sound that good plugged in, now they can do something about it.”
The three-knob ES control unit is a nifty piece of industrial design that fits securely into the same pocket originally cut for the Fishman side-mounted control unit. The ES can also be installed on NT guitars previously equipped with a passive pickup (such as the Fishman Matrix), as well as NT Taylors built without electronics. In such cases, the installation is less intrusive, and will resemble the look of standard ES-equipped Taylor models.
The pre-NT ES retrofit is virtually the same pickup system we install on our current guitars (300 Series and up) — featuring three Dynamic Sensors and a preamp designed by Mr. Rupert Neve — with one main difference. Because pre-NT Taylors don’t have a routed body pocket (to accommodate the NT neck joint), the magnetic string sensor is instead imbedded in a specially designed ebony casing, which is then mounted on the rim of the soundhole nearest the fretboard to register string vibration.
The ebony housing is beautifully contoured and beveled into a smooth crescent shape that follows the curve of the soundhole. Another sleek design touch is a laser-etched “Taylor Expression System” along the vertical face of the ebony that resides inside the soundhole. The refined, organic look was designed to blend as naturally as possible with the anatomy of a Taylor.
If the guitar previously was equipped with a side-mounted preamp/blender unit, it will be replaced by the same three-knob control unit we use on the NT retrofit. Otherwise, we can install the control knobs the way we do on new models. The cost of the retrofit is $498, plus the cost of shipping each way. For more information, or to schedule a retrofit, please contact our Customer Service department at (800) 943-6782 before shipping your guitar. The pricing is the same for all NT guitars, with or without existing Fishman or other pickup systems, and all previous pickups will be returned to owners.
The Taylor Guitars DN4 was chosen as “Best Acoustic Guitar 2008” by representatives of 100 music magazines from around the globe, at the “Grammys of the musical instrument and pro audio industry,” the annual Musikmesse International Press Awards (M.I.P.A.). The 2008 M.I.P.A. awards were presented to winners during a grand party and ceremony held during the Musikmesse/Prolight & Sound international trade show, on March 13, 2008.
The DN4 is one of Taylor's pure acoustic Dreadnought models, built with back and sides of satin-finished Ovangkol, a glossy Sitka spruce top, cream binding and small abalone fingerboard inlay dots.
Taylor has a long history of M.I.P.A. wins. The GS, which was released in 2006 as Taylor's first new all-acoustic model in over a decade, earned “Best Acoustic Guitar 2007.” The groundbreaking T5 electric/acoustic hybrid won “Best Acoustic Guitar 2006,” despite its “hidden” arsenal of bona fide analog electric sounds. Taylor's Nylon Series won “Best Acoustic Guitar” in 2002 and tied for the same award in 2003, and Taylor's mid-priced 110 was nominated for “Best Acoustic Guitar 2004.”
Taylor is excited to introduce its Builder’s Reserve program, in which Bob Taylor taps into the company’s private wood reserves to design a series of extra-special, ultra-limited guitars using wood that he has been accumulating over the course of 30-plus years.
For our inaugural Builder’s Reserve collection, Bob and his design team are celebrating the launch of our SolidBody electrics by crafting a very small quantity of exotic SolidBody Customs, which feature a neck, body and top of exquisite Bastogne walnut. (Bob wrote about the wood in his “BobSpeak” column in the summer 2007 issue of Wood&Steel and is pictured atop a section of the log.) Bob personally supervised the cutting of the log at one of our longtime wood suppliers, Pacific Rim Tonewoods.
The walnut was flatsawn, and the body was made from a single piece of the beautiful wood. The top boasts our nicest walnut burl and incorporates a gorgeous pickguard made entirely of solid, genuine pearl, which was hand-inlaid into the top by guitar designer Larry Breedlove. The fretboard inlay is a mother-of-pearl gothic vine motif.
Each SolidBody features a customized chrome back panel that is laser-engraved with our Builder’s Reserve logo and its individual number in the building sequence. The guitars come with a deluxe guitar case of walnut-colored suede with black, crushed velour interior.
Each Bastogne SolidBody will also include a specially designed collector’s book featuring glossy photos that chronicle the entire spectrum of development, from the tree’s growth to the guitar being built.
By design, each Builder’s Reserve collection will be completely unique, from the type of guitar to the quantity produced to the aesthetics to the price. This gives Bob and his team the ultimate freedom to let the wood inspire the guitar.
Work starts on Builder’s Reserve #1 soon, so contact these select 
The 2008 Winter NAMM show is history, but the Taylor buzz created over the course of the four-day trade show, January 17-20, at the Anaheim Convention Center continues to ring out over the guitar world like a thunderous power chord.
The entire layout of Taylor’s exhibition space was reconfigured this year to balance the presentation of our Acoustic and Electric lines. As a result, the Taylor room’s more spacious layout opened up the flow of the room to alleviate some of the congestion that comes with the high visitor traffic we often get during artist performances. The room was effectively comprised of two wings, each featuring a long wall festooned with guitars. On one side were our acoustics, representing the 2008 Acoustic and Acoustic/Electric line — including new GS “ce” models — along with some beautiful one-off fruits of our Build to Order program for the year. On the other side was an eye-popping wall of electrics — a mix of SolidBody and T5 models — which formed a stunning gallery of cascading guitars. Also showcased was an array of custom SolidBody offerings, plus the debut entry in our new Builder’s Reserve program, featuring a small batch of all Bastogne walnut SolidBody guitars.
There was a bold statement to be made by the balanced presentation of acoustics and electrics (totaling about 170 guitars!): that Taylor is every bit as committed to making inspiring electric guitars as we are to acoustics. This was underscored by the fact that more and more guitar players play both acoustic and electric guitars, as many of our guests demonstrated firsthand, wandering from one side of the room to the other, picking and strumming both. Maybe at times it did sound a little more like your local guitar store on a Saturday afternoon than people might expect from Taylor. But they sure seemed happy to be there.
For Sixwire, it was their first live set since the Fox TV show The Next Great American Band, where they made it to the final round. Guitarist Steve Mandile, who officially debuted a white Classic on national TV on the show, confessed during their NAMM set that it had been a while since the band played more than a minute and a half of a song. Musician Sheila E, one of the judges from the Fox show, caught their set in our booth and chatted with the band afterward. The band killed with a medley they call “The Beast,” which was stuffed to the gills with familiar electric guitar riffs from so many great classic rock songs they grew up listening to, including “Layla,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Ramblin’ Man,” “Freebird,” and many others. The best part: both Mandile and fellow guitarist Robb Houston played them on SolidBody models, and the tones were tasty.
Taylor Swift and her band 
We’re happy to announce the official launch of a new, state-of-the-art electric guitar website to showcase our cutting-edge SolidBody and top-selling T5 Thinline 5-way guitars. The website, 
In the “Features” sections, in-depth explanations of both guitars are offered, and in “Specs,” complete specifications and pricing for SolidBody Classic, Standard and Custom models, and T5 Standard and Custom 6- and 12-string models are available.
Taylor 12-strings won the Gold for the fourth consecutive time in Acoustic Guitar magazine’s 2006 Players’ Choice Awards, which are held every two years. Winners are chosen not by the editors or by “a panel of experts”, but by readers of Acoustic Guitar, who participate in the magazine’s poll. Nearly 5,000 ballots were cast this year.
One day in March, Taylor’s National Sales Manager, Rick Fagan, found himself staying late at the office. Only he wasn’t catching up on paperwork. He was curled up on a couch with a mahogany/cedar 
From the moment of its debut in the mid-’90s, the 814ce began its fast ascent to prominence within the Taylor line. Prior to that, Bob Taylor’s 810 had been the company’s flagship model, representing Bob’s interpretative homage to both the classic pairing of Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce and the traditional Dreadnought shape.
“Skeptics of electric 12-strings have a new reason to admit defeat,” writes Dave Jones in the July/August issue of Performing Songwriter. “Taylor’s new 12-string version of its T5 is a hollowbody electric with the soul of a lush acoustic!this thinline really surprises when you strum and hear the extra set of notes. The weight and neck both feel like you’re holding far fewer strings.” Jones admires the T512’s compensated saddle and the way it furthers the illusion by leveling the fundamental strings with the octave strings. “The resulting attack is even and crisp, with a severely restricted chance of slipping the pick in between the two strings you’re trying to play.” He lauds the T5C2-12 for working “triple-duty as a 12-string acoustic, hollowbody and electric all with the feel of a 6-string.”
Matt Blackett reviewed a koa-topped T5C2-12 in the June 2007 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Blackett was effusive in his praise, and bestowed a prestigious “Editor’s Pick” award on the guitar. (Matt deserves some special credit himself for coining our new favorite word, “blingitude!”) Here are some excerpts from his review:
Our new GC7 definitely won over Andrew DuBrock at Acoustic Guitar magazine. In his review, DuBrock begins with a nod to the history of the Taylor “signature sound,” and the company’s reputation for high quality. He notes that, in 2006, the GS paved the way for an entire line of Taylor Acoustics, expanding the Taylor voice significantly.
“!when I first beheld the new Taylor Fall Limited Series 414e-LTD, I was unable to discern how it differed from a stock 414. Unable, that is, until I turned it over and was momentarily stunned by the sight of a gorgeous two-piece claro walnut back adorned with an equally lovely maple center strip,” writes Guitar World Acoustic reviewer, Scott Nygaard.
Associate Editor Douglas Baldwin reviewed one of our 2006 Fall Limiteds, a cocobolo/Engelmann 914ce-LTD, and wasted no time delving into the “treasure trove of visual and sonic delights” the guitar presented. For starters, Baldwin was enamored with cocobolo’s striking beauty, which, together with the creamy Engelmann top, flamed maple binding, and other colors and appointments, conspired to create a “festival of light”. In terms of playability, he loved both the neck contour and low but buzz-free action, noting that the fretboard’s playing surface “practically begs for steady use.”
Guitar Player reviewer Dave Hunter did the honors here, toasting the super sonics of a mahogany/cedar GS model.
Assistant Technology Editor Dave Jones was effusive in his praise for a maple/spruce GS. “It was like heaven picking one up and playing it for the first time,” he writes. “It had a beautiful, very pronounced low end with a strikingly even tonal balance against the high end. I found the maple/spruce combination to be very clear and articulate, great for picking melodies and riffs.”
Guitar Buyer (UK)/ September 2006. Writer Paul Alcantara weighs in with the first review of a T5 boasting the dual top-mounted humbucker option (an extra humbucker replaces the body sensor). Alcantara notes that Taylor flattops always have been inviting to the electric player, and that the T5 rolls the red carpet even further into the electric world.
Guitar Buyer / May 2006. Bob Taylor sounds off on the leveled pricing structure, philosophical approach, and major “build” differences that make the new GS a unique guitar, even for Taylor, in a sidebar to a feature article on Taylor happenings in the UK mag.
The GS made a profound impression on Acoustic Guitar gear editor Teja Gerken, whose review of a rosewood/cedar model appears in the magazine’s June 2006 issue. Gerken, primarily a fingerstylist who owns a ’94 712c and has played many Taylors over the years, declares the GS his favorite in terms of pure acoustic sound. He salutes the guitar’s “buttery-smooth” set-up, but asserts that tone is his ultimate area of reckoning. “And tone is what impressed me about the GS,” he writes. “The first pluck of its low E revealed a growl, volume, and complexity that begged me to play more.”
20th Century Guitar / May 2006. The guitar media’s romance with the T5 continues to sizzle. This time it was 20th Century Guitar Contributing Editor Ray Matuza who fell prey to the guitar’s seductive spell, courtesy of a 2006 sage green model with the extra humbucker option. Matuza had enjoyed his first taste of the T5 back at the 2005 Winter NAMM show, and recalls his first impression: “Wow!”
Guitar Buyer / April 2006. Writer Mick Taylor’s review of a 514ce-L10 might dash a few misconceptions about mahogany, a tonewood occasionally undervalued by players.
Electronic Musician /November 2005. The cover story is about recording with ribbon (or velocity) microphones, and the cover photo is a beautiful shot of a Taylor 110, poised and ready to “sing” into an expectant ribbon mic. Ribbon mics are known for their “punch”, natural room sound, and excellent low-end definition. The article, “Capture That Vintage Vibe”, focuses on 13 quality ribbon mics for the project-studio owner, organized in groups by price and physical construction. The 110 pictured on the cover belongs to EM Senior Editor Gino Robair, who told us in an e-mail, “Feel free to mention it’s my personal guitar. I love the sound of that instrument.”
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