The Friendly 12bar Blues Guitar Forum

So I decided to get a new acoustic guitar. I wanted a short scale, small body (like 00 or 000 size). I wanted electronics and I also wanted a cutaway. My budget was about $2,000 or so.

There are very few stock guitars that fit the bill. Martin doesn't make a short scale guitar with a cutaway and electronics, so they really didn't have anything for me.

I looked at a couple of Simon & Patrick and Seagull guitars, which have a short scale, but I didn't like the guitars. Not very playable.

The only Gibson that fits the bill is the J165. Beautiful guitar but too expensive. Like $2850. That was just too much for me.

So I got a Taylor 412CE. Lightly figured spruce top, bookmatched back and sides made of Ovangkol, which is supposedly similar to rosewood as far as its sonic properties go, but not so exotic and expensive. Ebony fingerboard and bridge. The workmanship and the setup are absolutely perfect. Taylor has a reputation for having the most playable guitars out of the box, and that's the way this axe was. I paid $1849 minus 15% for some sale coupon I had. It came out to about $1570, which is a great deal.

I've had it for almost a week and I'm on my third set of strings and my fingers are raw. I'm doing about half fingerpicking and half flatpicking.

Here's the pix:

That's one beautiful guitar there. Not surprised your fingers are raw. Good choice.

You know what we're going to ask I'm sure - please can we hear it.

BBP .. that is a cracking geetar !!

Enjoy !!

..............obviously you are !!

whilst your fingers do complain a tad !!.....they'll catch up tho !

Incidentally bbp .................what was the attraction of the shorter scale length ??

BBP - That's one beautiful guitar. I'll bet your fingers are sore but happy.

The sensation of a guitar is so tactile. I look at the pictures and my hands itch to hold it. The photos just present a tease for the actual experience of the guitar.

Maybe you could mail it around the group so we could all try it.

Nice!
Can't wait to hear it.

WOW that's a really beautiful instrument.
Cant's wait to hear a sound demo

You are so right Mojo jim

a new guitar , especially an acoustic is just such a supeb senstaion to so many senses.......

the first two are pretty obvious ,...............sights and sounds

Visually ..................the looks entice you...........they probably seduced you in the 1st place

Sounds ..........more obviuosly I guess ....................the tone , the resonance of the body, the sustain of a single note.

But as you point out .the whole tactile experience , can be very special.

Touch , the feel of the woods and the smoothness of the fretboard, the curvature of the bouts etc

but one sense not so often apprecaited with guitars ..................Smell ............


Smell, you probably don't notice it so much in the shop ..but when you get it home the fantastic smells of new different woods is just so evocative.

Particularly when its new , you enter the room where you store your guitar , or open the case ......and Wow !! the great woody smells just blow you away.

Great things guitars ........................don't do much for the taste buds perhaps .......but isn't that what beer is for !!

Strummer07 wrote:Visually ..................the looks entice you...........they probably seduced you in the 1st place

Sounds ..........more obviuosly I guess ....................the tone , the resonance of the body, the sustain of a single note.

But as you point out .the whole tactile experience , can be very special.

Touch , the feel of the woods and the smoothness of the fretboard, the curvature of the bouts etc

but one sense not so often apprecaited with guitars ..................Smell ............


Smell, you probably don't notice it so much in the shop ..but when you get it home the fantastic smells of new different woods is just so evocative.

Pretty much the same things that attract us males to females... eh? Keep her a few years and she gets even better!!!

I don't even have to hear it to want it.

When I was shopping for my acoustic one EBay seller wrote:

"This guitar has seldom been played. I only open the case once in a while to smell it."

My wife said, "Isn't that kind of weird or creepy - or something?"

I said, "Nope, I understand that guy completely."

I still love opening the case of the acoustic. It's a much more complete experience than unpacking one of the electrics. The electrics are very pretty and shiny but it is very, very satisfying to get out the acoustic. And the first strum brings that complete, full, organic sound - it doesn't get any better.

Congratulation! Looks beautiful!

BadBluesPlayer wrote:I've had it for almost a week and I'm on my third set of strings and my fingers are raw.

3rd set? Interesting, cause I usually need only one set a year.

Golfxzq wrote:Pretty much the same things that attract us males to females... eh? Keep her a few years and she gets even better!!!

At least more costly...

12bar wrote:
3rd set? Interesting, cause I usually need only one set a year.

Yeah - I'm usually pretty hard on the wound g strings and after maybe five or ten hours I've mashed the windings down and the string isn't smooth anymore.

Nice looking Taylor BadBluesPlayer.
Have a question for you, how does the sound compare versus an Ovation? I have never tried a Taylor guitar.
Why are you changing the strings so often?

Regards,
Musicians Resources

Musisource wrote:Nice looking Taylor BadBluesPlayer.
Have a question for you, how does the sound compare versus an Ovation? I have never tried a Taylor guitar.
Why are you changing the strings so often?

Regards,
Musicians Resources

I played and Ovation a couple of years ago. The Ovation was not so woody sounding as the Taylor. The Taylor is fairly bright, but very natural sounding.

I've been trying some different strings to see how they sound. I wear out the strings every five or ten hours, and I've been swapping them out when I get a hankering to try something else. I've tried the Elixir Nanowebs that came on it - they are bright and a little thin sounding. I've tried some Martin 80/20 Bronze's and they're loud and bright. I've always liked the Martin SP Phosphor bronze strings and I've tried those too, and they sound really good. I guess I kind of like them the best so far. I'm going to keep trying different strings and see how they sound.