If you like guitars, watch this.

@sleigh,

 Yes, I think Taylor Guitars make some absolutely fantastic looking and quality guitars, but way to expensive for me, to just noodle with on the couch.
 I did have a GS Mini for a while, nice little Guitar, sound was great for the size, but found the neck to be to narrow and fret spacing to small, for my finger picking style of playing.
 As far as the sound of other Taylor Guitar models, no actual experience, as not very common in this neck of the woods. 😀

I'd actually agree with that and take no offense whatsoever. It's just that I still haven't heard a Taylor that sounded "nice and warm" (so far, they've all sounded clean and distinct but thin to my ears), but that doesn't mean a model that would suit me isn't out there. I admit my experience with them is limited to having heard and played a Taylor that belongs to a friend (I don't remember the model, unfortunately), and to having plucked a few of the less expensive Taylors off the rack at local music store to give them some strums. I found them nice and easy to play, but there were better-sounding (to my ears) and less expensive guitars available that called to me more.

But the definition of a "great sound" is subjective and will vary from person to person; those who love their Taylors should pay no attention to anyone else's opinion and continue to love them. I should probably try some of the $1,500+ Taylor models, but don't particularly want to fall in love with something I can't afford to buy.

Ya, my only point was that even with the consistency of CNC involvement in the manufacturing, acoustics from any one brand can and will have different sounds.  Whether great or not is, as has already been said, subjective, but I'm just referring to variety vs the stereotype of a single sound.

I'm being 100% honest here when I say I've tried some Taylors, especially some all sapele and all hog models that would put Martin to shame, and some Martins that would give Taylors a great run for their money.

Imagine if everyone actually believed the stereotypes?  How many amazing guitars would they miss out on?  I use myself as an example.  I used to be a bit biased against anything made in China, and to a much smaller degree, Mexico.  And I actually used to dislike Taylor cuz I hadn't really tried that many of them.  I believed the stereotypes.  But Taylor, Martin and Alvarez all squashed those stereotypes for me and showed how much amazing variety and quality I would have missed had I continued to believe the stereotypes.

Does that make any sense or am I starting to ramble?  LOL. 

I guess the moral of the story I'm trying to tell here is to keep an open mind and try lots....and lots of guitars.     /ramble off.

When I consider the cost of a guitar (or any item, for that matter), I also have to realize that I expect to get paid well for what I do. Why shouldn't those who build guitars?  If everything we typically purchase were made in the US, Canada (though Godin and Seagull are incredible values), or England, our cost of living would be much higher than it is.  I don't know if folks think of that when they holler about bringing manufacturing jobs back to their respective countries. 

I do believe, as another poster here said, that we get what we pay for. If anything, we have a much better range of low end guitars than ever before, though in my experience there is a very real difference between these and the "boutique" quality instruments. I suspect many of us could be perfectly happy with a modern lower end instrument though.

Tony

I have a low end Taylor, its a very nice guitar. It is a little brighter but that makes it easy to sing with for some people.
It is also a good choice from my collection when leading others in a song.
I don't get it out much these days. But its not going anywhere.

I got it a long time ago, I bought it because Taylor had a great reputation at the time of being an excellent setup guitar right out of the box. I found this to be true, it was my easiest to play guitar for a long time. It still plays like butter, but I think other companies have learned their lesson and pay a little more attention to setup than they once did.

I think Taylor had great marketing and a great consistent product that helped them leap frog to a top position in the industry in a rather short time.


I'm not sure they could repeat their success today.  And not saying anything bad about the product.  Just that the market has changed over the last two or three decades.  Lots more manufactures do a good job.

I suppose it's because I haven't bought a guitar in over a decade that I have been able to keep below the $1000 range.  I bought/traded for my '62 Martin D-21 nearly 40years ago.  I traded a pre-war Martin OO-21 that I paid $50 for, a pre-war Martin mandolin that I paid $20 for and a yard sale S.S.Stewart that I can't recall how much I paid, plus $150.
My '58 Goya M-26, was a bargain at $375 about 20 years ago.
My 1950 LG1 was about $900 about a decade ago.
My Eastman MD605 mandolin was about $900 brand new in 2005.
The LG1 and the MD605 are tied for the highest price I've paid for an instrument, although they're not the highest current appraised value.
I suppose I'd like a 12-string, but I don't believe I'm in the market for a new guitar right now.  (although one of the guys at our Sunday night jam brought a d'Angelico archtop tonight and it was mighty fine.)