Thoughts on Taylor's new 50th anniversary line?

[Luckymud]

Originally Posted by Marshall

Come on ! What's not to like about this?

Sure, it's not for me either. But, idk. I can imagine someone born in the year of the dragon, or having a kid born in this year thinking it's cool. I think Taylor knows its audience and knows there will be collectors or a subset of folks that are interested in these quirky runs. Why not? It's not like Martin doesn't also do similar stuff (Ahem, Martin D420 guitar or OM Biosphere).

And when Taylor released the Last of Us 314 and GS Mini a long time ago, there was definitely some eye-rolling. But those guitars are selling for 2-3x what they were listed for new.

Again, not my thing. And maybe I'm proving your point. But I don't begrudge Taylor for this. And buy whatever you like. I'm certainly not going to yuck anyone's yum.

[maplebaby]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I love the Taylor Guitars Company, for the guitars I've bought from them and for the excellent customer service they've rendered to me more than once. I also appreciate the craftsmanship and fit and finish their guitars have featured for so many years.

With that understood, I feel like their visual aesthetic has dramatically moved away from me, to where I rarely see one of their guitars that I find appealing. That and the constantly changing kaleidoscope of features, shape, and wood changes, and their strong integrating of reclaimed wood into the regular lines have made me an outsider who can no longer distinguish or recommend any model because I have no frame of reference.

It is all very disappointing.

Bob

I can 100% relate and agree.

[koine2002]

Iconic brands like Taylor (the new kid on the block, relatively speaking), Martin, and Gibson always release limited edition models that are ridiculously priced. Martin put out some models with way too much inlaying into the top (which messes with the sound). It’s a marketing thing to sell some museum guitars and display guitars as well as make some bling from folks who are willing to spend that much (and there are plenty).

The use of reclaimed wood (like urban eucalyptus) is a reality in today’s world. Urban eucalyptus is all over San Diego County and is often a nuisance tree, and they’ve been working with the San Diego city/county folks to reclaim wood from the removed trees. Traditional tonewoods are in very high demand for instruments (violins, pianos, guitars, etc.) in addition to non-musical uses like furniture and building (spruce is often used as construction lumber, too!). In fact, affordable (to most middle class households) pianos with a solid Sitka Spruce soundboard (as opposed to laminate) are going the way of the dodo bird. A maker has to be cost-effective to have wood that is not only a good tone wood but also meets the quality standards (knots, density, etc.). Unless one manages their own forests a la Godin, it gets hard and expensive. They even use wild cherry, which grows in Canada like mesquite in the US Southwest, in many of their guitars The marbling on ebony fretboards is due to how hard it is (think cost) to find non-marbled ebony. So, they turn it into a selling point. Furthermore, those companies also have a stated commitment to not being involved in clear cutting nor labor exploitation in their supply chain. That adds another complication.

[Br1ck]

I think it's a fine way to make money. You know the 51st year will never be quite as good. You will have to wait for the 75th anniversary limited edition to ever equal these guitars. You can also look forward to the 50th anniversary of the Grand Performance model, and the bolt on neck, and the commemorative ES1 anniversaries. They will have a commemorative Urban Ironbark series too. The GS mini will be fifty someday.

[Tony Burns]

Not sure ash sides is worth the 3 grand price ticket !

Buying a guitar as a collectors item - is kinda silly
Play before you pay !



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[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by Groberts

Yeah, the prettiest girls aren't always the best. Not at all.

Don’t tell my wife that. [emoji14]