Has anyone adjusted the screws on the Taylor Es2

[Mbroady]

Been a couple threads lately about the consistency of the Taylor ES2 system. Seems very few have made an adjustment with the screws, despite the fact that they are not happy with the sound.

How about you. Have you turned the screws. If yes, why, and did it fix the issue, or make it worse. Did you tighten them or loosen them. What did it do to the sound.

Or are you happy with it the way it is

Have an 812ce 12 fret coming. First time in a long time I have purchased sight unseen.

[MikeBmusic]

There's a few threads about it in the 'Acoustic Amplification' section of these forums.

[SpruceTop]

When you get your new Taylor with ES2, please play it a couple of days to get accustomed to it. Play it straight without any pedals or effects through your amp or PA by starting with all EQ flat and then mess around with EQ settings on the guitar and amp. If you feel you don't like something about the amplified tone, you can adjust the ES2 pickup screws to fine-tune your tone. Tightening will give you a bit more fundamental tone and loosening a bit more jangle. You can't screw anything up if you do this:

1) Stick the short-stem of the .050" Allen wrench in a screw and note the direction the long stem is pointing (try to get a position that is parallel to the bridge or perpendicular to it as an easy initial reference to return to factory-set position, if needed). You have six potential initial reference positions because of the Allen screw's Hex-head socket.
2) Gently rotate the long stem about 1/4 turn (90 degrees) clockwise to tighten the screw to increase the pickup's force against the bridge-saddle. Do this for the other two screws by finding a wrench position that is about the same as the first screw's initial position. Write on a note pad that your first adjustment started from the described initial position and was rotated 1/4 turn clockwise.
3) Play your amplified guitar through your PA with all EQ flat. Any better tone? If not, try another 1/4 turn, with similar procedure as above, noting what you did in reference to original position, i.e., all screws now a 1/2 turn clockwise from factory settings. Play amplified to judge tone.
4) You can also go counterclockwise in a similar fashion from the original factory settings until you lose the amplified tone because the pickup is no longer against the bridge-saddle. If you do this, note the rotation from original factory settings to where the amplified tone stops so you can return to the original settings.

Likely, you'll have about 1 turn in a clockwise direction from the original factory settings before full tightness so always rotate the Allen wrench gently. You'll likely have about 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn until you lose the amplified tone when rotating in a counterclockwise direction from original factory settings.

Please let us know your progress.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Mbroady

Been a couple threads lately about the consistency of the Taylor ES2 system. Seems very few have made an adjustment with the screws, despite the fact that they are not happy with the sound.

How about you. Have you turned the screws. If yes, why, and did it fix the issue, or make it worse. Did you tighten them or loosen them. What did it do to the sound.

Or are you happy with it the way it is

Have an 812ce 12 fret coming. First time in a long time I have purchased sight unseen.

I hope you will love your 812ce 12 fret as much as I love mine. I also bought mine sight unseen. The only change I made to it was to have the nut action lowered a bit. I've never made an adjustment to the ES2 screws but here is what I notice about ES2 on the 812ce (and my 522e) versus ES1 on my 2013 814ce. It's a lot "hotter". My typical setup for playing at home on a Fishman Loudbox Mini is:

ES2 EQ knobs

Bass knob - from mid-point flat setting, turn CCW (down) 40%-50%
Treble knob - from mid-point flat setting, turn CCW (down) 40%-50%
Volume knob - at mid-point

Fishman Amp Controls

Low - turned down from flat about 30%
High - flat or slightly turned down
Gain - 25% -40% (from knob turned fully down)
Master volume - about 40%-50%

Your results may vary dependent on the room size and the amp. On the ES1 on the 814ce, the bass and treble knobs on the guitar and the low and high knobs on the amp are typically on the mid/flat positions, gain on the amp is about 50%-70%, and master volume about 60%-70%.

If I put ES2 at mid-point, the bass in particular gets "boomy". The settings above are pretty sweet for my 812.

Good luck!

[SpruceTop]

I had a 2014 Taylor 812ce 12-Fret ES2 that sounded really nice through my Line 6 L2t PA speaker. I tended to have all EQ pretty much flat on both the guitar and speaker with great results. I, too, never had to make any adjustment to the ES2 screws on that guitar and on my three current ES2-equipped Taylors. The only ES2-equipped Taylor I ever adjusted slightly was my now-traded 2013 Taylor 516e FLTD.

[jimmy bookout]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

When you get your new Taylor with ES2, please play it a couple of days to get accustomed to it. Play it straight without any pedals or effects through your amp or PA by starting with all EQ flat and then mess around with EQ settings on the guitar and amp. If you feel you don't like something about the amplified tone, you can adjust the ES2 pickup screws to fine-tune your tone. Tightening will give you a bit more fundamental tone and loosening a bit more jangle. You can't screw anything up if you do this:

1) Stick the short-stem of the .050" Allen wrench in a screw and note the direction the long stem is pointing (try to get a position that is parallel to the bridge or perpendicular to it as an easy initial reference to return to factory-set position, if needed). You have six potential initial reference positions because of the Allen screw's Hex-head socket.
2) Gently rotate the long stem about 1/4 turn (90 degrees) clockwise to tighten the screw to increase the pickup's force against the bridge-saddle. Do this for the other two screws by finding a wrench position that is about the same as the first screw's initial position. Write on a note pad that your first adjustment started from the described initial position and was rotated 1/4 turn clockwise.
3) Play your amplified guitar through your PA with all EQ flat. Any better tone? If not, try another 1/4 turn, with similar procedure as above, noting what you did in reference to original position, i.e., all screws now a 1/2 turn clockwise from factory settings. Play amplified to judge tone.
4) You can also go counterclockwise in a similar fashion from the original factory settings until you lose the amplified tone because the pickup is no longer against the bridge-saddle. If you do this, note the rotation from original factory settings to where the amplified tone stops so you can return to the original settings.

Likely, you'll have about 1 turn in a clockwise direction from the original factory settings before full tightness so always rotate the Allen wrench gently. You'll likely have about 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn until you lose the amplified tone when rotating in a counterclockwise direction from original factory settings.

Please let us know your progress.

Your first sentence is VITAL on any new guitar/pickup!!! We all get the "house hearing" on our sound and tend to be critical of anything that doesn't sound like what we are used to.

Jimmy

[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

When you get your new Taylor with ES2, please play it a couple of days to get accustomed to it. Play it straight without any pedals or effects through your amp or PA by starting with all EQ flat and then mess around with EQ settings on the guitar and amp. If you feel you don't like something about the amplified tone, you can adjust the ES2 pickup screws to fine-tune your tone. Tightening will give you a bit more fundamental tone and loosening a bit more jangle. You can't screw anything up if you do this:

1) Stick the short-stem of the .050" Allen wrench in a screw and note the direction the long stem is pointing (try to get a position that is parallel to the bridge or perpendicular to it as an easy initial reference to return to factory-set position, if needed). You have six potential initial reference positions because of the Allen screw's Hex-head socket.
2) Gently rotate the long stem about 1/4 turn (90 degrees) clockwise to tighten the screw to increase the pickup's force against the bridge-saddle. Do this for the other two screws by finding a wrench position that is about the same as the first screw's initial position. Write on a note pad that your first adjustment started from the described initial position and was rotated 1/4 turn clockwise.
3) Play your amplified guitar through your PA with all EQ flat. Any better tone? If not, try another 1/4 turn, with similar procedure as above, noting what you did in reference to original position, i.e., all screws now a 1/2 turn clockwise from factory settings. Play amplified to judge tone.
4) You can also go counterclockwise in a similar fashion from the original factory settings until you lose the amplified tone because the pickup is no longer against the bridge-saddle. If you do this, note the rotation from original factory settings to where the amplified tone stops so you can return to the original settings.

Likely, you'll have about 1 turn in a clockwise direction from the original factory settings before full tightness so always rotate the Allen wrench gently. You'll likely have about 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn until you lose the amplified tone when rotating in a counterclockwise direction from original factory settings.

Please let us know your progress.

Thanks SpruceTop (and everyone that responded)
I will most definitely resist the urge to make changes rite away. I have a couple of gigs coming up so that will give me the opportunity to try the guitar in a couple scenarios.

Out of curiosity, what was it about the 516 that prompted you to make an adjustment. Did you loosen or tighten the screws?

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Mbroady

Thanks SpruceTop (and everyone that responded)
I will most definitely resist the urge to make changes rite away. I have a couple of gigs coming up so that will give me the opportunity to try the guitar in a couple scenarios.

Out of curiosity, what was it about the 516 that prompted you to make an adjustment. Did you loosen or tighten the screws?

The 2013 Taylor 516e FLTD ES2 had a buzzing on the 3rd string that I thought might be related to the middle sensor so I adjusted it by tightening the screw about a quarter turn. This took away the buzzing and didn't affect the balance of the 3rd and 4th strings in relation to the other four strings.

I believe the guitars come from Taylor, more often than not, with the ES2 properly adjusted and perhaps to some standard. As long as you know where you started your adjustment(s), you'll always be able to return to the factory settings. Then again, there's only about 1-3/4 turns from no sound to fully clockwise, so even if you lose your way, just adjust the sensors to where they sound good.

[Vancebo]

Yes, I have experimented with turning the hex screws. I agree with Spruce Top who said there is more fundamental when the screws are causing more pressure against the saddle and more overtone or harmonics when there is less pressure. My current 816 sounds best with less pressure against the saddle.

[JackB1]

Thread bump!

Anyone else?