Bad NGD - Taylor 614ce

[Guitar1083]

Originally Posted by Volfan615

Thats beautiful.

[Bad Poppa]

Originally Posted by ewalling

There's no real risk with MF. If we don't like it, we can send it back, no questions asked. We would have to pay shipping for merely disliking a guitar, but that seems a reasonable trade-off to have the opportunity of getting something we may not be able to find locally. Consider also that being online, there's no tax included, so it's coming at quite a hefty discount already.

Once? Twice? At $40 a pop for shipping and the inconvenience, to me, it's a gamble. To get a true refund, it takes several days (a week for me the last time) to get my money back into my account so I could buy something else. Sometimes, a week is enough time to miss a good deal.

[teleamp]

Congrats, beautiful guitar...
How does it sound?

More pics please!!!

[El Diablo]

Originally Posted by mcbean

The interesting thing about Taylor is that they don't seem to have adjusted their prices in accordance with the increased use of some less expensive wood.

I think it's a bit presumptuous to assume that the wood they're using is less expensive, or to suggest that they should "adjust" their prices.

Taylor appears to be using the wood that's available. Good on 'em.

[El Diablo]

Personally, I think that wood pickguard looks a heck of a lot worse than the bear claw.

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by Dwight

Here's a picture of a 614ce I use to have. I liked the top just fine.

Very nice! I like it.

[sbpark]

I think the top looks nice. I'm not into the shape of Taylor pick guards and bridges though. They have always been a deal breaker for me! Thank goodness we have so many different guitar makers to choose from to accommodate all of our varying tastes!

[AVTaylor83]

Looks can be deceiving. My cedar topped GA5 has some bearclaw/figure to it in the middle but it didn't matter to me because I thought it sounded phenomenal. It also has some of the "smokey ebony" on the fretboard (before Taylor was making smokey ebony "cool" haha). Of course, I didn't drop $3k on it either. But I care more about the tone than the looks.



If you're happy with the sound I wouldn't worry about it.

[teleamp]

Originally Posted by mcbean

The interesting thing about Taylor is that they don't seem to have adjusted their prices in accordance with the increased use of some less expensive wood. But, maybe I'm just ignorant and prices have increased on streaked ebony at a matching rate to the rest of the wood world.

Can you tell me what TONE wood is supposed to look like?

[jseth]

While it IS very true that neither Martin nor Gibson would have used a piece of spruce with "bearclaw" in it back in those "Golden Years", the look has become quite acceptable of late, and judging by the responses to this thread, actually preferred by many!

When I bought my Mark Angus #58, back in 1983, I did notice that the top had some figuring in it... but I loved the guitar (to date, the ONLY 12 string that Mark has made!) and Mark offered it to me for the same price I had paid him for my #35, 4 years prior, so I went ahead and bought it... over the years since, I have grown quite fond of the look of the top; now, I wouldn't trade it for a "plain jane" spruce top...

I wonder if the torrefaction process accentuates any irregularities in the grain of the wood? In any case, how much time do you actually spend LOOKING AT THE TOP of the guitar? Certainly not while you're playing the thing...

Oh well, it's your money, your guitar, do what you like... but I wouldn't diss Taylor for using the wood... I have seen Bear Claw spruce on some very, VERY high priced instruments. Any one who thinks it's a "defect" and inferior in quality is tragically uninformed... it's one thing to not like the look; quite another for someone to blow some pompous, absolutely incorrect smoke out of their rear end... (not talking about the OP here, but a few replies...)

Be sure to give us a look at what ever you get to take this one's place...

[sbeirnes]

I blame Obama.

[Purfle Haze]

Originally Posted by Volfan615

You may remember my NGD post a week ago after receiving from Musicians Friend my new Taylor 614ce First Edition.

So you're in Nashville, and you bought a guitar sight unseen from MF? Is this because nobody in Nashville sells this guitar, where you could go see it, play it, buy it?

How much did you save getting it from MF? Was it worth the trouble you're having? Perhaps I do not understand.

[Guitar1083]

Originally Posted by Purfle Haze

So you're in Nashville, and you bought a guitar sight unseen from MF? Is this because nobody in Nashville sells this guitar, where you could go see it, play it, buy it?

How much did you save getting it from MF? Was it worth the trouble you're having? Perhaps I do not understand.

Thank you:

and on that note thats why i like the one - one relationships, small stores rock.

[piper_guitarist]

I'm indifferent to bearclaw. I can take it or leave it as long as the guitar sounds good.

Alas, if you aren't happy with it, no use in keeping it.

[Rev Roy]

Thanks to the pics Sweetwater posts, I know exactly what my guitar looks like before it arrives tomorrow. Love it...which is why I chose this one among the four 814s available. After watching this thread explode to 7+ pages, mine looks fairly tame...and I still love it! Would be great if all online dealers offered this service.

And for those who say they would never buy a guitar before playing it, good for you. Wish I had the same option. But those of us who live in rural areas hundreds of miles away from a full service guitar store, that's not really an option. Even if you travel all that way to play a guitar, it's unlikely the store will have the exact models you are interested in...much less 2 or 3 of them you can try out. For us, online stores with quality sales reps (who can answer specific questions about a specific guitar), multiple pics of each guitar you are considering and a generous return policy ain't a bad way to go.