First impressions on my TS Guitar

[jeffrey]

Luckily it showed up at work today at 11:55.

Just in time for everyone to leave and leave me alone. :D

I played it for an hour straight, right then and there. Immediately out of the box it felt fantastic. The setup was so spot-on (glad it came with med's) and sounded tremendous. Very beefy, but not boomy. The notes have great seperation and ring very clear. Very bell-like, but not too tinny.

Honestly, I'm just astounded by the sound of it. Even tuning it I start to drift off and think "wow.. this thing really sounds amazing.. oh wait, what the hell was I doing? Oh yeah.. tuning..".

I've played it for a good solid 4 hours today. 3 hours of that easily alone and uninterrupted.

The overall verdict? I'm thoroughly and completely pleased. I can't fault it at all.

As far as it's condition, there's one very small little rough spot on the lower edge of the finish. It's not even visible (at least not to my eyes) but you can feel it. Do I care? Not really. :) There's one little scuff mark on the bridge too, but I rub that out when I change the strings. Again, do I care? Nah.

I buy guitars to play them. And play them I do. Dings and scratches are just part of it. ;)

I brought it by my bud Tommy's work today at Alamo Music. We sat there and jammed for a bit on my guitar and a 2002 614CE LTD he just got in. It was really cool to compare the two and listen to the differences. One really obvious thing right off the bat was how much louder my guitar was. Louder, rounder, fuller sounding. But not bassy/muddy like some low-end heavy guitars can get.

I guess the words that come to mind are: balanced and smooth.

Lots of both. :D

Thanks Bob! And everyone at Taylor Guitars!

[meridian]

When I remember that gloomy faced Jeffrey sitting by himself in the corner of the wood selecting room, I thought his dog had died! Nope, they were out of master grade cocobolo and Jeffrey was seriously bummed.

I tried to cheer him up and tell him that they really did have more and would go and get some if he asked. Still bummed. So I get "wood selector Joe" and "other Ed" and point them to Jeff tell them to go talk to him and why he is sooooo bummed out.

Jeffrey is a happy hippy now!

Jeff, I don't know if you knew that little story!

[cpmusic]

Great news, Jeff, and a good review! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much.

Originally posted by jeffrey
As far as it's condition, there's one very small little rough spot on the lower edge of the finish. It's not even visible (at least not to my eyes) but you can feel it. Do I care? Not really. :)

I found something similar on my TS guitar. Right in the middle of the cutaway there was a rough spot that I couldn't see but could definitely feel. I managed to rub it out with a little 0000 steel wool (don't try this at home, boys and girls!) and feels smooth now, but I don't think I would have returned it to Taylor just for that. As Jeff said, guitars will get scratches and dings as they get played.

[meridian]

Your pics are up now, Jeff!

W O W ! ! !

Master Grade everything!! You'll have to change your signature now!!

I am so sorry that they couldn't get it together to do inlays on the back for us. Rick Crider's looks so nice!

Pull together a couple of mp3s. I love your style!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

:)

[jeffrey]

I didn't know that little story Joe. You are quite the little leprechaun aren't you. :)

But seriously, thank you. I do appreciate it. My mind at the time was on other things really and I was just a bit more hyper-sensative than I normally am. Thankfully, for the most part, that has all passed now.

I was sitting here at my desk at work yesterday plying it after it came in. Everone was gone for lunch so it was dead quiet.

I sat here for a few minutes and looked at the back for a while and tryed to envision it with the Koi inlay et al.

I looked at it this way: even though the inlay has nothing to do with the playability of the guitar or the sound, I'm very pleased with it just as it is. I don't think I'd change anything.

Everything seems to happen for a reason anyway, doesn't it?

I intend on taking some better pictures later and sending those to J.R. Those were fresh out of the case in my office.

I plan on doing some recording with it Joe, I'll be sure to let you know. :)

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone. :)

[meridian]

Originally posted by jeffrey
I didn't know that little story Joe. You are quite the little leprechaun aren't you. :)

But seriously, thank you. I do appreciate it. My mind at the time was on other things really and I was just a bit more hyper-sensative than I normally am. Thankfully, for the most part, that has all passed now.

I'd only just met you, but knew from your posts what was going on with you and just couldn't stand that you were so sad while everybody else was having the time of their lives. I am just really glad that they were able to come up with that killer set of coco for you!:)

[jeffrey]

Me too! :)

[jeffrey]

One other thing.

Last night when I finally got home from work around 2:30am, I came in "my" room (drums, amps, recording stuff, computer,etc) to find that my wife had taken one of the pictures of me and Bob with my raw wood and had it photoprinted and framed.

It was sitting on my chair. :)

Whatta woman. She's as excited about it as I am. :)

[meridian]

Originally posted by jeffrey
my wife had taken one of the pictures of me and Bob with my raw wood and had it photoprinted and framed.

Prolly NOT the ponytail yanking pic!

You're a lucky man, my friend!:)

[jeffrey]

No not the ponytail pic!

Although, I'm surprised she didn't use that one. :)

[UncleMeat]

Rock on sir... now that you got this one out of the way, I expect your NEXT Taylor by the time I make it down to Texas. ;-)

As for that little blemish, I'd try that 0000 steal whool idea, buff it with some turtle wax. Or just pick at it a lot and hope it goes away.

[jeffrey]

I just rubbed it with my finger a whole bunch and I swear it feels a little smoother. Hehe. :)

[Mike Carter]

Jeffrey,

That has to be the most beautiful Dread, I have ever seen.
You definitely did it right.

I know that it sounds even better than it looks. Please post some more MP3s if you can.

Congratulations on your work of art brother, it couldn't belong to a nicer guy.


Mike

[jeffrey]

Thanks Mike! I appreciate the compliments. :)

I posted an MP3 here (http://65.124.75.190/taylortest.mp3). I was testing the new guitar and a new mic. It's about 3/4 fingerpicking and about 1/4 picking.

I'm working on a bigger piece that's actually planned out (that one is just improv stuff). Hopefully I'll finish it by the weekend. ;)

[TKeys]

Jeff - That sounds good!

Todd

[jeffrey]

Thanks! :)