Mini Review: Taylor 858e 12-String Guitar and Others

[martingitdave]

Hi 12-string fans. I'm lucky to have a beautiful Taylor 856ce. It sounds great and plays beautifully. However, I have always been drawn to Jumbo 12-strings. In 2013 the play-ability and balanced tone of the Taylor 856ce won me over. Now, a few years later, I had to admit that I wasn't playing my 12-string because the tone bored me. It sounds awful to say, but I went 6 months with no interest in it. It played great, but didn't move me anymore. I decided to sell it and buy a less expensive 12-string.

I posted last night that the new King of the $1,000 12-string market is the new Westerly Guild F-1512e. But, what about Taylor's new offerings? Taylor came out with a number of 12-string guitars in 2016. The only one that was interesting to me, was the Taylor 858e. I posted previously about the Martin offerings. There are several reviews of the Guilds and Martins, which cover these models in great detail. There is limited information on the 858e, hence my post.

Fortunately, today, I had the opportunity to play the 858e at a Chicago music store. I don't think there are too many of these guitars in the wild right now. And, I must say, I am impressed. This does not sound like my past Taylor guitars, or my re-voiced 856ce 12-string. In fact, it doesn't sound like ANY Taylor I have played. This guitar truly has a huge voice worthy of a jumbo body. Here are a few recent reviews including a demonstration by Guitarist Magazine, and a review by Teja Gerken. Teja offers an aside in the review that he owns an older Taylor jumbo 12-string, and this new one gives it a run for it's money.

While not a truly fair comparison from a price standpoint, I was able to compare the Martin D12-35 50th, a 2006 D12-28, and 2015 D12-28, Guild F-1512e, my personal Taylor re-voiced 856ce and the new Taylor 858e in the same empty room at the same time. You don't get too many chances to make those kind of comparisons.

Perceived volume:

The Martins D12-28s, the Guild, and the 858e were the loudest of the guitars. I can't say for certain which was louder, but there were all comparable. And edge might go to the Guild or the new D12-28. Next came the D12-35 50th, and bringing up the rear was my Taylor 856ce. I was conversing online with Spoon Phillips (hopefully, he doesn't mind my paraphrasing) about this, and he suggested it is a phenomenon of the guitar projecting the strings, and not the body resonance. I think that is a perfect description of what I have been hearing with my 856ce.

Perceived bass response:

For many singer/songwriter types, myself included, the "wall of sound" with a heavy bass response is what we are looking for. John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot epitomize this kind of 12-string playing. It's what I aspire to. The Martins D12-28s, 858e, and the Guild has the most rumble that you could feel in your chest. I can't say for certain which was heavier, but, again, there were all comparable. The edge probably goes to the Taylor 858e. Who knew! Next came the D12-35 50th, and bringing up the rear was my Taylor 856ce. No surprise there. The most stark difference was my 856ce compared to all the other guitars with dreadnought and jumbo bodies. I felt a little like the kid who get picked last for dodge ball.

Overall balance and shimmer on top of rumbling bass:

The Taylor won this round, by a small margin. It has the deepest body of the lot. The Martins and the 858ce were great and sound very "homogeneous" when strummed. In other words, the strings melt into each other and get enveloped in the bass. The Guild was good, but it had a sort of harshness to the mids that jumped out. That might be a positive for lead players. My 856ce was the most homogeneous, but it did not sit atop a wall of bass, if that makes sense.

Play-ability:

My Taylor 856ce was the easiest to play because I set it up myself. No surprise. Next was the 858e, then the D12-35 50th 12 fret, the Guild, and the D12-28s.

Electronics:

I would not make my decision based on this. I play 12-string acoustically, mainly. Besides, the ES2 equipped Taylors, only the Guild had a pickup. The Guild's Fishman pickup was serviceable. The ES2 is more natural.

Looks:

Subjective. They all looked excellent in their own way. Only my 856ce had a cutaway. If that is important to you, then you know which way to lean. If you don't like the cutaway, then any of the other options looks fairly traditional. The most ornamental are the Taylor 800s, then the D12-35, then the Guild, and finally the D12-28.

Other thoughts:

The Guild is not sold with a hard shell case, so that is an additional expense. Presuming, of course, that the foam case is not sufficient for the long haul.

[Brucebubs]

Great review and I believe you absolutely made the best choice.
Everything on paper got me thinking the new 858 was going to be a great guitar and your experience confirmed it.
Big body rosewood 12-strings can be magic and I think you now have a 12-string to compliment your new Martin.
Pictures please.

Do you have the chrome tuners on your new 858? I saw on the Taylor site that gold tuners are a 'no-cost' option on that model.

[Andromeda]

Thanks for the review! How comfortable is the 858e to play? I really like the comfort of the GS body but I really like my 12-strings to be the jumbo size. I have owned jumbo 12 strings before from both Taylor and Guild so I am wondering if the GO size is still comfy to play?

love to see some pics!!!

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Great review and I believe you absolutely made the best choice.
Everything on paper got me thinking the new 858 was going to be a great guitar and your experience confirmed it.
Big body rosewood 12-strings can be magic and I think you now have a 12-string to compliment your new Martin.
Pictures please.

Do you have the chrome tuners on your new 858? I saw on the Taylor site that gold tuners are a 'no-cost' option on that model.

Bruce, thanks for the comment. This Taylor does what they should have done in 2013 with the 856ce. The tuners are the standard chrome tuners. I had replaced the tuners on the 856e with Gotoh 510s. Again, someone is going to get a sweet deal on mine. They were great, and I would order it that way, given the choice. But, I don't order guitars anymore. I'll only buy what I can play in person. I don't know if I have the stomach for another "tuner-ectomy." I will try and be satisfied with the lovely chest rumbling sounds.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Andromeda

Thanks for the review! How comfortable is the 858e to play? I really like the comfort of the GS body but I really like my 12-strings to be the jumbo size. I have owned jumbo 12 strings before from both Taylor and Guild so I am wondering if the GO size is still comfy to play?

love to see some pics!!!

Well, it is taller, 1/4" deeper and 3/4" wider than the 856ce. Unless you have acute shoulder pain, I see no need to fret (pun intended) about getting your right arm over the GO body. The width is not important because the waist of the guitar allows it to sit nicely on your knee. Gerken mentions this too in his video.

If you don't have the 858e available, and you intend to order one, you should at least find another GO body Taylor to test for comfort. I suspect it will be OK.

[Secretstrummer]

If u are on a budget I would suggest trying a walden 12string I have the D552 . Nice guitar very nice price

[Glennwillow]

Wow Dave!

Congratulations and good for you! I am totally envious! I look forward to playing one of these 858 12-strings myself!

- Glenn

[SpruceTop]

Congratulations Dave! I've had a hunch the new Taylor 858e 12-string would be a winner and you've affirmed that! Enjoy!

[steelerboy329]

Great review! I just sold my GS8e-12 and will be replacing it with another Taylor 12 string. It's between the 858 and a BTO 855, and as of now I'm leaning towards the 855. I've always wanted a jumbo 12 string.

[martingitdave]

Thanks everyone! I've been flipping guitars for a few years to find the right ones for me. Fortunately, I think I've found a few that are keepers. And, since my discretionary instrument spending is depleted, they will be keepers! The last two trade/purchases have been in person, and with my own instruments to compare to. It's one thing to find something that sounds good in a store, it's another to find something that works better for you than what you have. I repeated the same mistakes a few times, while trying to be cost conscious. The buy once, cry once philosophy is very true.

Good luck finding your favorite instruments, and enjoy what you've got.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by steelerboy329

Great review! I just sold my GS8e-12 and will be replacing it with another Taylor 12 string. It's between the 858 and a BTO 855, and as of now I'm leaning towards the 855. I've always wanted a jumbo 12 string.

Good luck with your decision. I don't think you can go wrong with either large body. I hope you can play a few examples of each before you make your choice. It appears you had the same experience with the 856e precursor, and are looking for something more powerful, too.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Wow Dave!

Congratulations and good for you! I am totally envious! I look forward to playing one of these 858 12-strings myself!

- Glenn

If you lived close by, I'd gladly have you over to play it!

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Congratulations Dave! I've had a hunch the new Taylor 858e 12-string would be a winner and you've affirmed that! Enjoy!

Thanks SpruceTop, I think Andy Powers did a nice job with this one. And, this time I was able to do a live comparison, instead of "falling in love" with the nuances of the Taylor tone. I was able to confirm it had the horsepower before I bought it. Hopefully, all the 858e's sound as good as this one.

[martingitdave]

Another fun live demo!

And, another one!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Another fun live demo!

And, another one!

Well, that was nice!

- Glenn

[martingitdave]

Pictures as requested in OP.

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