I got to try the new Taylor V-Class braced guitars (with video)

[erivel]

In Portland this week and braved the snow to get to the Taylor event at Portland Music Co last night. I know that the title of this thread alone will spawn fury in a lot of people here. So I will say this. The new guitars are nice. Better than X Braced Taylor's? Umm...they're different. I really like the new V-braced 914ce, it's a dream guitar. But I'll probably have to wait until the V bracing hits the lower series models to afford one, if one should float my boat. In the next year or two all USA Taylors will be V braced anyway so get used to it. My favorite guitar of the night? A standard 512ce that the store had in stock.

Here's a video of the Builder's edition and the new 914ce. Hard to hear them with all the background noise.

[piper_L]

Nice video! Thanks!

[zmf]

Thanks. Good test of the guitar.

Can you expand on how the tone of the V braced guitar differed?

Someone mentioned it has a more Martin-like tone. Which I take to mean maybe a deeper bass and more "woody". A darker tone?
Did you notice that, or does it still sound like a Taylor?

[Herb Hunter]

Originally Posted by zmf

Thanks. Good test of the guitar.

Can you expand on how the tone of the V braced guitar differed?

Someone mentioned it has a more Martin-like tone. Which I take to mean maybe a deeper bass and more "woody". A darker tone?
Did you notice that, or does it still sound like a Taylor?

A technical point that I think needs to be mentioned: If a Martin guitar ( or other brand) is tuned to E and a Taylor guitar (or other brand) is so tuned, neither will have a deeper bass than 82.41 Hz– the frequency of the low E – though one or the other guitar may have a louder low E.

Also, an illusion of a stronger bass can sometimes occur when one guitar has a more muted high frequency response than the other. In other words, a bright sounding guitar could reproduce the low E as loudly as a warmer guitar but the warmer guitar may give the illusion of having a louder low E response.

[HodgdonExtreme]

Sounds nice!

Sounds like a Taylor!

Thanks for sharing!

[Shadowfox]

It seems to me that the higher neck notes have lost that different "voicing" or timbre I think we often speak about with playing same notes different places on the neck. That could be a good think or bad.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by Herb Hunter

neither will have a deeper bass than 82.41 Hz– the frequency of the low E – though one or the other guitar may have a louder low E.

Thanks for the acoustics lesson. And here I've been thinking all along that the low E on a Martin was 81.96 Hz.

[Chedeng88]

I have tried a couple of these new V-braced Taylors over the weekend and my initial impression was mixed. The jury is still out for me. I'll be back to try them out some more.

[N+1]

I was able to play a V-braced K24 today, in a very quiet room with a nice acoustic, thanks to the kind offices of the good folks at Reidys of Blackburn, Lancashire (one of my favourite places on the planet).

The older X-braced K24 is one of the loveliest guitars I've ever played, and this V-braced version was up there along with that, with an extra bonus: the treble was exquisitely 'sweet' - like liquid gold. Super-tuneful. I don't know how else to describe it, but it was as if certain additional not-quite-so-pleasant overtones had been shaken out.

I wasn't able to compare it directly with a 'traditional' K24, but I don't recall the traditional K24 having this particular character. This was an almost unplayed guitar, still a bit stiff, and I think that showed when I tried to play hard. I certainly want to spend more time with one of these, and I don't think the hype was actually hype.

[Yakstone]

Nicely done!
Thank you

[erivel]

Originally Posted by zmf

Thanks. Good test of the guitar.

Can you expand on how the tone of the V braced guitar differed?

Someone mentioned it has a more Martin-like tone. Which I take to mean maybe a deeper bass and more "woody". A darker tone?
Did you notice that, or does it still sound like a Taylor?

I don't know. I think it still sounds like a Taylor. Maybe less overtones (?). Like notes just rang true and clear. As far as sustain, I couldn't tell really because of all the room noise. But that doesn't really make a difference to me, I'm not holding a note for eternity like Carlos Santana, nor do I strum a chord once until it completely decays before switching chords during a song. I did feel that the higher I got on the fretboard the notes sounded louder, especially on the Builder's edition. And I really dig the squeakless satin finish on it as well.

[TBman]

Sounds like a good guitar to me. I like the rounded binding. I don't hear anything really different from the old bracing.

Ignorance is bliss sometimes, lol.

[Looburst]

I'm not diggin it. Sounded even thinner than normal Taylors sound to me and that's not good. They have missed a huge opportunity to me personally. They had a chance to make a guitar sound better and even bigger and they blew it.

[Yendoggy]

I agree with a lot of you. I’ve heard some and they still sound like Taylor’s. Which to me is not a complement. I’ve worked in music stores for almost 20 years in some aspect and they’ve always carried Taylor’s . I’m just not a huge fan. It is a spectacular company but as for the actual instruments I just think they lack soul and vibe.

I’m sure this is a topic that has been beaten to death. And I’m sure I will get flamed like crazy for saying this. But just saying at this time in relation to the new design still sounds pretty much the same to me. Soulless

[Yendoggy]

That being said they are one of the best companies in the entire guitar business and their customer service and their service with the dealers is exemplary. A lot of people love those guitars I’m just not one of them. They also sometimes have the best tuning machines in the business!