Taylor GC3 guitars

JPG · #1 07-19-2007, 08:29 PM

Anyone have any comments on the GC series guitars?
JPG

Kaimana450k · #2 07-20-2007, 01:29 AM

Have a few GC x12 models, love um. My beater is a GC3 actually. It makes a great couch guitar. Real intimate feel and nice sound.

JoeInLex · #3 07-20-2007, 07:06 AM

Well if you get one, please give me a full report. I'm considering getting one also as the couch guitar. I'm looking for not only a fingerstyle guitar but one that sounds at least pretty good for some light strumming.

woodruff · #4 07-20-2007, 08:02 AM

there are times when i miss my 312, real intimate like the dude above said, and great for fingerstyle. i regret not trying medium strings on it, she might still be around....ah, GAS.......

Kaimana450k · #5 07-20-2007, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeInLex

Well if you get one, please give me a full report. I'm considering getting one also as the couch guitar. I'm looking for not only a fingerstyle guitar but one that sounds at least pretty good for some light strumming.

My K12ce is a great fingerstyle guitar, but not a great strummer. BUT the GC3 actually blew me away with it's ability to be strummed light to medium. I usually tune a half step down, and being a short scale, it was too loose, but at pitch, it was a nice suprise that it was a decent strummer.

RP · #6 07-20-2007, 04:29 PM

I wasn't sure if you were asking about the GC3 specifically or about the GC series in general. I love the looks, style, and playability of the GC8, but for some reason the sound just doesn't project to my liking. I play mostly fingerstyle so it should be up my alley, but there's just something very flat sounding even with decent strings. I played a GC8 side by side with a GA7; and in my opinion the GA7 had a much fuller sound when compared to the GC8. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it...........

JoeInLex · #7 07-20-2007, 06:14 PM

Well, I tend to agree with your statement that a larger body guitar generally provides a fuller sound to fingerstyle playing. Although I love the feel and playability of a smaller body guitar, I find that I just can't consider them to be fingerstyle guitars but guitars that provide yet another different sound more comfortably. I have a Taylor dread with a 1 3/4" nut that suits the role of fingerstyle guitar quite well for a good number of songs.

Mak2525 · #8 07-20-2007, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrporter

I wasn't sure if you were asking about the GC3 specifically or about the GC series in general. I love the looks, style, and playability of the GC8, but for some reason the sound just doesn't project to my liking. I play mostly fingerstyle so it should be up my alley, but there's just something very flat sounding even with decent strings. I played a GC8 side by side with a GA7; and in my opinion the GA7 had a much fuller sound when compared to the GC8. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it...........

I think if you compared a GC8 to GA8 you would find a lot more similarity! The GA body does offer a little more volume, but the biggest sound difference between the GC8 and the GA7 is the cedar top, which has a much warmer sound than the Sitka topped GC8. A cedar top will almost always respond better to fingerstyle playing, whereas a Sitka top will usually give more response to a firmer playing style.

gerardo1000 · #9 07-20-2007, 08:01 PM

I love the body shape of the GC compared to the deeper CA, and I am a fingerpicker, however I played a lot of GC and GA and I finally choose a Taylor GA. To me, they are a perfect fingerstyle guitar.

Nicodemus · #10 07-20-2007, 09:54 PM

played the GC with the cedar top, the GC7. It's much louder than my sitka topped XXX-RS. I'm a light touched fingerstylist and the GC7 simply projects more. Cedar is louder than Sitka. It's ashame because my XXX-RS, softer, makes me whimper with delight. Hence the acquisition of both. And, uhm, one other, eventually. Anyway the GC line is really great. They're great quality instruments for the price, or at least the price I've seen them selling for online and on the streets, as it were. I think they'll break in nicely. Taylor quality all the way through. I'd buy one without hesitation if I were you and I found one I liked. Hell I bought mine sight unseen and wasn't disappointed in the last bit with what showed up at Fazio's.

tim farney · #11 07-21-2007, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicodemus

played the GC with the cedar top, the GC7. It's much louder than my sitka topped XXX-RS. I'm a light touched fingerstylist and the GC7 simply projects more. Cedar is louder than Sitka. It's ashame because my XXX-RS, softer, makes me whimper with delight. Hence the acquisition of both. And, uhm, one other, eventually. Anyway the GC line is really great. They're great quality instruments for the price, or at least the price I've seen them selling for online and on the streets, as it were. I think they'll break in nicely. Taylor quality all the way through. I'd buy one without hesitation if I were you and I found one I liked. Hell I bought mine sight unseen and wasn't disappointed in the last bit with what showed up at Fazio's.

Sometimes cedar is louder than new sitka, for a light touch. With a bit harder attack, sitka is almost always louder, from what I've heard. And with a few years on it, a good sitka top will be nearly as responsive as cedar, especially in a small guitar...at least in my experience. My '93 812c is very responsive to a light touch, but it takes strumming and flatpicking pretty well too. A very versatile little guitar with a killer voice. No, it doesn't have the deep bass of a dread, but it has a rich, warm lower midrange that makes up for it nicely. And flatpicked, what it lacks in sheer volume, in makes up for in cut and clarity. Many, many very expensive guitars have failed to turn my head away from that little Taylor.

Tim

RP · #12 07-21-2007, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mak2525

I think if you compared a GC8 to GA8 you would find a lot more similarity! The GA body does offer a little more volume, but the biggest sound difference between the GC8 and the GA7 is the cedar top, which has a much warmer sound than the Sitka topped GC8. A cedar top will almost always respond better to fingerstyle playing, whereas a Sitka top will usually give more response to a firmer playing style.

You could be right about the effect of the top vs. body size. I was surprised to find and play the GC8 and GA7 side by side in a very small shop that only has a half dozen Taylors hanging on the wall so playing a GC7/GC8 side by side wasn't an option. I love the sound of my 810 for fingerstyle and strumming but that GA7 could be a close second............