Taylor for the Blues

[GM]

I am relatively new to playing the guitar, having been playing an electric for about a year now. I play mainly blues style music and am interested in getting a Taylor acoustic guitar. I use a pick, am not anticipating going fingerstyle for a while yet. What do people recommend for guitar size/models? Also, there are no guitar shops nearby to A/B guitars. Any recommendations for a good guitar shop I can deal with over the net?

[Broly]

Hey Gm, how are ya? I'm not an expert on the Taylor line but I do have a 414 (newer one with Ovangkol back and sides) and its great for playin' the blues. I too use mainly flat pickin' and I get very good projection from the GA size body. Always had dreadnaughts but they really do a number on my ribs! The 14 series is much more comfortable for me to play w/o sacrifycing too much bass. Plus you really can't beat the Taylor neck if your used to playing the elactric guitar. Not sure who has Taylors in your neck of the woods but someone on this site should be able to help ya out. Good luck in tour Taylor quest!
Broly

[GM]

Thanks for the feedback Broly. I havnen't ever had a chance to play an Ovongcol wood guitar. I have been eyeing the 14 series guitars just for the reason you stated.

[Brett Valentine]

If you're looking for that "midrangey" kind of blues tone, I would go with a non-cutaway x12 series guitar (maybe the simple 312, 512, or even the brighter 612), and maybe the Fishman Rare Earth humbucker p/u.

My 612C sounds pretty nice for blues, but my Martin 0001 just nails that tone. A big part of that, to my ears, is the mahogany body.

Brett

I s'pose it depends on what kind of blues you want to play, but for me I usually reach for my mahogany/Engelmann 510.

[Jon S.]

Personally, my dreadnaught is rosewood/Engelmann, but for primarily flatpickin' blues, I would respect Jim's sagacious counsel. Mahogany/Engelmann sounds like a nice blues combo. to me.

One word of caution - when I got my dreadnaught, it was because I wasn't fingerpickin' then either. But the more ya plays the acoustic, the more yo' fingers call to ya. These days I sometimes regret not having copped a Grand Auditorium model instead! (Not that you can't fingerpick on a dreadnaught, ain't no law ...)

[Philip Holmes]

Again another good post. I have had a number of Taylor guitars, and my first one was an early 92' 410e Mahogany/Sitka that I sold to my brother (who lives a fair distance from me) about five years ago. Well, to make along story short, he came down to visit this summer and out of the blue he started to play John Mayall's "Jenny" an old blues song we used to sing. He didn't make that guitar cry, they both cried together. That guitar had so much tonal soul that it carried the evening. Not much has been documented on how a Taylor will open up with age, but I can tell you the deep mahogany resonance aged beautifully. I actually tried to buy the guitar back, but it was obvious that they had bonded quite a few years back.
Philip

[fg]

I've been using a 514CE for blues live in an acoustic duo. It sounds really sweet. I add just a touch of reverb/delay through the PA with eq almost flat.
fg