Unhappy w/ purchase :( Do you think the store purposely hid these 'blemishes'?
 

Hi!
My mom was traveling to the US for work and being from Brazil I took the opportunity to ask her to bring a guitar to me. After much research I decided to get a Taylor Academy... and I found one at reverb.

However when the guitar arrived here I had a bad surprise :(

The spruce top is one of the ugliest I've ever seen!

Also I was told the setup was flawless and it played like butter.
BUT action at 12th fret is 8/64.

https://i.postimg.cc/hvTGcv6C/Screen...-16-101959.png

This was the worst purchase experience I've done, I paid so much for this guitar...

I know to most of you this purchase and money will seem like it's nothing. But please, keep in mind that where I live this guitar is super expensive. To give a bit of perspective, even purchasing it in the US and not paying taxes (as it's tax free under usd1000) it costs 3months of local minimum wage. Fortunately I make a bit more than minimum wage but even though it was a significant purchase (one that I had to give plenty of thought if I could afford it). And now I have a guitar that is hard to play and I don't like how it looks.

PICTURES:
https://i.postimg.cc/dVyD9W5M/guitar-bearclaw.gif

I purchased a original taylor pickguard to try to draw attention away from the marks, but still...

The worst part: I have no way of returning it... I'm honestly depressed at this moment :(

Should be able to lower the action, or a local guitar shop can do it for you.

As for aesthetics, I think it looks kinda cool/unique. Wood is wild and natural, so it comes in quite the variety. But if you really hate it, all you can do is try to sell it and start over.

these guys you bought from are scoundrels.. end of discussion.

Unfortunately it would require a neck reset since I cannot lower 2/64 and have enough saddle showing :(

Sorry about the frustration: no one wants a guitar that doesn't do it for them.

What do you mean, though, by "when the guitar arrived here"? Did your mum not bring the guitar back herself?

Aside from that, maybe there's a lesson to be learned: it can be dangerous to ask/get another person to buy a guitar for us.

Yeah, she did. I might have used the wrong English term?! but yeah! lesson learned, as you said.

Will def leave a 1-star review at reverb.

They definetly hid the marks from you ! I like some bear claw, but that is a bit much. I would report them to reverb and Taylor. Was it a new guitar? Hopefully you can get it setup correctly and get some enjoyment ot of it.

I like the bearclaw look in the top…makes it unique and looks nice. I don’t think that they purposely hid it, their photos were just taken in a very well lit studio that washed the marks out. You can still see them a bit in the middle picture.

As for action, I’ve learned that you always need to ask for specific measurements. Someone else’s definition of “plays like butter” can be drastically different from your own. My lesson came when I purchased a used guitar that had action at about 9/64” with little saddle remaining…the seller had told me action was nice and low, and I didn’t think to ask for measurements. Lesson learned.

I’m not super familiar with Taylor guitars but I believe they have shims in the neck that make “resets” much easier. Hopefully you can find a shop that can help out.

Yes. It was a new guitar from an authorized taylor dealer. Will see what I can do regarding reporting them. I'm absolutely gutted.

That's right, and with it being a Taylor with the NT neck, a reset is not the major surgery it is with most guitars.

Some people like bearclaw in the woodgrain and some do not. Personally I'm one of those folks that likes it so the appearance of the top doesn't bother me much. Also 2/64's (1/32) isn't much at all and from the pics it looks like you have plenty of room on the saddle to remove that much. Most likely it also needs a bit of a trussrod tweak as well which will bring it down a bit too.

My D-18 has about that same amount of bear claw. I think it's cool, and prefer having the bear claw and tight grain than a top with really wide grain and nothing unique. But that's just me.
As others have said, you can probably just sand down the saddle and adjust the truss rod to get your preferred action. Or worst case, take it to a reputable guitar tech and have the neck reset which I think on Taylors is easier and not that expensive.
I wouldn't be worries about it. Your guitar is probably just fine!

By marks, I expected to see nicks and dings, those marks are called Bearclaw and a lot of folks including me love it. If you hate it, I think you could sell it to someone who likes bearclaw in the wood.

You would probably hate this guitar of mine!!!

Attachment 79180

TomB'sox, the bearclaw pattern in yours isn't ugly at all, quite the opposite I'd say. It's symmetrical and not a random few that looks like stretch marks...

If the "blemishes" you're referring to are the bear claw grain, I agree the grain was minimized in the ad photos. Not everyone considers them blemishes, but not everyone likes them either. I think yours is cool, but based on the pics IMO the ad photos which were not accurate.