I’ve owned a 517 BE for two months now and really appreciate the sound of this guitar. It is clear and pleasing in the upper registers, and has a thumpy bass which fully supports the trebles. The mahogany body of my guitar is pretty light, and I can definitely feel the bass notes in my chest. Today I compared the 517 with a 1991 Taylor 515 Ltd. which I own. The 515 is a jumbo body, with a mahogany/spruce combo. Despite the larger body, the 515 was not noticeably louder or bassier than the much newer 517. With the 515 I perceived a more metallic sound from the strings, and a cleaner “woodier” sound from the 517. That could be due though to the monels on the 515 and phosphor bronze strings on the 517. Today my ears preferred the 517.
On the issue of the loudness of the guitar, another 517 owner here had commented in another thread that comparing the 517 to a D-18 resulted in the player perceiving that the D-18 was louder, but the listeners out front picking the 517 as the loudest. That tends to support my own perception. In the marketing packet, Andy Powers talked about how the “woofiness” of traditionally braced guitars is tamed a bit by the V-class bracing. In other words, how V bracing slightly alters the air waves being pumped out by the top, to focus the bass into a slightly narrower boundry. Now to be clear, I love woofiness and none of my traditionally braced guitars have anything to worry about. But I wonder if the normal “woofiness” makes the guitar sound louder to the player without noticeably increasing volume for the out-front listeners? Sometimes when I’m playing the 517 it doesn’t sound as loud as I think it should, but when I then tilt the body up so that the sound hole is pointing more upward, I am surprised by how loud it is. More so than the same test on my D-15 and the 515 Ltd. Although I would never do it, I wonder what cutting a small sound port in the upper bout would do to the player’s perception of loudness.
Putting comparisons aside for a moment, the 517 is a wonderful instrument. If I owned no other acoustics, I would still be a very happy owner of the 517. The Taylor pedigree is apparent in the sound, but there is a clean vibrant woody tone that I haven’t noticed in any other Taylor. I enjoy listening to this guitar. I think the tone is definitely unique, which might turn some listeners away. But to my ear, it sounds like a great acoustic guitar which has definitely earned a place in my rotation. It is adept at finger and flat picking, while digging in makes it growl a bit. Sometimes I think that the 517 is more sensitive to player input than my other guitars, perhaps due to the V-class bracing? I love how balanced individual notes sound pretty much anywhere on the fretboard. I have changed string types several times, and the 517 definitely responds to different strings.
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