Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint
Has anyone out there compared a Big Baby to an Academy 10? I know the A10 is the new kid on the block, but my friend has a Big Baby and whenever I've played it I think it sounds nice (and I own some expensive guitars). I've also seen some folks on Youtube use the Big Baby in their videos and they sound good, though probably that's just because they play & sing well 
In any case, I'm pretty tempted to get one, but am wondering if I should get an A10 instead? I know that the Academy has the NT neck vs the less-traditional Big Baby neck. The Big Baby has a 25 1/2" scale length and the A10 has a 24 7/8". How might that affect the sound?
I'm just looking to get one of the acoustic-only models as I'm not entirely convinced of the ES-B electronics. |
The Academy series are very nice. I played the A10 and think it's a very nice instrument, it sounds good, looks good, is comfortable to play. I prefer the A12 because I'm not a dread fan, but that's personal preference. The A12 suits my older body better than a dread. That's also why I prefer the slightly shorter scale length of the Academy series over the Big Baby. I play a 300 series normally and I love the scale length.
I'm also a strong advocate of the NT neck joint, and the screws through the fret board on the Big Baby aren't something I'd appreciate from the point of aesthetics.
The arm bevel is a nice touch, and a very nice feature at the price point, although it was easy to do on the Taylor's unbound body.
The Academy is a lot of guitar and it's the Taylor I'd go for if looking for a low price point instrument.
I also don't like "built-in" electronics and install a K&K Pure Mini transducer in all my acoustics that I want to plug in. I've done 6 K&K installs and they all sound great.