She finally arrived home yesterday. Jim got her in last week and shipped her off ASAP. Couple interesting things about the guitar:
1) Even though it's technically an NS64c, the serial number still says "ce."
2) Even though there are no electronics, it came with the ES-T instructions and ES-T DVD (edit: technically the new NS's have the ES-N, but the instructions and DVD are for the ES-T, which I guess are technically the same with different voicing).
Jim tried to order it with a bone nut & saddle, but Taylor wasn't very up-front about whether they could do it, for whatever reason. Either way, they didn't charge for it. I'm about 99.9999% certain the saddle is Tusq, but am 50/50 on the nut. I still have the bone saddle Bob sold me for my NS34ce unused, so I can easily swap them out to try, anyway.
The only comparisons I can really make are to my NS34ce. As most steel-string GA's I've played, you can hear the family resemblance between the two guitars. The characteristics of the different woods really make the difference (khaya/sitka in my '05 NS34ce versus maple/engelmann in the NS64c). The NS34ce has more lows, but they get flubby. That was why I wanted to try the saddle, just never got around to it. The G always sounded a little unbalanced and didn't ring out like the other strings, either.
Just what I can tell so far, the NS64c has more punch and is much clearer on the lows, but the overall tone of the unwound strings is actually very similar on both guitars. Both are warm and clear. The same problem exists acoustically, that being I wish they were a bit louder. That's the design, though. The engelmann top does impart more ringing overtones and the guitar overall seems much more responsive and harmonic, for lack of a better way of putting it.
Now... for a K&K Pure Classic to amplify her...
Nick