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  #16  
Old 05-24-2020, 05:27 PM
leeplaysblues leeplaysblues is offline
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When the es system first came out magazines and internet reviews raved over its ground breaking electronics and sound.

The reality was very different.

Users were plagued with failing systems, battery rattle, hot B strings and a system that was impossible to upgrade.

The Taylor factory and repair centres were inundated with disgruntled owners. I was one and swore never to own a Taylor with the system again.

Eventually they fixed the battery rattle by swapping to a 9 volt ( the only other fix was to wrap your aaa batteries in a post it note!). And improved the reliability.

But they did irreparable harm with the release of version 1.

If I see a Taylor guitar advertised I look at the battery compartment and if it is not a 9volt move on. So to me the es system is a flawed system as are most proprietary systems.

Save your money, buy a non es guitar and get a non invasive anthem or fish an fitted. You save money, you don’t have 3 holes in the side and can update as technology improves.
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  #17  
Old 05-24-2020, 06:42 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rinaz View Post
Let me know your opinion, they put the system on most of their guitar and I hate it...
Many Taylors are available without electronics. Sometimes stock, most can be ordered without electronics. My 14 fret 322 came bareback and I added a K&K Pure Mini.

If anyone "hates" the ES2 system, or anything else for that matter, move on and get what you want.

Nobody is forcing anyone to purchase ES2 equipped Taylors.
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  #18  
Old 05-24-2020, 09:34 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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Yes, me. I hate the ES2 less than the others, but I didn't like the ES2 either. Sold every taylor with any ES system.
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  #19  
Old 05-24-2020, 11:16 PM
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ljguitar ljguitar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rinaz View Post
Let me know your opinion, they put the system on most of their guitar and I hate it...
Hi Rinaz

I do not hate them. I prefer them to under saddle piezo, but not by much.

There are many others I prefer so much more.

I will not walk out on an artist because of the pickup system installed in the guitar he/she owns.



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  #20  
Old 05-24-2020, 11:18 PM
6L6 6L6 is offline
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Don’t like it at all.

I own three Taylor’s and had K&K pickups installed. MUCH better sound when plugged in!
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  #21  
Old 05-25-2020, 06:27 AM
RockerDuck RockerDuck is offline
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I've owned and played Martin guitars for years. I had a D16 then bought a Taylor 314e. I was surprised how much that 314 sounded like the Martin and better than the Martin plugged in. The 314 with the Es2 is a player/performance guitar and I got compliments on my tone that I didn't get with the Martin. I also have an 814ce that I use at church. Both Taylors are x braced.
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  #22  
Old 05-25-2020, 08:03 AM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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It’s a matter of taste and playing style. I don’t like the sound of the ES2 with my own no-nails jazzy fingerstyle, but one of my friends has a Taylor with the ES2 system and on his playing it sounds absolutely gorgeous!
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  #23  
Old 05-25-2020, 09:23 AM
rmp rmp is offline
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you guys should try the ESN sometime on a Taylor Nylon, you'll find a whole new level of WTF that you didn't think was possible

It's a stand Peizo, with the three controls for bass treble and volume.

The string balance/volume is horrible. the guitar unplugged is great, but plugged in, it's pull your hair out kind of crappy.

The two treble strings zing out like a shot out a rifle, yet you can barely hear the amplified sound of the middle strings.

It's going to a setup tech that is really good one at solving silly problems.

Taylor makes great guitars but honestly they should just do THAT and stop it already with their proprietary electronics.
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  #24  
Old 05-25-2020, 09:52 AM
jjbigfly jjbigfly is offline
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I started with the es system when if first came out. It was alright, but that’s all. Stayed with it. A few years later ( I am a bit slow ) I watched a video from somewhere that that had Taylor people explain how the system worked and how to adjust it CORRECTLY. Really a nice system that has improved over the years.
Not everyone thinks so.
Now that I understand the system works fine I can go back to looking for a guitar the makes the sounds I want to make. I understood it was the es or the instrument or myself that was not working well.
Now that I can rule out me or the es, you can find me in the classifieds looking...
50 years of fooling around with music, but I ain’t no quitter. I know I am going to get this worked out. You will see my real talent unfold soon.....

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  #25  
Old 05-25-2020, 10:00 AM
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cliff_the_stiff cliff_the_stiff is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rinaz View Post
Let me know your opinion, they put the system on most of their guitar and I hate it...
I haven’t liked it. Mostly because of the plastic bits that make up the creaky battery trapdoor/ endpin.
I find the circuit boards loosen and buzz.
I dislike the propriety jack design in total.
I wish I could find a 562 without electronics.
I dislike their use of tusq saddles to enhance the plugin sound at the cost of the sound to the ear.
It’s like they designed the guitar around the electronics rather than the other way around.
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  #26  
Old 05-25-2020, 11:06 AM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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I also vote a resounding "NO" on ES2. First they seem to take an inordinate amount of fiddling to get a decent sound. There are many threads about swapping pre-amps, splitting saddles to adjust string pairs, external pre-amps, and other ways to improve the tone from stock. To me that says, "not quite ready for prime time".

Secondly there are three visible (but well camouflaged) holes in the bridge. If the pickup system ever fails and has to be removed, will Taylor still be making a replacement that fits? If not you'll have to spend some $$$ to get a good luthier to plug those holes in a non-visible way. It is not unheard of for Taylor to suddenly abandon a product. Can you say Solid Body electric? My T5 from 2012 has a scratchy volume knob. But instead of replacing a $15 volume pot, I have to buy a whole new circuit board for $114 and then pay an installer to replace it, because they don't use the same plug for the current replacement part. (But at least the part exists).

For my direct experience, the ES1.3 was also the pinnacle of the sound quality you could get from their built-in systems. The near-universal presence of ES2 has prevented me from buying anything newer.
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  #27  
Old 05-26-2020, 12:16 PM
Shredmaster007 Shredmaster007 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cliff_the_stiff View Post
I haven’t liked it. Mostly because of the plastic bits that make up the creaky battery trapdoor/ endpin.
I find the circuit boards loosen and buzz.
I dislike the propriety jack design in total.
I wish I could find a 562 without electronics.
I dislike their use of tusq saddles to enhance the plugin sound at the cost of the sound to the ear.
It’s like they designed the guitar around the electronics rather than the other way around.
I dislike the taylor input jack on my 356 too, but I guess it's better than having a separate battery compartment or inside the guitar. My tak has a solid (brass?) jack and I find the cool tube to be easier to adjust than the 3 taylor knobs but not as easy as the baggs etc that was in my gibson soundhole.
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  #28  
Old 05-26-2020, 12:35 PM
Brent Hahn Brent Hahn is online now
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As an erstwhile FOH mixer, I think they're better than average among the pickups I encounter.

I just wish they had a tuner included. The great thing about barn door tuners for me is that when the player engages the tuner, the output mutes. And when the button is unpoked, the guitar level is exactly the same as it was before. People who pot down to tune seldom turn the pot back up to the exact same spot. Even worse are the folks who don't bother, and just tune up at full volume and expect me to mute them. You know who you are. :-)
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  #29  
Old 05-26-2020, 01:12 PM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl49 View Post
My T5 from 2012 has a scratchy volume knob. But instead of replacing a $15 volume pot, I have to buy a whole new circuit board for $114 and then pay an installer to replace it, because they don't use the same plug for the current replacement part. (But at least the part exists).
I was briefly in the T5 and ES1.x PCB repair business (mostly for myself and friends). I ended up buying a solder vacuum to deal with their fine pitch silver solder PCB which has proven to be a very handy tool to own.

They use something called a 9mm snap mount POT. There are literally millions of options if you order 500 of them and Taylor subs out their PCB construction and rework (so they don't have any). I actually contacted the manufacturer of the POT and the US sales office had no record of Taylor as a customer. The PCBs are probably made in the orient somewhere.

However the big distributors had something close enough that I could file the shaft length and make them work. Here is my thread that started with the switch failing and worked its way into the POTs.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=401790

I think the ES PCB makes sense for acoustic musicians who are not constantly tweaking their volume to get the right amount of distortion, but they are way too fragile if you use a T5z as an electric guitar.

I agree that the ES2 drilling out of the bridge is not something that appeals to me. There are plenty of good SBT designs that can get you to roughly the same place.
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  #30  
Old 05-26-2020, 01:25 PM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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One last thought, the basic design of James May's pickup with passive cancellation of the major guitar resonant frequency is something Taylor and the rest ought to be licensing. They might want something that pops in easier with tape, but that architecture is something innovative in a way that provides real value.
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