NGD: Taylor 717e Builder's Edition Grand Pacific Wild Honey Burst

[bquindawl]

Originally Posted by sakar12

Congrats. Keep playing it--it will change dramatically over the next few weeks.

This statement is very true. I’ve had the same experience with mine. Pretty drastic honestly.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by bquindawl

This statement is very true. I’ve had the same experience with mine. Pretty drastic honestly.

When playing the 717e on Friday night for the first time, it seemed kind of stiff but yesterday it already seems to be loosening up. The initial stiffness reminds me of the same quality that I've experienced with Larrivee guitars that tend to quickly loosen up the more they're played.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

Congratulations!

Words don’t really describe my 717e after 3 months and a bit. Fab, that will do.

Now for plugged - it is ok plugged direct to my mixer or to my amp, the usual stuff really and handy to have controls....but it is fully sick and superb through my Tonedexter with the 2 different soundfiles I have made...one with a Neumann KM184 and the other with a plain old, probably really old, Shure SM57......thinking, thinking, bought about 1990? Swapping between these 2 sounds is like swapping from a bridge pickup to the neck pickup on an electric. Cool! But it shows how different results you get in Tonedexter. And surprisingly, I keep using the 57 file....it has more ‘bite’ for when I bite!

Back to acoustic only...I have, apart from just plan old playing the 717e, been tempted to stretch what I can play on it with various fingerpicking styles and it has taken anything I can do including country blues, pop, rock everything...and I got the old Real Book Jazz Standards out and it can turn into an archtop, of sorts! I have a book that has 4 guitar/music styles for each old song - lead sheet, chord melody, comping parts, jazz solo. I have made my way through a few of the tunes with a mix of the 4. (strum the chord, play the melody, impro a bit.) So blah, blah you say? I point all this out because some way better guitarists than I will find a very versatile guitar in the GP V braced? And I can’t wait to see what comes out.

BluesKing777.

Thanks, BluesKing! Being that I have a ToneDexter, I'm going to mess with it by generating WaveMaps with both a Shure SM-81 and an Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina and hear what I can come up with. Last night, running the 717e through my LR Baggs Session Acoustic DI yielded a smoother amplified tone, as it has done for other guitars I've run through it, rather than just running the ES2 into the Synapse PA channel input. The nice thing about the ES2 is that it works well with any signal processing gear it's routed through.

[SpruceTop]

Remarkably, in today's playing session, and after only several hours over three days of playing time, I'm delighted to say that the bass resonance of this Taylor 717e is already becoming more prominent in a good way in the overall frequency-mix of this guitar! I'm Happy!

[martingitdave]

Beautiful guitar! Enjoy!!

[jseth]

Nice one! Not a fan of dreads, but that looks pretty sweet...

Heck, that thing doesn't hardly know it's a guitar yet... still thinks it's a tree! Play it for a hundred hours and you will not believe what happens to the tone and the volume and the balance...

...and may you play it for many, many thousands of hours, in both good health and circumstance!

[SpruceTop]

Playing these guitars, back-to-back for the first time, garners the Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition Wild Honey Burst kudos in comparison to my Larrivee D-40M, which is the best mahogany back-and-sides dreadnought I've ever owned or played. The Larrivee D-40M has D'Addario EXP Medium-gage strings on it with a bit higher action than the Taylor 717e with its Elixir Nanoweb medium-gage strings. The rosewood back-and-sides Taylor 717e holds its own with its darker rosewood resonance compared to the Larrivee D-40M's mahogany zing. I'm really glad I've purchased both these guitars and I'm not looking back!

PSA FOR WESTERN NEW YORK PLAYERS: Stutzman's Guitar Center, here in Rochester, New York, has a Larrivee D-40M on order, and as of yesterday, owner Dave Stutzman says this guitar should be delivered to the store by midweek. It may be as good as the one I recently bought from Dave, but you won't know unless you audition it!

[SpruceTop]

My latest guitar and banjo acquisitions: Larrivee D-40M Legacy, Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition Wild Honey Burst, Vega #2 TubaPhone 5-String Banjo.

[rabbuhl]

Congrats!! Fantastic guitars those Grand Pacifics. I played a 517e two months ago and thought that it was great.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by rabbuhl

Congrats!! Fantastic guitars those Grand Pacifics. I played a 517e two months ago and thought that it was great.

Thanks! Yeah, I was wondering about the Taylor 717e and how it would sound but I'm happy to say it can hold its own with the other wonderful guitars I have!

[SpruceTop]

The tone of the Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition continues to develop for the good! Just now, I'm playing both these guitars back-to-back for the first time and it reveals something. First, let me setup what's going on with both guitars:

Both guitars are Sitka Spruce over East Indian Rosewood back-and-sides
Both guitars have medium-gage strings
Both guitars are long-scale, the Taylor 25.5 inches and the Huss & Dalton a 25.4 inches
The Huss & Dalton TD-R has a bit higher action than the Taylor 717e BE WHB.

Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition Wild Honey Burst - Some might think the Taylor's acoustic tone may be slightly encumbered by and diminished by its Elixir Nanoweb strings and ES2 pickup/preamp system. I'm not going to dispute that these items may affect the tone in a detrimental way compared to the same model acoustic-only guitar equipped with non-coated strings. Maybe they do, maybe they don't but the guitar still sounds wonderful.

Huss & Dalton T-DR - embodying many of the aesthetics of a "traditional pre-war dreadnought" this guitar exploded in my ears when I auditioned and bought it in 2017. At that time, it was and still is a better-sounding traditional spruce/rosewood dreadnought than any other I've ever played.

Conclusion: The Huss & Dalton is a cannon with all the rosewood overtone lushness one could desire! The Taylor 717e is also a cannon with many of the lush tonal attributes of the Huss & Dalton TD-R but with less bass-boom bloom. This translates into a pleasant clarity and presence that brings the tone forward in a pleasing way. Frankly, if I had to make the choice of one over other, I'd be happy with whichever one I chose as both are stellar guitars! In other words, IMHO and first-hand experience, the V-Class Braced Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition ain't a slouch, no way, no how!

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

The tone of the Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition continues to develop for the good! Just now, I'm playing both these guitars back-to-back for the first time and it reveals something. First, let me setup what's going on with both guitars:

Both guitars are Sitka Spruce over East Indian Rosewood back-and-sides
Both guitars have medium-gage strings
Both guitars are long-scale, the Taylor 25.5 inches and the Huss & Dalton a 25.4 inches
The Huss & Dalton TD-R has a bit higher action than the Taylor 717e BE WHB.

Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition Wild Honey Burst - Some might think the Taylor's acoustic tone may be slightly encumbered by and diminished by its Elixir Nanoweb strings and ES2 pickup/preamp system. I'm not going to dispute that these items may affect the tone in a detrimental way compared to the same model acoustic-only guitar equipped with non-coated strings. Maybe they do, maybe they don't but the guitar still sounds wonderful.

Huss & Dalton T-DR - embodying many of the aesthetics of a "traditional pre-war dreadnought" this guitar exploded in my ears when I auditioned and bought it in 2017. At that time, it was and still is a better-sounding traditional spruce/rosewood dreadnought than any other I've ever played.

Conclusion: The Huss & Dalton is a cannon with all the rosewood overtone lushness one could desire! The Taylor 717e is also a cannon with many of the lush tonal attributes of the Huss & Dalton TD-R but with less bass-boom bloom. This translates into a pleasant clarity and presence that brings the tone forward in a pleasing way. Frankly, if I had to make the choice of one over other, I'd be happy with whichever one I chose as both are stellar guitars! In other words, IMHO and first-hand experience, the V-Class Braced Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition ain't a slouch, no way, no how!

WOW! I played a Huss & Dalton TD-R last week and it was one of the best sounding Dreads I've played. I was very VERY impressed by it. So I am even more surprised (pleasantly) that the 717e is holding its own along side that very esteemed company.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

The tone of the Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition continues to develop for the good! Just now, I'm playing both these guitars back-to-back for the first time and it reveals something. First, let me setup what's going on with both guitars:

Both guitars are Sitka Spruce over East Indian Rosewood back-and-sides
Both guitars have medium-gage strings
Both guitars are long-scale, the Taylor 25.5 inches and the Huss & Dalton a 25.4 inches
The Huss & Dalton TD-R has a bit higher action than the Taylor 717e BE WHB.

Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition Wild Honey Burst - Some might think the Taylor's acoustic tone may be slightly encumbered by and diminished by its Elixir Nanoweb strings and ES2 pickup/preamp system. I'm not going to dispute that these items may affect the tone in a detrimental way compared to the same model acoustic-only guitar equipped with non-coated strings. Maybe they do, maybe they don't but the guitar still sounds wonderful.

Huss & Dalton T-DR - embodying many of the aesthetics of a "traditional pre-war dreadnought" this guitar exploded in my ears when I auditioned and bought it in 2017. At that time, it was and still is a better-sounding traditional spruce/rosewood dreadnought than any other I've ever played.

Conclusion: The Huss & Dalton is a cannon with all the rosewood overtone lushness one could desire! The Taylor 717e is also a cannon with many of the lush tonal attributes of the Huss & Dalton TD-R but with less bass-boom bloom. This translates into a pleasant clarity and presence that brings the tone forward in a pleasing way. Frankly, if I had to make the choice of one over other, I'd be happy with whichever one I chose as both are stellar guitars! In other words, IMHO and first-hand experience, the V-Class Braced Taylor 717e Grand Pacific Builder's Edition ain't a slouch, no way, no how!

VERY cool! Glad you’re still digging your 717. Those BEs must really be a step up because my 317 is a nice little guitar but it can’t hold a candle to my D-41...

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Groberts

WOW! I played a Huss & Dalton TD-R last week and it was one of the best sounding Dreads I've played. I was very VERY impressed by it. So I am even more surprised (pleasantly) that the 717e is holding its own along side that very esteemed company.

Gary, I'm surprised too, and was ready to be ho-hummed by the tone of the Taylor 717e compared to the Huss & Dalton T-DR. I still have the option of returning the Taylor within the trial period but won't as that's how happy I am with its tone. Being that my favorite guitar body-shape is the dreadnought, whether square- or slope-shouldered, I can readily accept that the 717e's acoustic tone may not be what many want to hear based on "traditional" tone but I hear it as a pleasing blend of old and new that sounds mighty fine to my old ears.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Rev Roy

VERY cool! Glad you’re still digging your 717. Those BEs must really be a step up because my 317 is a nice little guitar but it can’t hold a candle to my D-41...

Actually, I found the Taylor 317e I auditioned a Guitar Center to be very nice sounding and was seriously considering buying it after getting a nice price just by asking. My Taylor 717e comparison to my Huss & Dalton T-DR yielded different but pleasing tonal palettes within the dreadnought body shape that I'm glad I've got both guitars.