For Sale: Taylor T5-C1 hollow body hybrid

[fazool]

2005 Taylor T5-C1.

The nicer variant with the full binding, better fret marker inlays and flamed maple top.

This is a rescued guitar. There is a common design weakness on these models: If it is dropped very hard on the lower strap button, because of the grain direction and wood geometry it splits the wood like a hatchet chopping firewood.

Fortunately it's repairable to a fully functional state, but it always leaves scars. A total refinish would be cost-prohibitive so it isn't worth it. If you can live with the cosmetic scars, it's a great way to save a ton of money on a T5 that plays and sounds great.

When I found this one, I remembered I had fixed one of these before (a 12 string version) and it was just what I wanted.

As you can see from the pictures it has two prominent scars from the fall. On the bottom of the body you can clearly see the line where the split happened. It is 100% structurally repaired (properly). Similarly there is a little (half-a-dime) size scar on the soundboard and a faint hint of where a split line happened.

The soundboard was the critical part of this: Since the soundboards are always made from two pieces of glued wood, it's totally OK to have a proper glue joint that won't affect the tone. Fortunately this one was the perfect candidate - the crack was very fine, right along a grain boundary. It was clean and perfect to repair - and it didn't warrant a cleat which is even better. A very clean fix. But on the edge there was a mark of unfinished wood. I cleaned that up and polished it but had to leave it visible or it would need invasive finish work.

The guitar has a bone nut and saddle. Obviously a Taylor NT neck is never a worry about setting neck angles to your preferences. The truss rod works perfectly and the action is set nicely already and totally adjustable for your style. I replaced the tuners with Taylor polished nickel tuners with ebony-colored plastic tuner buttons. I added a genuine ebony truss rod cover (to match the fingerboard instead of the cheap plastic one). I added new strap buttons and did a full fret dressing: leveling, crowning, dressing and polishing.

I cleaned the electronics with electrical contact cleaner. As is common with these they were a little scratchy at times but got a bit better after I cleaned them.

When I put a strap on, it hides most of the scar so I don't even notice it as much. If you are adventurous and don't like the minor scars you can buy this and refinish it, but I recommend living with the cosmetics as-is.

This one definitely has better acoustic tone than the T5z - I was really impressed running it through an acoustic modelling amp. It was also good for crunchy rhythms too. All the pickups work well. The previous owner had them connected wrong internally so I fixed that, as well.

This does not include a case, but it will be packed perfectly and safely for shipment anywhere in the continental US.

SOLD

[fazool]

SOLD to another AGF-er (another successful AGF transaction)