Is the Savoy Worth It

[Mkel12]

I did a comparison of the Savoy, Lucky 13 and Taylor 814ce a few months back for AGF members that were interested in the tonal differences. Soundcloud link is below. For what it's worth, I ended up selling the Savoy, not for tone reasons, but because it did not fit me ergonomically. The Lucky 13 has been my go to carbon guitar since I purchased it in 2014. I currently have a Rainsong APSE on the way, and look forward to comparing it to my Lucky 13.

[Captain Jim]

Nice playing, Mike! I appreciate the comparisons. While all three guitars sound very good, my preferences were as follows...
1. Savoy
2. 814
3. Lucky 13

I could happily listen to any of the three and thoroughly enjoy the experience.

Thanks for sharing!

[dogdog49]

Great comparison, thanks. Surprising how close ekoa and wood sounded, but the carbon fiber was a clear and distant third place for me. If the Savoy had a fuller and richer bass response it would have been right there with the 814C, but I suspect that has more to do with the size of the guitars than with the materials. Personally I'm waiting for a full size ekoa guitar with a cutaway and I'm all in.

[Mkel12]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Don't mean to highjack this thread, but I thought this comparison might help answer the OP's question for some. During the recording, I tried to isolate the variability between the examples to the guitars' construction materials. Strings, mic, mic distance to guitar, mic location on guitar, ambient conditions and musical passages were all the same. Especially when listening with headphones, one can really hear the tonal differences.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by dogdog49

.....Surprising how close ekoa and wood sounded.....Personally I'm waiting for a full size ekoa guitar with a cutaway and I'm all in.

My experience with the El Capitan is that it holds its own tonally and size / comfort-wise against any of my Taylor GA's -- very good sound from ekoa. Ditto tonally for my Farallon ukulele too. The only uke we have that equals it is a $1500 boutique built all mahogany Mya Moe. It is nice, but different from the Mya Moe.

Take a good look at the El Capitan. It doesn't have a cutaway (that would require a whole separate mold at $$,$$$) but without a neck heel to get in the way and with 14 frets to the body, you may not actually need a cutaway. I play up to the 17th fret regularly. My Lucky 13 does not have a cutaway and is only 13 frets to the body. I have no trouble playing anything in my repertoire on it.

[Frettingflyer]

Originally Posted by Mkel12

I did a comparison of the Savoy, Lucky 13 and Taylor 814ce a few months back for AGF members that were interested in the tonal differences. Soundcloud link is below. For what it's worth, I ended up selling the Savoy, not for tone reasons, but because it did not fit me ergonomically. The Lucky 13 has been my go to carbon guitar since I purchased it in 2014. I currently have a Rainsong APSE on the way, and look forward to comparing it to my Lucky 13.

Mike, thanks for reposting this, I had forgotten about it. Got out good headphones and my favorite was the 814, but mostly I think due to the bass from the larger size.
I find my Shorty to be a nice companion to the Lucky13. I look forward to hearing your impressions too though.
Great playing, and thanks again for sharing.

Mike;

This is a great demonstration and comparison of ekoa, carbon fiber, and wood. Thank you for taking the time to record and bring this to the forum.