Now that Taylor has. . .

[Shades of Blue]

I’ve grown quite fond of V Bracing, at least on my GPs. I must say that I have had to watch Andy’s videos to understand the benefits and what the top is actually doing as a result of changing the bracing.

Scientifically, it’s really amazing what Andy has tried to do. Whether or not it works totally as advertised is up in the air, but bringing order to a guitar top is pretty fascinating stuff to me. For example, Andy explains why some guitars never quite sound in tune even when the tuner says it is. I’ve always struggled with that, but not with my GPs.

If your sole judge of a guitar is how big the low end is, then no you aren’t going to like V Bracing. However, if you enjoy the fact that your top treble notes shine through with as much power and fatness as a low note, or if you appreciate the effortless sustain and balance without playing so hard, then you’ll appreciate what Andy has done.

I still like a guitar with huge low end, but it’s different for me now. It’s almost like Martin’s are the Beats headphones of the guitar world to me now. Everyone wants them for the accentuated low end and the name. However, when you make music or record you actually need a more balanced FRFR type of studio headphones. It’s that type of thing to me that makes me realize you need both.

I was playing my 717 last night and the sound is simply amazing. I don’t think any other guitar could match it IMO at this point. It could seriously become the only guitar I need.