Went to Sam Ash, Played a 610CE, Ugh!

[meridian]

If this was the only Taylor 610 I'd ever picked up, I sure would wonder what all the fuss was about!

Is it a decent guitar? Sure.

Did it play great? Played fine.

Was the back stunning? Nope, pretty dull half-flamed maple.

Did it sound great? No, not particularly. In fact the low end on this thing was nonexistant.

My three maple Taylors ALL beat the pants off this one, even when they have dead strings.

You wanna talk about dead strings????

I forgot to check the serial number, but I'd bet that this was pre-revoicing and still had its original strings on it.

Anything nice I said about this store last year, I take it back.

High prices, poor selection, poor maintenance. Bad store. Only one for 75 miles or more that sells Taylor.

[catfreckles]

Bummer, what area in Florida are you visiting?

[carolina410]

Yeah, unfortunately the "mega-stores" such as Guitar Center and Sam Ash are better suited to selling the $199.00 specials from Yamaha and Takamine...

Because of this, they seem to treat their high-end stuff with similar disregard. They don't seem to realize or care that a $6.00 set of strings might help them sell a $2000.00 guitar.

Oh well, another reason to stick with the smaller shops who rely on repeat customers.

[meridian]

Originally posted by catfreckles
Bummer, what area in Florida are you visiting?

Sarasota

[Thin Crust]

I agree. Big chains are a great place to check a guitar out, but not so great a place to buy. Our local GC had a nice 814CE hanging on the wall, that every grunge wannabe kid in town was striking mindless heavy pick bar cords on. Not the guitar I want to take home to meet mom.

[FNG]

You should have seen the 614ce that GC was selling here in Detroit...the front was trashed with the finish actually wore off, and gouges also. Orginal shredded Elixirs. This one was very nice, with nice flamed maple. I overheard the salesman quote a guy a price, including the whole deal that the case is extra. Just a little less than what you would expect one in mint condition. When I heard the price, I had to go over and point out all the obvious damage. The salesman actually acted surprised, like he had never seen it before. Heck, I could see it across the room. Pleezzzeee

[JJBW]

I don't like the maple dreads too well, I think maple x14s are way better
JMHO

[martin82]

The maple dreds are fine. It's Sam Ash that is not. I don't know how the big chains can expect to sell quality guitars if they don't take care of them. I bought a 614 from GC; this GC was the only one I had been to that actually paid attention to their high end guitars. It really depends, though, on the quality of the staff. THis one had a really well-informed salesmen (since left and started working at my favorite guitar store - Victor's House of Music).

[Stixx]

Joe,

I am always amazed at the differences between two seemingly identical Taylors . And Strings . One of the reasons Taylor began shipping with nano's on board was that very reason. But if an axe hangs in a humid florida store too long the tone will surely die the ''wet tone '' death syndrome. I have had three six dreads trying to get good wood on one and they sent me a three piece back this time which is good looking but very absorbant if you know what I mean. The guitar is recording pretty well though and with medium strings is a contender for me to use for special assignments on hard disk that it seems to relish . Funny thing about guitars they just keep changing and then you discover a new string or tuning or something that makes a guitar special.
Right now my latest dread is in the humming stage and is fairly quiet but I am making no judgements except that is is pretty has good playing the neck is very nice and even though heavier shod than its 614 cousin it is going to get played a lot this year .

I am more and more determined to buy Taylors only in person though as the QC is obviously becoming an issue.

Later

[dpryor]

Funny, I went into the Dallas GC yesterday and had a similar experience. I grabbed a 512CE off the wall and sat down to play it for a minute. One strum and ICK! The strings were so dead it made it sound like one of those Abilene specials you see at the music retail stores. I could even see some fret wear.

I put the 512CE back and grabbed a new looking 514CE and gave it a good strum. I instantly heard the sweet Taylor sound. The sad thing about this is that if you had never played a good Taylor and happened to pick up this dead 512CE, you would have to wonder why anyone would want to pay that much for crappy sounding guitar and immediatley head to the Martin display.

As someone pointed out earlier, GC's are more in tune to selling low to mid-range guitars that cost several hundred dollars. It doesn't take a very knowledgeable sales person to sell one to the parents of a 10 year old looking for his first guitar.

I'm not trying to bash GC's, its just that I hate to see high end guitars (especially Taylors) not being maintained and respected as they should.

[twostep]

I was at Guitar Center Tucson last week, and I happened to wander by a Gibson Hummingbird. It was marked at $1600 (which is a pretty good price), but on closer inspection, there was a long chunk on wood missing from the top, and some scratches on the back. Those Early ’60s Hummingbird's sure sound sweet though. If I bought it, at least I wouldn't have to worry about chipping it for the first time. I've never had a 1600 dollar beater before.

[Stixx]

Wish I'd known you wanted one shaun , I sold one last year for 1250 that was virtually new condition was dark tobacco burst ,

looked fabulous played awful , wish now I'd kept it and made it play better somehow. The tone was good.

hmmm

[meridian]

Originally posted by prodigy3
I don't like the maple dreads too well, I think maple x14s are way better
JMHO

I LOVE Taylor maple guitars and especially the new dreads. That's why I was SO disappointed.

[byKnight]

My experiences here in Orlando area haven't been quite as bad, but I did find the guitars better cared for at the smaller, locally owned shops.

I was shopping for, and eventually bought, my first Taylor a few weeks ago.

I visited every Taylor dealer in the area. Sam Ash had an OK selection, the guitars were in tune and fine. A second Sam Ash location, which used to be a Mars store, took excellent care of their Taylors. I attribute this to the gentelman in charge of acoustic sales there, Bob, who was there when it was Mars and remained there after the sale.

Guitar Center had a disappointing selection of Taylors, and many were intermixed on the wall with much cheaper brands and had obviously been banged around quite a bit.

The visits I enjoyed the most were to the smaller stores. George's Music (a chain, but a smaller chain) had a kid who was very patient as I played with several models. He obviously knew the Taylor line better than anyone I'd found so far (except for Bob at the former Mars Sam Ash store). He even had a decent understanding of the Expression System.

My last visit, and where I eventually bought my 314ce, was Discount Music. Their Taylors appeared well cared for, and it was the only room I encountered where the humidification visibly addressed. That's not to say the other stores didn't consider it; but if they did, it wasn't obvious. But at Discount Music, the humidifier was right there where I could see it (yes a humidifier in Florida -- because the A/C, which dries out the air, is *always* on).

Anyway, that's my long-winded two cents.

[meridian]

After spending an hour with Gordon French at Rudy's, it has become painfully obvious what a poor job Sam Ash does vis-a-vis their Taylors.

The only cool thing about Sam Ash is you can pick up and play anything. The obvious downside is that that policy requires superb maintenance and there seems to be hardly any.

PLUS, the guitars on the wall are all "old" models. I don't recall seeing an ES in the batch. It looked and felt like a Taylor "seconds" store.