Story concluded: trying out a high-end acoustic

Gilesy

Gilesy

Inspired
Hi all

I’m going to try out a Taylor 814 tomorrow.

About £3,500 ($5,000) so a lot of money. I’ve never owned a super high quality acoustic before, so would appreciate some guidance for the types of things I might want to look out for when I’m trying the Taylor and some of the other guitars in the store (eg Martins). It will be a once in a lifetime purchase (50 years old last month) so I’d like to get it right!

My slot is 3pm UK time Saturday so get cracking with your ideas.

Thank you in advance.

Cheers Gilesy
 
I have a Taylor 714ce that I love. But it took 4 other Taylor's before I settled on that one: A 3 (or 4, can't remember) 14ce, a 614ce, and 2 714ce's.

Apparently, (not sure if this is still true, but at the time... 10 or so years ago) they have a shim at the neck/body joint that may have to be changed for whatever RH (relative humidity) the guitar will live in. The 1st 2 I tried had dead spots high on the neck, and Guitar Center was unwilling to set the guitar up for me properly before I bought it.

All 3 714's were fine. I told the sales guy to show me every one they had in stock. 2 had a Spruce top, and the other had a Cedar top, which I quickly ruled out because its tone was too 'dark' for my taste. The one I chose came down to playability, and how the wood grain pattern looked.

My advice: Try out as many as you can. Try them acoustically as well as plugged in also. Make sure they have a reasonable return policy, because both of the first 2 I tried, I bought, only to find that I really didn't like the way they played, once I had them home. And I wouldn't recommend GC.

Here's a >$3000 acoustic guitar in need of a $50 non-refundable setup. But I'd like to know how it will potentially play, before I commit to it. Nope, that's not how we do business. Screw GC.
 
To the first reply - thankfully I don’t need to buy tomorrow, trying out to see how I get to on (a) that model and (b) that specific guitar. My slight challenge is that I’m a leftie, so choice will not be as wide. But I fully get your advice not to rush into it. thank you.


To the second response, I will definitely try a number of guitars across a few brands. I’ve read great things about Taylors on this site but I am interested to see how they compare to Martins etc. Also very good point about the dead spots (unix guy‘s experience with the PRS with dead spots has attuned me to that). thank you to you also.

Keep the thoughts coming please.
 
A couple o years ago, I read on this forum about a guy who went to a guitar shop and tested lots of acoustic guitars blindfolded.
And he didn't walk away with the most expensive one.
 
I really have enjoyed Taylor acoustics over the years.
I purchased a 414ce new and played the heck out of it for 10+ years.
I now have a 114ce, GS Mini, and 614ce.

Only issue is the intonation is terrible on the GS Mini!
It's still a fun size guitar to have.
 
I just sold my Taylor 214ce, turns out I preferred my old Seagull mini jumbo to it, playing and soundwise. Like @Budda said, you should try out a bunch of different acoustics before settling on one for that kind of cash. You might be surprised what you can get for a lot less(or a lot more).
 
I only play at home - and love every minute when I do. I play a us std strat, us std tele and an Anderson Madcat (I’m a big Prince fan). My acoustic for the last 20 years has been a £250 Freshman and it has played very nicely but for some reason the whole set up has gone out of whack hence me looking upmarket to celebrate the big 5-0.

my 8 year old will accompany me and he can do the filming. I will also take the freshman with me for a comparison.
 
Definitely use your ears. I played a bunch of acoustics in Sam Ash the other day. I liked a couple of the Taylors, but one particular $3000 Taylor (forgot which model) sounded really bad to me. I thought an $800 dollar Martin held up great against a $5000 Taylor (maybe even sounded better). Ultimately, though, I think my take-away was that it's really hard to properly audition guitars in-store. I honestly left more confused than when I went in.

I may ultimately buy that Martin, though. lol
 
Gilesy said:
Hi all

I’m going to try out a Taylor 814 tomorrow.

About £3,500 ($5,000) so a lot of money. I’ve never owned a super high quality acoustic before, so would appreciate some guidance for the types of things I might want to look out for when I’m trying the Taylor and some of the other guitars in the store (eg Martins). It will be a once in a lifetime purchase (50 years old last month) so I’d like to get it right!

My slot is 3pm UK time Saturday so get cracking with your ideas.

Thank you in advance.

Cheers Gilesy
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I'm assuming that having a time slot to check out the guitars is due to COVID-19.

Regardless, I wouldn't let myself feel pressure to make a decision like that so quickly.

As you said, you're choosing a life partner, so date around a little before settling down. You'll have a much better chance of ending up with the guitar of your dreams and will be excited about it being in your arms, til death do you part.
 
I'd had my eye on a Taylor for a while, played it a couple times in the store and really liked its sound, got a bonus and raced back to buy it, and, of course it was gone. I tried all the others on display and none of them spoke to me, and was about the leave when the salesman said he had three unopened in the boxes on the shelf. He started pulling them down, I'd tune them and play... nope... nope... oh... my... yeah... I took it home. I'd never named a guitar until I met "Matilda".

So, go through them, play lesser ones, play different brands, find the ones that talk to you and maybe one will cozy up to you and follow you home.
 
I haven’t played a bad guitar from taylor. In my experience with them, I feel like tonally they don’t really improve after you hit the $2500 range. Or at least not too noticeably to me. Looks wise though I think they improve a lot. I also think Taylor’s are the easiest playing acoustic guitars on the planet.

There might be other brands in that range you could try and like better, but I think in the acoustic world you almost have to make the jump to 10k or the used market to get a big improvement in sound.
 
I mainly bought my 714ce first for the tone. I wasn't interested in the bling, although as the price of the ones I tried started to rise, I realized it was due to the bling, imo.
 
If you’re up in that price range, try to get your hands on a Breedlove. I didn’t care about anything but Taylor’s until I heard/played a Breedlove. I still love Taylor’s and one will most likely be my first great acoustic, but only if I can’t find a Breedlove with the specs I want for cheaper than it’d usually go for.

Congrats on your future purchase!
 
TSJMajesty said:
I mainly bought my 714ce first for the tone. I wasn't interested in the bling, although as the price of the ones I tried started to rise, I realized it was due to the bling, imo.
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I always really liked those, but the 914CE’s made my heart skip a beat. I was just suggesting the 714CE to my buddy the other night actually.
 
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