# Played a couple R. Taylors yesterday



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

One Rosewood and one Koa. The rosewood was the nicer of the two.

Neither moved me anywhere near enough, to even consider their 7K+ and 6K+ price tags.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

I some times like a few Taylors that I have tried but like you the price tag often keeps me from even seriously looking at buying from a retail store and for that amount I would rather have something built to my custom liking. And I am unconvinced that the guitars they make are as good as some of the older models from about 10 years or so ago.Ship


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Several years ago I played an early Taylor koa model at Elderly Music. It might be in the top ten best acoustics I've ever played, but it would be the only Taylor that ever came close to that. Having sampled probably hundreds of custom and high end guitars over the years has likely made me kind of jaded. I truly dig all kinds of guitars, tones, styles and whatever, but what turns me on is very specific, and I have to live with a guitar for a long time before I completely adopt it, its tone, its vibe.

I'm sure I'd like the guitars Jeff mentioned, maybe even drool a little, but that's not enough to make me take a guitar home.

That kind of coin buys a pretty amazing custom built axe these days, and there are lots of willing builders.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Mike MacLeod (Nov 27, 2006)

Well said, Mooh!


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Ok never mind then. Some how you guys took this conversation and translated it into a mass production Taylor discussion.

R. Taylors are a different line, completely hand built by his top 2 luthiers, custom order. Not many actually out there, so to see one is rare enough never mind actually being able to try them.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

Okay Jeff , yep I see we made a terrible mistake on Taylor, you were talking about this guy. R. Taylor Guitars , TWELFTH FRET and from the looks they are wonderful to look at I had never really heard about him before so thanks for the post, I have looked over his builds, but alas I know of no one that own's one so I can't try one out unless I get back east.Ship


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Actually Jeff, it's just that I think that the R. Taylors aren't likely any better than many other guitars in that price range. Mind you, that's still talking about guitars of the highest order of materials, design, and build. At that price I like some input as to all those parameters, rather than accpet something off the rack, no matter how good, unless by chance the off-the-rack axe spoke to me in my dreams.

One problem is that a new guitar won't sound its best for a while, so buying new has certain liabilities associated with that.

Another is, when buying a custom, it too might not speak to you, though if you have input into its build, you will probably get real close anyway.

Setting aside the conditioning, bias, prejudice, and failings of our ears (and eyes), we all still have preferences in tone and timbre, playability, and appearance. Overcoming some or all of these issues can be a personal journey secondary to what the wallet experiences.

The R. Taylors, by all accounts, sound, look, and feel fantastic, but are they fantastic enough to appeal to us all? Not very likely. Would they be good enough for most any application? Yes, certainly, but love is blind, sometimes, deaf, and often inexplicably stupid, so overcoming those problems may be beyond most of us.

If you were lucky enough to play several virtually identical (as far as wood and construction allows) guitars, you'd still find differences in tone and other things, and you'd still be forced to make a choice, possibly one of which is to walk away unsatified with any of them.

Just because a guitar is made by someone, or somewhere, has some legendary mojo or pedagree, is made of rare unobtainable wood, blah, blah, blah...doesn't mean any of us has to like it. I love it when I'm presented with someone's holy grail guitar and I think it's a piece of driftwood with zero tone.

Acoustic shopping is way harder than electric shopping in my experience. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## Mike MacLeod (Nov 27, 2006)

Well said, Mooh.


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## Mike MacLeod (Nov 27, 2006)

Jeff; not to be confrontational, but what kind of a response did you expect from your initial thread? 

The R. Taylors are supposed to be a hand built guitar, and true, they are quite uncommon. I feel privileged to have played an Indian rosewood guitar a few months ago. I think it was a style 2. Beautifully constructed. It had the Laskin arm-rest which I really really like. The guitar was lovely, but it simply didn't speak to me. It felt comfortable, and of course it played beautifully, but there are so many small builders whose instruments fill me with lust!

*Warning* Metaphors ahead:
I have a feeling that Bob Taylor can't put down the CNC machine to work with hand-tools any more. He needs to feel the chisel and scribe in his hands again. He needs to flex the top. He needs to put down the spray gun and hand rub the varnish. He needs to get back to his roots. These guitars are an attempt to do this, but I think they are wide of the mark.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

Ain't that the truth Mooh, I could walk into any shop and buy what ever they had on the wall and then take it home and make it sound the way I wanted it to ( well not me but our guy always kept my electrics sounding great ). I have been hunting well really looking for that last guitar ( a Handbuilt ) and have been searching now for over 5 years and still can't make up my mind because I have seen so many that were almost exactly the same build but all had very unique sounds and playability. I sometimes feel like I am looking for the holy grail and will never find what I am looking for and its often because I tend to think there might be something else out there that will fit my final needs better then what I may have in hand.
And its funny but at first I didn't associate R.Taylor with someone that I knew but after reading his bio I realized it was Bob Taylor and I have heard and seen some of his previous work and appreciate what he does but they aren't for me, they just never spoke to me. But they are very beautiful looking guitars and I know that I might have a better appreciation for them if I had the oppertunity to try and play one.ship


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Mike MacLeod said:


> Jeff; not to be confrontational, but what kind of a response did you expect from your initial thread?
> 
> The R. Taylors are supposed to be a hand built guitar, and true, they are quite uncommon. I feel privileged to have played an Indian rosewood guitar a few months ago. I think it was a style 2. Beautifully constructed. It had the Laskin arm-rest which I really really like. The guitar was lovely, but it simply didn't speak to me. It felt comfortable, and of course it played beautifully, but there are so many small builders whose instruments fill me with lust!
> 
> ...


A conversation specifically about R. Taylor guitars. Until your comment it's been nothing close to that.

PS) I'm not shopping for one or even an acoustic in general, I just stumbled upon them. I have 2 acoustics I love.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> R. Taylors are a different line, completely hand built by his top 2 luthiers, custom order. Not many actually out there, so to see one is rare enough never mind actually being able to try them.


Anyone know how they differ from the factory Taylors in terms of design? I'm thinking of things like kerfing, bracing patterns and shapes, top and back radius, bridge plate material, neck joint style, and so on. Are such things the builders' or the customer's choice? To what degree are they custom? They sure look sweet.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Mooh said:


> Anyone know how they differ from the factory Taylors in terms of design? I'm thinking of things like kerfing, bracing patterns and shapes, top and back radius, bridge plate material, neck joint style, and so on. Are such things the builders' or the customer's choice? To what degree are they custom? They sure look sweet.
> 
> Peace, Mooh.


Page 2 shows all the configuration options.

http://www.rtaylorguitars.com/pdf/priceMenu2008.pdf


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Interesting, thanks Jeff. Not enough variables (scale length, inlay, number of strings) for me but I'm a PITA. They're custom, inasmuch as the customer gets to choose from a menu, but not like some small shop builders I've consulted/dealt with who will do almost anything. Still, I get what they're doing and imagine there's a good market the them.

Peace, Mooh.


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