All Solid Wood GS Mini

[Rclompus]

I've owned three GS mini guitars - 2 Koa Plus versions and the latest Rosewood Plus with ES-2 electronics ($1,199).  They have solid top woods with layered sides and back. The layered wood is supposed to handle changes in humidity better than solid wood and lowers the cost of the guitar.  The Rosewood Plus version is an easy guitar to play and it sounds better than expected for a smaller guitar.  The larger diameter sound hole helps project the music you create.  The Plus version also travels well with the lightweight and sturdy Aerocase. 

I was listening to a recent Youtube video from Alamo Music when Cooper Greenberg wondered how a solid wood GS Mini would sound...

My other acoustic Taylor guitars are all solid wood construction with distinct personalities.  I wonder how a solid wood GS Mini would sound and how different it would play compared to the current layered design.  My impression is that the GS Mini was initially perceived as a smaller guitar for easy playing and travel and less expensive than a full sized guitar.  As it has grown in popularity with students and experienced guitar players alike, it has become one of the most popular acoustic guitars of all time. 

Would guitar players be willing to pay a bit more for an all solid wood GS Mini?  If it sounded better, I'd be first in line to purchase one.  Your thoughts?

Be well,
Richard Clompus

[DennisG]

I recall Andy Powers talking about the frequent requests he gets for a solid-wood GS Mini.  His answer was to say that the GT was Taylor's response to those requests.

[Earl]

^^ Ditto to what Dennis said.  Laminated back & sides and the curved back allows Taylor to build the Mini without back bracing for one, to meet a specific price point.  When going to solid wood, much of those savings go away (GT about 4X more expensive than a Mini based on a quick search just now).  Not to mention economy of scale savings, with many more GS Mini's built versus the more expensive GT's.  Just price a GT against a similar Mini and you will see the difference.  It is unrealistic to expect an all-solid wood GS Mini to be just a Benjamin or two more than the regular models.

[ScottSD]

Call me cynical but I wonder if builders avoid making otherwise identical guitars in solid and laminated configurations to preclude a direct comparison that may not bode well for their higher tier models...

Scott

[Earl]

I try not to be overly cynical, and do not claim to fully understand the ins-and-outs of the manufacturing business.  But there is a certain validity to not cannibalizing your own market.  In other words, don't be your own worst competitor.  Is the pricing of the GT set with that in mind, or is it simply that expensive to make a new all solid wood model and recover the costs of R&D, tooling, parts, cases, etc for a whole new model?  For every $5000 guitar sold, there must be literally hundreds of $500 guitars sold.  Thus has it always been in retail.

For example, a number of years ago Rainsong came out with a hybrid line of composite guitars that were about 65% of the cost of their all carbon-fiber Classic models.  To achieve that price point they used cheaper composites that were much easier to work with for the back & sides and also uni-directional tops instead of woven CF fabric tops.  That hurt the sales of their prime models, and the hybrids ultimately went away after maybe five years.  In the meantime, the Hybrid models also noticeably hurt the resale value of older all-CF models.  Why buy a used Classic OM-1000 for $xxxx when you can get a brand new used H-OM version of the same model for $400 less?  Glad I was not looking to sell anything during that period.  In fact I have only ever sold two carbon fiber guitars, and that was because they did not fit me (or my playing needs) any longer.

[Edward]

Call me cynical but I wonder if builders avoid making otherwise identical guitars in solid and laminated configurations to preclude a direct comparison that may not bode well for their higher tier models...
Scott

This ain't "cynical," this is savvy marketing. 

Fwiw, I was never on the "solid wood" bandwagon for the GSm.  Why make it more susceptible to RH and clearly more expensive to a recipe that has already proven itself in spades?  Changing a winning formula is antithetical to success, even when you "think" it may be an improvement. 

And will solid woods really make it a better guitar?  Again, from where I sit a resounding no!  The GSm needs to be durable and affordable (relative to its competition) while sounding good.  Whatever a solid b/s would "add" to its tone (arguable point here, too), it would subtract from the other facets that have defined this line's success.  Ya want solid woods, go find one in that body size (yes, outside of Taylor's own GT, as well) as there is no shortage of makers out there who will gladly take your money.  But for most toward whom the mini is targeted toward, it really is the right recipe.

Side note: my daughter has had her GSm for many years now and that guit has seen seriously less than ideal situations (college life, travel, yadayada) and today is still an exceptional instrument. Tone is lush and excellent playability hasn't budged since day one.  And all that with zero fussing over it.  Yeah, that's a successful product in my book

Edward

[SDTaylorman]

Call me cynical but I wonder if builders avoid making otherwise identical guitars in solid and laminated configurations to preclude a direct comparison that may not bode well for their higher tier models...
Scott

This ain't "cynical," this is savvy marketing. 

Fwiw, I was never on the "solid wood" bandwagon for the GSm.  Why make it more susceptible to RH and clearly more expensive to a recipe that has already proven itself in spades?  Changing a winning formula is antithetical to success, even when you "think" it may be an improvement. 

And will solid woods really make it a better guitar?  Again, from where I sit a resounding no!  The GSm needs to be durable and affordable (relative to its competition) while sounding good.  Whatever a solid b/s would "add" to its tone (arguable point here, too), it would subtract from the other facets that have defined this line's success.  Ya want solid woods, go find one in that body size (yes, outside of Taylor's own GT, as well) as there is no shortage of makers out there who will gladly take your money.  But for most toward whom the mini is targeted toward, it really is the right recipe.

Side note: my daughter has had her GSm for many years now and that guit has seen seriously less than ideal situations (college life, travel, yadayada) and today is still an exceptional instrument. Tone is lush and excellent playability hasn't budged since day one.  And all that with zero fussing over it.  Yeah, that's a successful product in my book

Edward

Exactly! Looks like Taylor took a page from the "if it ain't broke" textbook.

[joshsimpson79]

I agree with this.  My GS Mini is the one guitar I've taken all over the country, I use with children on Wednesday nights at church and it's the one I let my kids strum on.  It's got some dings and "character" but it has served its purpose well.  My hog GT is quite similar and since I'm an average size guy, it's my performing guitar now.  Sometimes I actually feel it's a bit easier to play with its slinky strings.

If I had an all solid GS Mini, I probably wouldn't be as care-free with it.

[bglaze]

Call me cynical but I wonder if builders avoid making otherwise identical guitars in solid and laminated configurations to preclude a direct comparison that may not bode well for their higher tier models...

Scott

This was precisely my experience when purchasing my AD17e yesterday. I was so blown away by the particular AD17e that I had been playing (and proceeded to buy) that I had the salesman pull down the 717e builders edition, because I was curious how much better it could get.

The 717e was awesome! Equally as loud, for sure. However, in this particular comparison, of these specific two guitars, I preferred the sound of the AD17e. The 717e had an abundance of warmth that made the notes melt together a bit more, and the AD17e, though having a ton of warmth, was noticibly more articulate. And, the tones of the AD17e just fit better within my current acoustic collection.

To be fair, I was never planning on buying the 717e. So, being bias toward the AD17e from the start, I may have just experienced genuine confirmation bias. However, I would challenge anyone who told me that the 717e -- based on sound alone -- was a "better" guitar. It's actually what sealed the deal for me concerning buying the AD17e. I felt like I would regret leaving the store without taking advantage of a clearance price on what was possibly the best sounding acoustic guitar I had ever played.

I was playing it last night until 2am, and I got back up an hour ago (6am EST) and have been playing it ever since. I really really love this guitar.

[Gabrielobrien]

Andy Powers actually addressed this in the video podcast where they talked about the new GT body shape, which has now been folded into the line. Basically solid wood alone didn't make the GS Mini sound better enough to justify the price difference of making it. He tried tons of different design changes and ended up realizing it jsut wouldn't sound better unless you made it a little bigger and a little differently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPvMSZs-Om8&list=PLIa-kz_oNaiSm7mCabBONLF2BAlrVt2m2&index=73

[Guitarsan]

If you still have the original plastic bridge pins in, replace them with Taylor ebony pins and you’ll get better dynamics and sustain. Then you can just pretend it has solid wood back and sides.

[DenverSteve]

Late to the party but - this has been discussed since about............... 6 months after the GS Mini was released, 13-14 years ago.  It's been hoped for, begged for, asked for and it's not going to happen.  It's a small, laminate guitar that (used to be) wonderfully priced and performed as expected.  Really, all you could wish for in a couch, travel, mini-sized, laminate-guitar.  Change those dynamics and it's no longer a cute, cheap guitar. There have been some over the years wanting to custom order a GS Mini-sized guitar, with solid wood construction, but I don't remember ever hearing whether anyone was able to do so.  Honestly, there are plenty of all-solid 00 guitars out there.