So what was significant about your first Taylor?

[Jersey tuning]

I began playing guitar in 1967. Until I bought my Taylor 614ce in 2007, the 3 previous guitars I owned all had laminated B & S.  The Taylor was my first all solid wood guitar, my first guitar with a four figure price tag, but most of all stimulated my entry into the worlds of guitar collecting and geekdom.  Oh yes, the great playability allowed me to become a better player.

[73171]

"So what was significant about your first Taylor?"

It isn't a Martin!

But seriously...I've owned Martins (D28, D35, D35s) in the past and greatly enjoyed all of them, but I wanted something different. So, I bought an 818e. The neck is great, very easy to play.(even jazz chords at the ninth fret!)
The bass response is excellent, and it sounds great tuned low, also.

[M19]

It was my first 12-string.

[Scriptor]

It was my FIRST Taylor ... didn't know it was going to be so hard to own just one ... also, it was what inspired me to get seriously back into guitar after a few years of neglect ... the fire was rekindled and I haven't stopped since ...

Actually, in addition to the above, it was my first really top of the line guitar (814ce) ... I was most impressed with the feel and playability of Taylor's when I was searching for my "last" and "only" acoustic ... it was just a great fingerstyle guitar ... felt great in my hands ... once I played an 814, all other guitars were compared to it ... although some of the others compared favorably in the tone department, none felt as good to me as Taylor's ...

[Captain Jim]

The significance for me?  The introduction to this forum and all the exchange of ideas and information.  I've been playing for almost 50 years now, but I didn't know what I didn't know.  Being a mostly electric guitar player, an acoustic was always a "second guitar" for me.  The last decade, I've come to appreciate acoustic guitars more.  My first Taylor was a 114ce - sounded great and played more like my electrics than previously owned acoustics.  Then, I started to learn more about sizes, shapes, and tone woods.  I learned about caring for my guitars (You need to humidify them?  Really?).  I acquired GAS like I've never before experienced.   

Yep, that first Taylor opened my eyes and expectations.  I had drifted over to keyboards before that first Taylor; I am back to guitars and I play a lot more.  And, that is a very good thing.   

Best wishes,
Jim

[catan]

Quite simple really: It's my first guitar and the one I've been learning diligently on for the past year. It replaced a GPCPA4 rosewood which I had for a few months; a visual, but not sonic equivalent by any means

[TaylorGirl]

I began playing guitar on 9/11/73. One day in 2000 when I was at Elderly Instruments (my local store), I picked up a Baby Taylor. I thought it was a cool little guitar that would be a great travel companion when traveling from our home in downstate Michigan to the one up in Northern Michigan. My husband bought it for me. Who knew it would be the spark that ignited a whole inferno of Taylors for me. Thanks to my husband, I now have the newer Taylor travel guitar (GSM), but also have a couple full-sized Taylors that meet all my playing needs. I love everything about Taylor.

[DennisG]

What's notable about my first Taylor guitar (a 614 that I bought used at Guitar Center) is that I knew absolutely nothing about guitars when I bought it, and realized a few months later that it was the wrong guitar for me.  I sold it, then bought an 814.  I'm glad that I stuck with the brand.

[Jimmer]

My first Taylor is a GSM pictured to the left. I have had a desire to learn how to play a guitar for several years. My Wife bought me a Yamaha f 310
about 10 years ago. I will not say anything bad about the Yamaha brand. However: in hind site... it's a difficult guitar to learn on. When my fingers started to hurt i gave up. It was no fun. That and the fact I didn't know how to turn the darn thing. Every Thanksgiving my Brother-in-Law came down from NY and tuned it for me.

About a year ago my Wife bought me a new guitar... GSMini I bought a snark for tuning and I haven't put it down yet.
Taylor has me hook line and sinker. Now I'm looking to upgrade and it will be a Taylor.

[Tarekith]

I had been playing electric guitar for over 20 years, but the last 10 or so very rarely and only as needed when writing a particular song.  I wanted to have an outlet for music that didn't rely on electronics (I work mostly on electronic music), and I wanted an instrument that was so nice I'd feel guilty for not putting in my practice time again.

Went shopping for acoustic guitars and right away the Taylors grabbed me for how small they are and for how easy they are to play for an acoustic.  When I saw the 814ce there I knew it was the one, fit right when I held it and most important to me it was perfect.  I mean physically perfect, every inch of binding, every fret inlay, the wood grain, every part of the rosetta, perfect, not a single flaw anywhere.

I've always wanted a high end hand-crafted instrument, and even though the build process of Taylors is in some ways largey;y automated, it still has that attention to detail that you KNOW was associated with a real life person who knows their craft.  I don't look at it (or listen to it) and find little faults like I have with other guitars, it just does it's thing and gets out of the way of my ideas.

It was a lot of money, but I haven't once thought it wasn't completely worth every penny.

[ericjungemann]

My first Taylor was a lefty 555.
It was a revelation.
First of all, the easiest to play 12 string I had ever experienced.
A wonderful neck shape.
My first jumbo guitar (it seemed BIG!!!).
A wonderful lush sound.
Perfect details . . . fantastic production quality.
A very nice case.
Traded it a few years later for a W65.
Ironically, with my current guitar . . . 556ce, I have nearly the same guitar as the original but with all the improvements that track the history of Taylor . . . NT neck, current generation ES, wonderful finish and the great comfort and projection of the GS body shape. 
Eric

[MB]

 
When I started playing guitar in the mid to late 1960's, I learned on the old nylon string Dad had laying around the house. He didn't play much, but I couldn't keep my hands off that thing. The strings were 1/3" off the fret board and I just thought that's the way it was. Over the years I played many acoustics that were all plywood and eventually ended up playing electric guitar professionally in rock and funk bands. In 2001 I got a gig playing with a blues singer who had several songs in the set that called for an acoustic. So I went and got a Seagull with a cedar top. Had a guy set it up, put in a pickup and it played great! Still have it today! It's my campfire guitar now.

In 2005 I hung up the whole "band" thing and quit playing out. For a few years I just went fishing and didn't play at all. It was a nice break. Then I went full circle and got into playing acoustics again. In 2008 I went and got a Martin DM which still had plywood back and sides but a nice spruce top and good neck. At the time, I picked it out of a room full of Martin's that ranged from cheap to 4 figures. The DM sounded the best so I got it. In 2012 I got lucky and found a young woman who could sing and decided to do an acoustic duo. The gig bug bit me hard and when that happens...ya gotta go buy gear right!?

So I started researching acoustic guitars and landed on this forum one day. I ordered a 2012 GSe FLTD. It was breath-taking but  the mediums just freaked me out. At my age my hands didn't like playing 3 hours on it so I returned it and ordered an 814ce tobaccoburst. When that thing arrived, I was screwed. My name is Mike....and I'm a Taylor-aholic. My last purchase was....

I have you people to blame for my addiction! Well....and Taylor Guitars. They play and sound so good, a far cry from the nylon string I started on! I discovered that I really need the 1 3/4" neck width. The Martin DM has the skinny 1 11/16" neck and I don't play it much now that I have a couple of world class Taylor guitars. Thank you all for all of your help, whether it was my post or one of your posts I read early on...it was you guys who helped educate and guide me thru the process. I learned about shapes and woods and neck widths and finishes and strings and slotted head stocks and humidity and all sorts of things I had never before cared about. So of all the things, this forum was VERY significant when it comes to the significance of my first Taylor. Thank you for enabling me!  

[DennisG]

So I started researching acoustic guitars and landed on this forum one day. I ordered a 2012 GCe FLTD. It was breath-taking but  the mediums just freaked me out.

I didn't know Taylor ever made a grand concert that required medium-gauge strings.  Did they do that ... or did you make a typo?

[MB]

Yyupp...it was a GS. Typo...

[cpmusic]

The significance was that it played like butter and sounded great. This was before Taylor was a major player, and the guitar was used, but there's nothing more to it than playing easy and sounding great.