Marketing vs. Improvements

[MB]

Well, when I received the latest Wood & Steel, after looking through it I recall thinking to myself "Wow, this is one big, colorful, beautifully photographed.............sales brochure".

W&S is an elegantly produced piece. I'll bet it cost them quite a bit to have that put together.
Then they send it out in the mail to all of us Taylor owners! Like we need that!
But I for one drool waiting for the next one to arrive and I devour it like a bowl of tater tots!
I'd never heard of W&S until I bought a Taylor. If this is a sales brochure, then the marketing folks at Taylor are missing the boat!
They should make it available to the guitar playing masses....but they don't....do they?

[jerrytubes]

They should make it available to the guitar playing masses....but they don't....do they?

I've heard others here at UTGF say they have seen them in guitar stores.  I, myself, have not.

Also, I didn't mean to sound naïve about Wood & Steel not being a sales brochure.  It's just that the latest one seems to be pretty much only that.

[ataylor]

They should make it available to the guitar playing masses....but they don't....do they?

I've heard others here at UTGF say they have seen them in guitar stores.  I, myself, have not.

Also, I didn't mean to sound naïve about Wood & Steel not being a sales brochure.  It's just that the latest one seems to be pretty much only that.

My favorite guitar shops back in Utah and here in the Seattle area have tended to have them, along with the Taylor catalogs back when they did that separate to the W&S.

A few years back they merged the annual or semi-annual catalog with W&S -- now the Winter issue that comes out around the first of the year essentially serves as their catalog of offerings for the year along with a little bit of their regular columns and a small feature or two.

As a designer I love the print format, and even though I tend to prefer the aesthetics of some of their advertising and materials from 8-10 years ago (the 2005 catalog is a masterpiece, I'm sad to have lost mine), they understand the power of good branding and have definitely used it to their advantage.

[michaelw]

They should make it available to the guitar playing masses....but they don't....do they?

they do
http://www.taylorguitars.com/support/owners-registration

i'm not 100% sure if owning a Taylor is a prerequisite, but one could
always call Taylor customer service & ask to be added to their mailing list
http://www.taylorguitars.com/support
http://www.taylorguitars.com/dealers/taylor-in-europe

I've heard others here at UTGF say they have seen them in guitar stores.  I, myself, have not.

Also, I didn't mean to sound naïve about Wood & Steel not being a sales brochure.  It's just that the latest one seems to be pretty much only that.

you need to get out more often, imho

the winter issue of W&S has been Taylor's "guitar guide" for
the past several years, in lieu of printing a dedicated catalog -
the last Taylor catalog was Guitar. Life. back in 07

martin's sounding board is produced on a sporadic basis, at best, &
they release periodic addendums, often for just one model -
a lot of $ is spent, trees & ink used in printing & shipping single sheets

[Kim]

I got to play an 814FE today.  It was okay, I wouldn't say it is a huge improvement over the previous 814, in fact to be honest I felt like the old 814 was better because the old one had more shimmer and clarity. The new one is maybe better for digging in but the old one is better for relaxing strumming on a Sunday afternoon. The new one looked a lot better though. It didn't particularly make me want to get out my wallet but it was nice to be able to finally try it.

[joshsimpson79]

I got to play an 814FE today.  It was okay, I wouldn't say it is a huge improvement over the previous 814, in fact to be honest I felt like the old 814 was better because the old one had more shimmer and clarity. The new one is maybe better for digging in but the old one is better for relaxing strumming on a Sunday afternoon. The new one looked a lot better though. It didn't particularly make me want to get out my wallet but it was nice to be able to finally try it.

What looked better about it, in your opinion?

[Earl]

Well, when I received the latest Wood & Steel, after looking through it I recall thinking to myself "Wow, this is one big, colorful, beautifully photographed.............sales brochure".

I agree.  I have also noticed that whatever is featured in W&S is "vapor ware" for a while.  It is always months before any of them appear in most of the stores that I can visit in person, and sometimes even on line too.  You get all excited to see something and then you cannot for months.  So I always take new issues with a grain of salt.  I understand printing lead times and time needed to fill up the distribution pipeline and get stock into stores.  But more often than not, by the time the new instrument is actually available to demo, my GAS for it has passed.  Not to say that I have asked to be taken off the W&S mailing list or anything drastic.  Nothing wrong with a quarterly dose of guitar porn (the wife's phrase).

[tedtan]

I got to play an 814FE today.  It was okay, I wouldn't say it is a huge improvement over the previous 814, in fact to be honest I felt like the old 814 was better because the old one had more shimmer and clarity. The new one is maybe better for digging in but the old one is better for relaxing strumming on a Sunday afternoon. The new one looked a lot better though. It didn't particularly make me want to get out my wallet but it was nice to be able to finally try it.

I haven't played the new 814 yet, but I did get a chance to play a 816FE. I didn't have my guitar to do a back to back comparison, but I agree that there wasn't a big difference. The only difference I noticed over my 2010 814ce was a little more low end, which I would expect anyway given the larger body size of the guitar I was playing. I think the biggest difference people are hearing in these new instruments over the previous version is in the strings. I put phosphor bronze strings on my 814ce the first string change and have kept them on since, and get a similar tone to the new instruments. But I can go back to the more traditional, shimmery sound simply by putting a set of Elixer or D'Addario 80/20 strings back on it when desired. Strings play a bigger role in a guitar's tone than many people realize.

The darker colors and Rosewood all around made it more appealing IMO. I didn't like the pickguard though, it was very thick and obviously stuck out, unlike a plastic one which feels like it is part of the guitar.

I can't say I was impressed with the new look. I generally like figured woods, but the streaked ebony fingerboard didn't work for me on the guitar I saw in person. And I'm not  a big fan of the new inlays or the plain maple binding, either. But the worst part, visually, was that horrid looking pick guard. It looked like it was 1/4" thick and rough sanded to 40 grit and just stuck on the guitar. Of course it wasn't really that bad, but it stuck out like a sore thumb when I saw it. I think this would be a great addition if it were (a lot) thinner and polished more, like a rosewood fingerboard would be, but I wasn't impressed with the current implementation at all.

[Tarekith]

I'm new to Taylor's having bought my 814 late in 2013.  More than a few times as I've read the new W&S and all the new info on redesign I found myself thinking "wow, I had no idea Taylor was so into the hype machine".

Not that they didn't make some nice changes to the new 814s, but it did feel a bit like being hit over the head with it repeatedly.  They really want people to know the new 814s are supposedly better!

As for the differences between the new and old 814, I was definitely curious about it as I got my 2013 for such a deal I could sell it for a profit and get a new one if I wanted.  The new ones feel a lot lighter in the hand, and there's definitely a darker hint to the tone.  I didn't think it was a huge difference personally, and some of the new aesthetic difference just didn't do it for me (new binding and that pick guard) enough to consider getting a new one.

I recently have been trying various other strings on my 814, and that had almost the same difference in tone as the newer 814.  Not the same KIND of tone, but the difference was about on that magnitude.

[dank]

I am new to this site. I spend most of my time at The Gear Page and to a lesser extent, The Acoustic Guitar Forum. I've been playing guitars since The Beatles arrived in New York and have owned about 200 high end guitars since that time, about two dozen of which have been Taylors.

One thing I have learned over time is take all opinions with a grain of salt. Several years ago, I met a fellow AGF forum member at a local guitar shop-Acoustic Roots. This guy had a huge post count and commented on very guitar ever built. He loved all of the cute words-organic, woody, sweet, round, etc. personally, I never really understood what he was referring to; I simply judge by my ears.

Anyway, there he is, at Acoustic Roots, and I suggest that we jam a bit. The fellow working there handed us two nice guitars. I remember mine, because I bought it a Froggy Bottom Dread. Well, lo and behold, this guy can't play for crap! He couldn't follow a simple 12-bar blues line. The so-called acoustic guitar expert and connoisseur. Ha!

So...YOU play the guitar, and YOU be judge. Only YOU know what sound or tone floats your boat.  As for me, I have a 2014 818e First Edition on the FedEx truck coming my way any day now. I could care less what anyone else says about it. Should be fun.

[TaylorGirl]

Dang, dank....you have had a lot of high end guitars over the years! A lot of Taylors too!

[Jersey tuning]

I seem to have wannabee versions of Dank's guitars--except for Froggy, of course.......

[jjrpilot-admin]

So...YOU play the guitar, and YOU be judge. Only YOU know what sound or tone floats your boat.  As for me, I have a 2014 818e First Edition on the FedEx truck coming my way any day now. I could care less what anyone else says about it. Should be fun.

First of all, Welcome!  Glad you're here friend!  2ndly, I agree with your statement quoted above.

The new 800's series I'm sure are wonderful!  (Can't wait to try one) but I don't think it's all hype either.  Shoot if I redesigned something I would want people to know as well.  The new series isn't made to replace all the previous Taylors ever made but rather just to add another "flavor" of Taylor if you will. 

PS: Keep us posted about that new 818e!   

[dank]

Thank you, sir. I will. Of course, it'll be my opinion, only!

[milo_otis]

I certainly will, if I can find any in an one hour radius. I've been to 10 different Taylor dealers and none of them have the new 800 series.

a call to Taylor customer service would probably help in finding the dealer
closest to your location that has the model you may be wanting to try
http://www.taylorguitars.com/support

Four weeks ago, that was the first place I went to find out who was carrying the new 800 series and the reason for all of my driving lately. Mostly every place here in MA, CT and NH is waiting on them. They all claim that they are on order or were ordered for someone who already has it on hold. Yesterday, I found a place with a exception.....I was able to find and play a 818e and a 816ce.

I got to play an 814FE today.  It was okay, I wouldn't say it is a huge improvement over the previous 814, in fact to be honest I felt like the old 814 was better because the old one had more shimmer and clarity. The new one is maybe better for digging in but the old one is better for relaxing strumming on a Sunday afternoon. The new one looked a lot better though. It didn't particularly make me want to get out my wallet but it was nice to be able to finally try it.

I haven't played the new 814 yet, but I did get a chance to play a 816FE. I didn't have my guitar to do a back to back comparison, but I agree that there wasn't a big difference. The only difference I noticed over my 2010 814ce was a little more low end, which I would expect anyway given the larger body size of the guitar I was playing. I think the biggest difference people are hearing in these new instruments over the previous version is in the strings. I put phosphor bronze strings on my 814ce the first string change and have kept them on since, and get a similar tone to the new instruments. But I can go back to the more traditional, shimmery sound simply by putting a set of Elixer or D'Addario 80/20 strings back on it when desired. Strings play a bigger role in a guitar's tone than many people realize.

I very much agree with that. My opinion is that they sound good for what they are. They weighed less with a slightly darker sound, a little less chime and were maybe ever so slightly more responsive. That being said, I liked the 2012 816ce that I played next to it a good amount more. It just seemed like the guitar itself though slightly less responsive was livelier.

I agree the strings could have a lot to do with it. I could only compare the 2014 818e to a 618e and 518e. I'm not a fan of a guitar that big anyways, but I thought the 818e sounded like a big guitar, the 518e sounded nice and balanced and I loved the 618e since it had some cut to it without being thin and that body size just added some great bass and midrange warmth. So, the previous 800's weren't my cup of tea and the new 800's are even less my cup of tea.


In my original question, I'm pretty sure that I didn't use the word "hype" after marketing, but I was probably implying the feeling of being hit over the head with the winter W&S and the website and the number of changes to the 800s. To be sure Bob Taylor has reason to be proud of Andy Powers and his approach and breath of fresh air and the direction of the company. So....I now am wondering if I've read into things too much and though the 800's, are IMO, being (over)promoted, it's really about Bob promoting how great Andy is and that the company and it's direction, dedication and passion are safe and secure for the next 40 years.