Sorry for the slow response to your questions (and now this long post) - I wasn't expecting such a response! I chose fellrunner on a whim - I am not very imaginative when it comes to names! My other passion as well as playing guitar is fell running (you could call it my mid life crisis). This involves running ridiculously long distances (I specialise in anything over 20 miles often navigating with map and compass) over wild British mountains. It is usually wet, windy and muddy and utterly bonkers, but it gets me into some stunning scenery and is very addictive in a masochistic kind of way.
My local guitar dealer used to stock quite a few Taylors and I bought the 712 from them 3 years ago 2nd hand but pristine - having said that I was pretty naive about top end guitars at the time and did not twig it was actually a 2001 model (they lead me to believe it was a year old!. As you can probably tell from the guitars I own I play mostly finger style and it sounds great unplugged but I spent the next 3 years buying yet more gear (Equaliser, Spectrum DI etc.) and it never worked plugged in on stage - I always got uncontrollable feedback. I eventually controlled it with a Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker at the expense of purity of acoustic tone. Then the 2010 3rd generation ES started getting mostly good reviews and since I had decided to send the 712 back to Amsterdam to have a problem with it's finish repaired (which they did for no charge) I decided to bite the bullet and have an ES retrofit for £250. This has revolutionised the guitar (in my opinion). It now sounds superb plugged in and is in many ways the best of both worlds - a guitar old enough to be really well "opened up" but with modern electronics
As part of my decision process to upgrade to the ES I went to Rich Tone Music with all my stuff to compare it with a new ES equipped guitar - they had an 812ce in stock and yes you've guessed it, I ended up buying the 812 as well. It is even better than the 712 and I fell in love... To be fair my old gigging guitar - a trusty 25 year old Ovation is now almost terminally knackered - so I now have the 712 for gigging in a loud (ageing!) rock band without feedback issues and the 812 for "best" I also bought an AER alpha plus to complete the setup. The only problem is that I think I've nearly singlehandedly lifted the UK out of recession and owe my wife so many favours I'll not be able to refuse her anything for the rest of our lives. But it was worth it and the 2 guitars should last longer than I will, so I shouldn't ever have to buy any more.......?
Phil
