some history concerning Doyle, the DDSM model Taylor, and me.
a smallish mom/pop store in asheville NC(Musiciansworkshop) was where i first learned of Taylor guitars.
i had been playing around 6 months and had a teacher, had a Guild GAD30 and the instrument was killing me. the strings were so high it was unreal-but at the time i didn't know that. the local shop(in my home town of Virginia) sold the import Guilds and Alvarez. The shop owner had/and still has, his actions very high. He does not advocate dropping the action or adjusting relief. I remember the GAD30 came with a truss rod wrench(allen head) and he removed it from the case the day i purchased it and said he was doing me a favor. now i know different. but at the time i was reading and looking(didn't know about forums at the time) and decided to check out Martins and Larrivee. I didn't care for any of the Martins(again, high action and dead rusted strings everywhere i went) and found the closest shop for Larrivee to be Musicians Workshop-about 2 hours away. I made the trek.
I arrived and went into the sectioned off room containing Larrivee and this brand i knew nothing about-Taylor. after 2-3 hours of playing every Larrivee they had(and only knowing some chords and 1 song at the time) i just wasn't feeling it. I was getting ready to leave when the store worker came in and said i should try a taylor-i wasn't too interested as i was pretty brain dead from the already mega session i had went thru-not to mention my newbie fingers were quite sore. i aimlessly removed a taylor from the wall and sat down. played it and went WOW! it was like magic, it felt so good, sounded so good. Unfortunately i had to leave immediately to drive the 2 hours and arrive at my work. i took a Wood and Steel copy and some other info and knew i would be back in a few days. as i was leaving, the shop worker, his name was "shua"(short for Joshua), told me i should come that saturday to see a man named Doyle Dykes. "shua" said he would hold me 2 tickets as they were limited to around 70(the event to be held at the store). he told me i would be blown away and that they were getting more Taylors in for the show. I was hooked and baited. "shua" was at the time dating Haley(Doyles daughter), there is probably a Youtube of them both if you type in Haley Dykes and shua(maybe Joshua).
I returned that saturday and brought the girlfriend. Shua met me at the door and handed me ticket # 1 and #2. i got us two front row seats(mistake #1). and went back into the guitar room with all the taylors. folks were coming in and the room had about 5-6 people in and out at all times. it was hard to hear well with everyone playing/talking, and i was trying to figure out all the different models. i then saw it. the DDSM. they had brought in 3 of them, one solid black(loved it), one natural, and one orange(which was shua's that he would receive that night). it got near concert time and everyone went to thier seats-i found it to be the time to head back to the guitar room to do more private time with the Taylors. i was in there with a 312 and i'll never forget the short stocky man walk in and sit down near me. he was drinking a bottled water and looked over and started talking to me. complimented my playing-i told him i had only been at it for 6 months or so(was playing Dust in the Wind-well, attempting). the man pulled off a taylor from the wall and show'd me a series of notes and chords for that song. he thanked me for my company and walked out-turned before leaving and said, "those Taylors are real nice guitars" and i agreed. he could play really good and i liked it that he played with no pick. i heard the music start and hung the 312 back up-was looking for the DDSM's but they were all gone. i went back to my seat and low and behold the man who had been in the room with me was Doyle himself(i had never seen the man till then). of course he played awesomely and LOUD(i wanted front row seats to watch his hands). he ended up playing the black and natural DDSM, shua and Haley came on stage and all three played(shua had his orange DDSM), Haley had her mandolin.
After the concert i knew i wanted a DDSM, the black one had been sold so i took the natural.
so here i ended up with a stage monster guitar and didn't know it. came home and loved the feel and shorter depth, but in the end it just wasn't an outright acoustic guitar like i was wanting-i traded it, but it was a very cool guitar.
so thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
d
