What attracted you to Taylor?

[Mark Stone]

Growing up in a family of guitar players Martin guitars were held in the highest esteem, but nobody owned one! We were a poor family of guitar players.  

I learned to play on my mom's Ovation and my first acoustic guitar was a used Takamine. I didn't care what I played, so long as I could play. I'd purchased a few acoustic guitar magazines and so of course I'd heard of Taylor off and on, but just as another brand name of guitars that floated around. From then on, I was typically drawn to a guitar if I knew someone I enjoyed also played that brand of guitar. John Lennon played an Epiphone once so by golly I got an Epiphone replica. Same thing happened with Taylor. A certain singer/songwriter played (from all appearances) a 314ce and I love his music, so that was the first thing that drew me to Taylor. The clincher was actually hearing Taylors being played on stage. I recall vividly listening to someone play and thinking "Why doesn't my guitar sound that good? What's he playing? Oh, Taylor. Cool." From then on it was sort of a mission to own one.

Now when my extended family gets together to play, we still have the beater guitars, but (after years of saving!) we now have a couple Martins and a couple of Taylors. My Taylor gets plenty of "Hey, can I try that?" love.

Great narrative. Thanks for sharing 

[mgap]

Growing up in a family of guitar players Martin guitars were held in the highest esteem, but nobody owned one! We were a poor family of guitar players.  

I learned to play on my mom's Ovation and my first acoustic guitar was a used Takamine. I didn't care what I played, so long as I could play. I'd purchased a few acoustic guitar magazines and so of course I'd heard of Taylor off and on, but just as another brand name of guitars that floated around. From then on, I was typically drawn to a guitar if I knew someone I enjoyed also played that brand of guitar. John Lennon played an Epiphone once so by golly I got an Epiphone replica. Same thing happened with Taylor. A certain singer/songwriter played (from all appearances) a 314ce and I love his music, so that was the first thing that drew me to Taylor. The clincher was actually hearing Taylors being played on stage. I recall vividly listening to someone play and thinking "Why doesn't my guitar sound that good? What's he playing? Oh, Taylor. Cool." From then on it was sort of a mission to own one.

Now when my extended family gets together to play, we still have the beater guitars, but (after years of saving!) we now have a couple Martins and a couple of Taylors. My Taylor gets plenty of "Hey, can I try that?" love.

All that is so true.  But I still run into the Taylor haters(I hope you don't)every now and then, but often folks like to try my Taylors.  Typically they like or love them.

[458e]

I was never a Taylor fan, never liked the skinny neck. But last year I was looking for a nice 12 string. Tried Guild, Martin, Breedlove, Furch and a few other. I always came back to the Taylor 458. Bought it and ordered a custom 856c without the ES2. Received it this January.
Played yesterday the new K14 with V bracing, I was very impressed.

[wooglins]

A GA4 that had amazing tone.  Took it to a really great Luthier named John Levan and his setup adjusted the neck to fit my beginner needs, no sanding down the saddle or any of that hog wash.

[sergeko]

It all began with a GS Mini. I was blown away by the sound and the playability.
I then sold it to finance a 114 which I finally traded in for my current magnificent 314 which has an absolute killer sound.

[deepermagic]

Growing up in a family of guitar players Martin guitars were held in the highest esteem, but nobody owned one! We were a poor family of guitar players.  

I learned to play on my mom's Ovation and my first acoustic guitar was a used Takamine. I didn't care what I played, so long as I could play. I'd purchased a few acoustic guitar magazines and so of course I'd heard of Taylor off and on, but just as another brand name of guitars that floated around. From then on, I was typically drawn to a guitar if I knew someone I enjoyed also played that brand of guitar. John Lennon played an Epiphone once so by golly I got an Epiphone replica. Same thing happened with Taylor. A certain singer/songwriter played (from all appearances) a 314ce and I love his music, so that was the first thing that drew me to Taylor. The clincher was actually hearing Taylors being played on stage. I recall vividly listening to someone play and thinking "Why doesn't my guitar sound that good? What's he playing? Oh, Taylor. Cool." From then on it was sort of a mission to own one.

Now when my extended family gets together to play, we still have the beater guitars, but (after years of saving!) we now have a couple Martins and a couple of Taylors. My Taylor gets plenty of "Hey, can I try that?" love.

All that is so true.  But I still run into the Taylor haters(I hope you don't)every now and then, but often folks like to try my Taylors.  Typically they like or love them.

The internet is a funny place, in real life I've never run into any Taylor haters. I've encountered them online (not here!) so I guess it's a thing, but every guitar player I've ever met face to face or have had the privilege to swap guitars for a spell, have never said a bad thing. But I also live in the Mid-west where everyone is pretty cool...

[mgap]

But I also live in the Mid-west where everyone is pretty cool...

I think we are pretty laid back here in the Rocky Mountains also.  Then again we still hang horse, cow and bike thieves here.   

[TaylorGirl]

But I also live in the Mid-west where everyone is pretty cool...

I agree! 

[Mark Stone]

The internet is a funny place, in real life I've never run into any Taylor haters. I've encountered them online (not here!) so I guess it's a thing, but every guitar player I've ever met face to face or have had the privilege to swap guitars for a spell, have never said a bad thing. But I also live in the Mid-west where everyone is pretty cool...

Taylor Hating is limited to competing forums, methinks. But IRL (In Real Life) my experience echoes yours - Taylor is loved and respected. But if you read in the Gibson forums, of course other makes (especially innovative companies like Taylor) are gonna get juiced lol . . .

[Christhee68]

My grandfather was a bluegrass player and he played Martins. I figured there wasn't really any other choice. I always wanted a Martin, but I always figured they'd be out of reach for me.

A few years ago I started getting some paying gigs and figured I needed a professional instrument. I never dreamed that I'd ever be able to have more than one guitar, so I started looking for that one quality, professional quality workhorse guitar. I kept seeing Taylors around and I always picked up Wood and Steel and my local shop whenever I could. Wood and Steel exposed me to Taylor's philosophies, build techniques, etc. and I figured if I was only going to have one guitar for the rest of my life, I should get a Taylor with an NT neck. After several years of looking, playing, plotting, etc. I finally convinced my wife that I "needed" a 314ce and ended up getting a like new used one on ebay for a steal.

As a side note, since then I've also added three Martins to my "collection" but that's a whole 'nother story!

[mindhorn]

I had an usa martin dcx1e, which i cherished for about a decade. smelt lovely even 10 years on. Eventually however it developed an annoying internal buzz when I played any note above the third fret on the bass E string. I tried everything to resolve it but I think it was a loose internal brace. I didn't want to ebay it because of the risk of it being seriously broken in transit and also that the new owner might find the buzz annoying too. One day I had a plumber come round and we got talking about guitars and he really liked my martin (despite the buzz) and offered me way over the odds cash for it there and then.
I wanted another martin but the similar ones to my old one were now made in mexico and had richlite fretboards and bridges, which i knew most local luthiers would never want to work on and I had originally had one of those before owning the dcx1e and the bridge had lifted off the soundboard and so I had the purchase upgraded to the dcx1e.
Having never owned a Taylor before I was blown away when i tried one out even though it's only a 114ce. A different sound from my old martin but very unique. So bought it. I tried lots of different makes, Faith, Ovation Yamaha. Seagull etc. but they all sounded a bit characterless in comparison, despite some being all solid wood. I still would like an all wood martin or perhaps even a larrivee' but for now I am content with the 114ce and don't see that having any competition until I can raise the serious money necessary. It will be good to see how the 114ce sounds a few years down the line. It plays really nice, if a little slightly choked in the upper registers but then so did all the other makes I tried in a similar price bracket. 

[Mark Stone]

I had an usa martin dcx1e, which i cherished for about a decade. smelt lovely even 10 years on. Eventually however it developed an annoying internal buzz when I played any note above the third fret on the bass E string. I tried everything to resolve it but I think it was a loose internal brace. I didn't want to ebay it because of the risk of it being seriously broken in transit and also that the new owner might find the buzz annoying too. One day I had a plumber come round and we got talking about guitars and he really liked my martin (despite the buzz) and offered me way over the odds cash for it there and then.
I wanted another martin but the similar ones to my old one were now made in mexico and had richlite fretboards and bridges, which i knew most local luthiers would never want to work on and I had originally had one of those before owning the dcx1e and the bridge had lifted off the soundboard and so I had the purchase upgraded to the dcx1e.
Having never owned a Taylor before I was blown away when i tried one out even though it's only a 114ce. A different sound from my old martin but very unique. So bought it. I tried lots of different makes, Faith, Ovation Yamaha. Seagull etc. but they all sounded a bit characterless in comparison, despite some being all solid wood. I still would like an all wood martin or perhaps even a larrivee' but for now I am content with the 114ce and don't see that having any competition until I can raise the serious money necessary. It will be good to see how the 114ce sounds a few years down the line. It plays really nice, if a little slightly choked in the upper registers but then so did all the other makes I tried in a similar price bracket.

Like me, attracted to Taylor because even the modest end of the line is competitive and has personality - - 

[jrporter]

It was a copy of Acoustic Guitar magazine that came out in 2006. I'd never heard of Taylor guitars, but read a review of a limited edition 400 series with walnut back & sides and maple binding. I just had to have one. The rest is history, as they say....

[Earl]

I was aware of Taylor guitars back in the early 90's, but it took quite a while before I bought one.  My father grew up in the hills of Virginia, where bluegrass was born.  So Martin dreadnoughts were "it" as far as high-end guitars, followed very distantly by Gibson J-45.  After college and now with some income, I went down the Martin road too.  First it was a mid-80's Sigma DR-28 clone that was really quite nice.  When it was clear that the guitar thing was not a passing phase, that was followed by a real D-28, then a custom shop J-40 intended to be a "lifetime" guitar.

I kept reading Wood & Steel when I found copies in stores (they were newsprint in those days) and was duly impressed by the innovation and especially the NT neck system.  And the great setups / playability.  In 2001, I was visiting a shop in Fairbanks, AK during a business trip and played what ended up being my ovangkol 414ce.  It stood out above all the other acoustic guitars in the store that day, including higher numbered Taylor's, and I bought it.  That 414 was my primary gigging guitar for a long time. 

Fast forward a few more years and the Martin's started bothering my fretting hand -- something still undefined about the Modified Low Oval neck carve along with the 1-11/16" nut width.  I can play Taylor (or several other brands) for hours at a time, but more than 20 minutes on the typical modern Martin neck leaves my left hand aching for hours.  So all the Martin's were sold off, to be replaced with a variety of Taylor's -- nine at one point.  And now I've gotten into low maintenance carbon fiber guitars as we look toward retirement and travel, and most of the wooden guitars are slowly going away in an effort to simplify.

[Mark Stone]

It was a copy of Acoustic Guitar magazine that came out in 2006. I'd never heard of Taylor guitars, but read a review of a limited edition 400 series with walnut back & sides and maple binding. I just had to have one. The rest is history, as they say....

. . . and quite a history at that, by looking at your sig!