To be honest I always found that Taylors sounded thin and weak the further you play up the neck (i.e., 5th fret onwards). E.g., If I capo on a seven, the cowboy chords have much less sustain compared to playing the cowboy chords without a capo. This was not an issue I had with other higher-end guitars, such as Bourgeois and Santa Cruz. Whether or not this was due to Taylor's bracing, relief route, or whatever, V-Class finally resolves this issue, however, at the cost of bass.
No doubt in a few years' time, Taylor will come out with "Revamped" V-Class bracing. Just like how there are many variations of X-bracing, there will be variations of V-Class bracing, and no doubt consumers will be "upgrading" and Taylor continuing to meet sales targets. V-Class is certainly not a short-term business plan for Taylor, their marketing department will have planned this in advance, and it's up to Andy to continue to do the R&D in order to be able to revamp V-Class every few years so that people will keep recycling their guitar stables.
I for one am out though - I'm tired of the constant "next best thing", when certain other brands of guitars that I consider Taylor is unable to match already meet my needs.
