Thank you all, and especially those of you who are manually monitoring, for making this list.
I am very happy to be joining a group of people share a love of Taylor guitars. I am writing to you from our little tea and koa forest on Hawai`i Island (where Taylor gets all of its koa: have a look at
www.BigIslandTea.com if you are interested). This is my fourth attempt at learning guitar and I believe that the responsibility for me sticking with it this time belongs to a 114e. The first three times I attempted to learn I did so with the cheapest instrument I could find and quickly threw in the towel. When I turned 51, coming up on 6 years ago, my Sweetie encouraged me to get a good guitar to try again. Well, you all know what happened. Since then I have loved the learning to play the guitar... I'm impatient with learning, but I pick up a guitar just about every day and I'm working through some barre chord phobias. I am also fascinated by guitar construction (even trying my own hand at building a "Super-Strat" and a "Parts-caster" with what's left (LOL).
In the past almost 6 years, I have been extraordinarily lucky to find a gorgeous 2006 T-5 Koa. This is a breath-taking guitar that I bought to memorialize my music teacher Grandma but alas, I find myself wanting to learn accoustic better before I get into electric. A year later, I found a Stunning 2004 Custom "Super-sonic" 954 ce. Wow! I traded the 114 for a really pretty all koa Washburn comfort series guitar. A surprising guitar given the price that I will be selling to make room in the cabinet. I also purchased a really cool Washburn parlor (R320SWRK). Also very affordable, surprisingly thunderous voice for it's size and beautiful solid rosewood and torrified spruce. Washburn used one of their guitar blueprints from the early 20th century, with some modification, to build it. I would eventually like to replace this one with 900 series or maybe a PS (Mr Powers, are you listening?) parlor ... maybe sinker/rosewood? or sinker/koa? Does the 717 fit in there somewhere? I bought a very interesting Dean Zelinsky La Voce (sorta like a Les Paul) with stereo output and humbucker splitter, and a Mexican black Stratocaster that I am having some fun with (rosewood neck and vintage Gotoh tuners to start). Last summer I purchased a really amazing 2018 612 ce 12-fret. Amazing burnt brown sugar rub into the stunningly figured maple and torrefied spruce top. I love playing this guitar as it enabled me to feel comfortable with barre chords. This summer I found a guitar that I did not think I would own and feel so lucky, inspired and startled by a BE K14ce. This guitar is a whole different game. The build detail is incredible and a little understated, well as understated as you can be with paua vine insert in the fretboard and trim and , well you know. I will share close-ups of the Taylors.
Mahalo for the chance to introduce myself. I am thrilled to have found y'all and look forward to learning and participating. Aloha, kilinoecam
(if interested, "kilinoe" means "misty rain" in Hawaiian and describes the predominate rain patterns here at 3,000', literally in the clouds that come off the ocean, on the slope of the Mauna Loa volcano)