Unofficial Taylor Guitar Forum - UTGF

Night Moves....Bob Seeger

I hope this post is helpful but all I can say is that I own 5 Taylors now but won't be buying any more.

Ditto!  I have owned ten Taylor guitars over the years, and now down to only one, an all koa 424 LTD with with ES1.3.  My last new purchase was fall 2014 and that was a 615 as NOS.  Love the necks and build quality, love the build innovation, but the pickups -- meh after ES1.3.  I simply cannot trust the ES2 system, plus I no longer gig so don't even need a pickup.  And if I did, there are already guitars on hand with functional electronics.  There might be some temptation to purchase a new model like the GP if all models weren't infested with ES2 electronics -- the bed bugs of the acoustic guitar world.

I do not wish them ill, but Taylor clearly has turned away from my needs and desires.  It's not clear who has outgrown whom.   

It's an interesting video, thanks for highlighting it.

My main interest was the comments on pick-ups, having myself been completely turned off by my ES2 experiences. On this subject, I thought the presenter was fairly superficial in his treatment of the subject in that he glossed over the ES1 period, with no mention of the changes made by Taylor before moving (disastrously in my humble opinion) to ES2.

My first Taylor, a 614ce, boasted the original RS (AA batteries) and did provide a bright sound. I'd graduated from Ovation, so I found this brightness very attractive, as did many of my musician friends. the only problem I experienced, which was mentioned by the presenter of the review, was the AA batteries and the battery compartment, which I had to have cleaned and then replaced. The move to ES2/3 solved one problem but caused another, in that the carrier was too small for available 9v batteries - as a UK resident, I had to order batteries from the US, which, in the early days, were slightly smaller than those available in Europe. The move away from the original ES pick-up also resulted in a reduction in brightness, but I still found it an attractive proposition.

I had the misfortune to replace ES with ES2 on my 614ce many years ago. It's subjective, I know, but that guitar has been in it's case ever since then. I've tried it a few times but it just doesn't pass muster and it will never be appreciated by me. What are the problems? Complete lack of any 'character' in the tones available and over-amplification of physical contact sounds (like touching the body of the guitar while finger-picking).I tried to sell it on - it was in the local (Taylor approved) guitar shop for a year or more with not one offer in all that time. Judging from the posts on this forum over the years, ES2 has been a disaster for many Taylor fans, or should I say 'ex-fans', but it doesn't appear to have done their business any great harm - so maybe I'm wrong??!!

I hope this post is helpful but all I can say is that I own 5 Taylors now but won't be buying any more.

Not sure if anyone has seen this video, but I found it to be a fairly objective and well thought-out response to some common objections that some people have to Taylor Guitars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agWtmEVgFZg

Be interested to hear what others think about this.
-Jack

I have yet to try the new XS strings.  Maybe I should get a couple of sets to try.  They sent me a set of XT strings (now discontinued) and I was very unimpressed by them.  My string box has at least a dozen sets of Elixirs ready to use, and I don't change strings all that often.  It will take years to use up my current stock.