Hi Folks,hi John,
I'm wondering if someone in our group can help educate me on Taylor rosettes? As I contemplate a possible BTO for someday in the future, I wanted to better understand more on this subject. On my 612ce, I have an Abalone rosette that is the typical whitish/silvery color. However, I have seen some Taylors with extremely colorful rosettes, some green and also blue, (like this one, which I really, really like):
Is this blue rosette material also Abalone, except blue Abalone, or is it a different material entirely? Also, is rosette material color something you can specify when ordering a BTO guitar? If so, I would want a blue one like this.
Additionally, I would be very interested in a general overview of non-wood rosettes - are all of these Abalone, or are there different types of materials used to make these colorful rosettes besides Abalone? Thanks in advance for any info you all provide!
Good information from everyone. Taylor is not currently providing the Green Heart on the BTO program. In it's place is Paua shell. The first photograph in the thread is Paua. Pretty much like Green Heart, but much bluer. The Presentation Grade guitars and specific inlays that include Green Heart still have Green Heart, but the BTO options for top trim and rosettes are Paua. The Green Heart (and I think Paua too) are a result of selecting the highly colored abalone (or Paua) shell pieces to intensify the color and reduce the neutral or white colored pieces. There is a pretty wide color spectrum in the regular rosettes and I have seen many that are as intense as the Green Heart/Paua. I hope this helps. JimJim, are you serious?!! And how does the price compare (without mentioning specific dollar amounts)...is the blue Paua the same price as the green heart, or is it more? Last year when I was asking about the blue Paua shell, the cost was considerably more. Is that still the case?
Good information from everyone. Taylor is not currently providing the Green Heart on the BTO program. In it's place is Paua shell. The first photograph in the thread is Paua. Pretty much like Green Heart, but much bluer. The Presentation Grade guitars and specific inlays that include Green Heart still have Green Heart, but the BTO options for top trim and rosettes are Paua. The Green Heart (and I think Paua too) are a result of selecting the highly colored abalone (or Paua) shell pieces to intensify the color and reduce the neutral or white colored pieces. There is a pretty wide color spectrum in the regular rosettes and I have seen many that are as intense as the Green Heart/Paua. I hope this helps. JimJim, are you serious?!! And how does the price compare (without mentioning specific dollar amounts)...is the blue Paua the same price as the green heart, or is it more? Last year when I was asking about the blue Paua shell, the cost was considerably more. Is that still the case?
If it's the same price as the Green Heart, then grrrrr. I really wanted the blue. :o
Cindy,
I remember. You were ahead of the curve. No surprise there... When you were looking, Paua was barely on the horizon and doing individual guitars at that point was a problem because of the rarity of the order(s). It cost a lot more to do it that way and the extra cast was expressed in the cost to the dealer and the customer. As Green heart became scarcer this year, doing Paua became cost effective because they were now doing it in quantity. I do not have any inside knowledge. It is entirely possible that Taylor is taking a hit by substituting Paua and they may intend for it to be temporary. The BTO sheets show Paua now. That much I know. IMHO, both are beautiful.
I've got a question someone may be able to answer:hi Kris,
In the first picture, that John posted, the abalone also goes up around the fingerboard extension on the guitar top but I can't see if it is also full-top purfling.
In the picture posted by michealw the guitar has abalone top purfling but not the 'border' around the fingerboard extension.
I guess the question is, does the first guitar have fulltop purfling, and, can one get that border around the extension without fulltop purfling?
-K
OK, so I stand corrected. Here are pics I copied over from my original "DN Custom BTO" Thread. I referred to the inlays as "green heart" abalone:
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/993edward/Guitar%20Inventory%202011/IMG_2847.jpg)
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/993edward/Guitar%20Inventory%202011/IMG_2850.jpg)
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/993edward/Guitar%20Inventory%202011/IMG_2846.jpg)
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/993edward/Guitar%20Inventory%202011/IMG_2851.jpg)
But now that I look at the build sheet that Taylor had emailed me, I see that the abalone is, indeed, Paua abalone and not Green Heart. Sorry about that! I simply assumed (you know what they say about "assume" ;) ) that it was green heart on this Custom DN because it is nearly identical to the green-heart (yes, green heart, in fact) on my R.Taylors. Maybe the pics are not so great, but to the naked eye, my Paua inlays look pretty dang "green-heart" to me, as if they came straight out of RT-land. But the build sheet says otherwise ...and worth mentioning is that this guitar was built in Nov 2008 as a 2009 NAMM showcase. Go figure. I guess it is as Jim describes ...far be it for me to contradict his expertise. I hope this sheds some light on the matter. Sorry for the goof! :)
Edward
OK, so I stand corrected. Here are pics I copied over from my original "DN Custom BTO" Thread. I referred to the inlays as "green heart" abalone:huh ???
But now that I look at the build sheet that Taylor had emailed me, I see that the abalone is, indeed, Paua abalone and not Green Heart. Sorry about that! I simply assumed (you know what they say about "assume" ;) ) that it was green heart on this Custom DN because it is nearly identical to the green-heart (yes, green heart, in fact) on my R.Taylors. Maybe the pics are not so great, but to the naked eye, my Paua inlays look pretty dang "green-heart" to me, as if they came straight out of RT-land. But the build sheet says otherwise ...and worth mentioning is that this guitar was built in Nov 2008 as a 2009 NAMM showcase. Go figure. I guess it is as Jim describes ...far be it for me to contradict his expertise. I hope this sheds some light on the matter. Sorry for the goof! :)
Edward
Wow - just getting on the forum now since I posted my question last night and am enjoying reading everyone's responses. Thank you all for the great information! I looked up the Blue Paua and found that it also is a species of Abalone shell, so this answers one of my questions - it looks like all of the non-wood rosettes (the standard white, the green heart as well as the Blue Paua) are made of Abalone, just different species. Also learned that the blue rosette could be either blue paua (most likely) or, possibly green heart as there can be color variation within the green heart that will also allow for blue sometimes. Also good to know that this can be spec'd on a BTO. I can certainly say that I will plan for this on mine someday! Thank you all again for your helpful responses. I learned a lot.hi John,
Kris - I looked in my file to see if I had additional photos of that guitar towards helping with your question about whether it had full top purfling (looks like Michael knew the answer though), but I just saved the one photo showing the rosette because I liked the blue version so much. I don't remember specificly where I saved those pix from, otherwise, I would try to go back for more pix for you.
I've attached one more photo - this one of a beautiful shell I bought in a gift shop while on vacation in Hawaii several years ago. I have always loved it's blue and green iridescent features. It occurred to me just now that it's likely a Blue Paua shell! It would sure make a nice rosette ;D
hi John,
nice pic ... more paua is always a good thing :D
i picked up a paua ab shell also when i was visiting Hawaii about 5 years ago too,
along with a koa 'keepsake' box & a sushi set (chopsticks & holder) -
i'll have to dig 'em out of storage & put 'em back on the mantle some time
in terms of the rosette design, the last time i looked & i may be wrong about this,
i think that the premium ab may be available only in the single ring design,
which would be the same design that is on your 07 612ce, Edward's BTO & the L2 -
the pic of the R Taylor is a 3 ring design (purfling ring, wood, rosette, wood, purfling ring)
here are a couple more examples of the 3 ring design
07-current 500/700/acoustic series GS style pre-01 500/600/700, pre-04 800 style (also seen on Spring 11 400LTDs)
(http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/47645/2832098670081788860S600x600Q85.jpg)(http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/44795/2716797430081788860S600x600Q85.jpg)
Cool that you picked up a Paua shell too! All I knew was I really liked the looks of it and never knew what kind it was until tonight.i saw the shell & thought 'hmmm ... i know i've got something at home that has some of this on it already ;)
Regarding the ring designs, I'm embarrassed to say I had never noticed that there were both three ring and single ring versions until you just pointed that out with good photos illustrating it. I'll be paying attention to this feature now. This has been a great learning thread :)
It's a beautiful combo. I ordered my BTO with the paua rosette and rosewood binding.very nice 8)
It's a beautiful combo. I ordered my BTO with the paua rosette and rosewood binding.very nice 8)
i'll bet your PS16ce has a very nice rosette & binding as well :o
any chance of possibly sharing a pic with us ... please ???
Hey SF,
Very nice larry you have there ...lovely figuring and, of course, beautiful ab binding/rosette inlays! btw, is that flamed ovangkol?
Edward
For further reference, here's some green heart abalone from my '99 Larrivee OM10K:thanks for posting this pic, Strumming(http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa445/abpurfling/OM10Koa-threequarter.jpg)
For further reference, here's some green heart abalone from my '99 Larrivee OM10K:thanks for posting this pic, Strumming(http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa445/abpurfling/OM10Koa-threequarter.jpg)
at last, some genuine green heart ab :)
very nice koa, too
Thanks Michael-
This Larrivee is the only non-Taylor that I've stuck with, and that's a compliment to this guitar, because I really do prefer Taylors!
she's a beauty :D
i'll bet she has the tone to match the looks as well :)
Thanks Michael-
This Larrivee is the only non-Taylor that I've stuck with, and that's a compliment to this guitar, because I really do prefer Taylors!
she's a beauty :D
i'll bet she has the tone to match the looks as well :)
Thanks Michael-
This Larrivee is the only non-Taylor that I've stuck with, and that's a compliment to this guitar, because I really do prefer Taylors!
she's a beauty :D
i had a larrivee C-05 similar to this one (same year model), which i thought was very nice
http://www.tfoa.eu/the_store/images/detailed_images/Gitaren%20100.jpg (http://www.tfoa.eu/the_store/images/detailed_images/Gitaren%20100.jpg)
& a D-05 mahogany top ... the LTD run of 03 series silver oak was cool, too :D
http://www.12fret.com/new/Larrivee_L-03_Grevillea_Robusta_pg.html (http://www.12fret.com/new/Larrivee_L-03_Grevillea_Robusta_pg.html)
sorry ... i got a little side-tracked here :-[
standard abalone (single ring rosette) & ab purfling
(http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/22832/2782516440081788860S600x600Q85.jpg)
a pic of the back, in case anyone's interested ;)
http://www.unofficialtaylorguitarforum.com/index.php?topic=672.msg4172#msg4172 (http://www.unofficialtaylorguitarforum.com/index.php?topic=672.msg4172#msg4172)
i'll bet she has the tone to match the looks as well :)
standard abalone (single ring rosette) & ab purfling
(http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/22832/2782516440081788860S600x600Q85.jpg)
a pic of the back, in case anyone's interested ;)
http://www.unofficialtaylorguitarforum.com/index.php?topic=672.msg4172#msg4172 (http://www.unofficialtaylorguitarforum.com/index.php?topic=672.msg4172#msg4172)