No sir, I don't think you came off critical at all. I never knew Larrys offered compound boards. I've been around electrics for decades and various radii boards abound, and compound radius ones are likewise easy to find. But to be frank, in these many years I've never heard of anyone raising the point with acoustics. And I suspect it has to do with the more "traditional" vibe that acoustic guits imbue; this and that folks don't typically attack an acoustic board in the way one does an electric. Even when doing lead lines on an acoustic, it's a wholly different approach from that of an electric.
You may want to think of it this way: what does a compound radius offer the player? Answer: more curve for comfy fretting near the nut, but a flatter board for truer bends as you get higher up the neck. Given the markedly heavier gauge of acoustic strings over electrics, as well as the fact that an acoustic doesn't sustain a note up the bend anywhere near as effectively as an overdriven, compressed electric's note does ...well, that much bending simply doesn't occur on acoustics. Translation: a compound radius board on an acoustic is answering a question no one ever asks; or at least precious few players do. So where does the T5 fit in? A truly electic guitar whose target audience is going to play it like a strat or lester? While it "can" be, that's not its reason for being. Trying to fit in
both camps is its mission, so it's likely Taylor simply decided with biasing closer toward the acoustic-guitar's fretboard.
All in my take, anywhoo ...FWIW, IMHO, but YMMV.
Edward
