Thanks for the kinds words folks! Helene and I are at NAMM right now where Taylor will unveil some new models, and a new Academy Series. Here is Taylors description:
"The Academy Series was designed to be the ideal learning guitar for beginners and developing players. Featured body styles include a 15/16-size Dreadnought (with a 4-3/4-inch body depth), along with Grand Concert steel-string and nylon-string models. Features include layered Sapele back/sides, solid Sitka spruce (steel-string) or Lutz spruce (nylon) top,
mahogany armrest, 24-7/8-inch scale length, and 1-11/16-inch (steel-string)
or 1-7/8-inch (nylon) nut width.
Steel-string models are strung with Elixir Phosphor Bronze Light strings; the nylon features D’Addario Pro-Arté Carbon strings. The nylon-string A12-N also features a 12-fret neck design. Other series details include a 3-ring Baltic birch rosette, 4mm Italian acrylic dot fretboard inlays, matte finish, and optional ES-B electronics with built-in preamp and tuner. The guitars ship in a Taylor gig bag."
I had a chance to play these guitars a few weeks ago, and I think they will sell like hot cakes. They are priced like the GS Mini, but you get standard scale, and an armrest, which makes them feel much smaller than they are. In fact, when I picked up the GC version, it actually felt as small as the Mini.
In addition to the Academy series, there is a new GS Mini Bass, which you might have seen already on the Taylor website. I will be posting NAMM photos on our Facebook page throughout the show. Here is the link.
https://www.facebook.com/LA-Guitar-Sales-191341065790/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10154109714140791