I just bought my first Taylor - NOS 2008 414CE. I had posted a few days ago on a different thread about polishing it because I don't care for matte finish on guitars so I have polished several in the past so I decided to do the same with my 414. At the same time I decided to replace the end pins with polished bone (I happened to have an extra set laying around that I bought for my D28 Martin but ended up not using) and make a new bone nut and saddle to replace the oem nut and saddle. So this morning I started on that at around 9AM, finished a 12:30.
I discovered that the finish that Taylor uses is considerably tougher than that used on other guitars I have polished. Normally I use only 3M Finesse-It II (I'll call it "FI" from now on) for this purpose but I quickly found that I would have been rubbing all day to "glass" out the finish so I started with 0000 steel wool. This alone will make the finish gloss a bit. Then rub with a cloth/FI until the level of gloss you want is achieved - anything from just slightly gloss to glass-like. You can't hurt anything doing this by hand. You could use a polishing wheel like Taylor does at the factory but unless you know what you are doing, you could burn through the finish. It's impossible for that to happen by hand. Yes, it will take you an hour or more instead of 2-3 minutes like it does the factory guys. It was well worth it and I love the look of the polished ovankol or whatever the heck the wood is called.
I know some folks are really interested in the sound difference between the oem tusq (I think) nut and saddle/ebony pins and the new polished bone nut/saddle/pins. Frankly, no one in the audience could ever tell the difference if you did a few tunes with the oem and then came back and did them again with the bone. Yes, there is a difference if you do an A/B recording and listen one after the other. The bone is a bit less bright but the difference in how you pick/pluck the strings from one instant to the next will make more difference. And using a thick or thin pick makes a dramatic difference by comparison. SO IMO, the difference is one of shades, rather than a change of color. If pressed, I would say that I think I prefer the sound of the bone/bone/bone with the slightly reduced brightness but it's a very subtle difference. Strings were 4 day-old DAddario PB lights.
Below are a few pics. I hope they capture the appearance. I realize that some folks may prefer the original look of the matte sides/back but I don't care for it and I don't like the look of the ebony pins either but all this is totally a matter of taste.
