To me it is all about the Wood being used on the LTDS . Understanding the manufacturing process is the same , but the wood that is chosen for the build is unique , usually gorgeous and in most cases rare . The read in " Wood and Steel " for the 2012 Fall LTD Quilted Sapele builds I thought was quite impressive and lends you to find how rare some woods are . I say grab them if you could !
" Quilted sapele is an extremely rare find. Rare enough that the first and last time we offered it was on a pair
of limited edition models to commemorate Taylor’s 25th anniversary back in 1999. At the time we considered it
a one-time fluke, so when we randomly received some figured sapele 4x4s in a shipment for necks about eight
years ago, our wood purchaser, Bob Zink, told our cutter that if he ever encountered it again to call us before cutting
it. A year and a half ago, Bob got the call, we were very interested, and an odyssey to procure some of the wood
ensued.
After being harvested in Africa, the entire tree — a huge old sapele about 6-7 feet in diameter — was shipped to
a sawmill in France, where it was cut into slabs with a massive saw. From there it had to be sent to Germany,
where there was planer large enough to surface it. The original purchaser of the tree eventually shipped the slabs
to his mill in the U.S., and when they finally arrived months later we were called and given first dibs on the wood. By
this time there was other interest in it, with some parties offering to pay more, but the owner held it for Taylor since
we’d expressed interest first. Within a couple of days Bob Zink and Andy Powers arrived in Cove City, North Carolina,
a small port town where the mill was located. Once they were there, they sorted through every slab, selecting the
ones with figure.
“We went through something like 12,000 board feet — a couple of tons of wood,” says Andy. “Some of the boards
we picked out were about four feet wide and in some
cases 16 feet long.”
They ended up buying about 2200 board feet (the rest of the wood wasn’t quilted). The wood was flatsawn, which
is cut 90 degrees different than the quartersawn sapele we typically use for guitar backs and sides. This not only
allowed the beautiful figure to be showcased to maximum effect, it also added a unique twist to its tonal response.
“Sapele tends to be pretty stiff, and this stuff has a lot more give to it,” Andy says. “You hear a little more power,
a little more warmth on the low end compared to most sapele guitars.”
For the soundboard pairing, the product development team chose AA-grade European spruce, which was first
used for our spring Builder’s Reserve guitar (BR-V) and blends the horsepower of Adirondack spruce with a splash
of cedar’s warmth.
The design aesthetic for these limiteds aimed to bring out the best of the figured sapele, so the back and
sides were treated with the same light stain used on our mahogany 500 Series, which in this case, visually amplifies
the depth of figure.
The appointment scheme also incorporates the sapele from the same tree, paired with ivoroid. The rosette
features a sapele ring edged with ivoroid, ivoroid binding paired with sapele edge trim, and diamond “Solitaire”
fretboard inlays that feature sapele outlined with ivoroid.
“It’s basically a three-color treatment,” Andy says: "Sapele, ivoroid and then either spruce or ebony. We
wanted to keep it really elegant and graceful.”
