I first learned to play guitar when I was 14 back in 1974 when John Denver was very popular and I wanted to learn how to play his songs. At that time, I had an old hand-me-down Harmony 6 string which I loved. As I got better at playing, I moved up to a Yamaha 6 string and then a 12 string, which I had for years and played for pleasure. It wasn't until 2007, when my daughter embarked on her singer/songwriter project and needed a high quality performance guitar, that we discovered Taylor. My daughter was/is a big fan of Michelle Branch, and loved the sound of the guitar she was using. We looked into it and found it was a Taylor 614ce (I believe Michelle currently plays Gibsons though). From there on, it was just comparing guitars at various guitar stores throughout Michigan. Although she also liked Martins, she fell in love with the bright sound of the Maple Taylor 600 series, which suits her well in live performance settings and goes nicely with her voice. All of this guitar research for my daughter reinvigorated my interest in guitars, so I have a 612ce. As an engineer, I am fascinated by the technical side of guitars - the body shapes, tone woods, saddles, etc. so technical discussions on these topics are very interesting to me. I enjoy learning from you folks here at the forum and am very much appreciative of Josh starting up this resource for us!