Hey David,
Glad you love your Taylors, esp the dreds. I've always believed that Taylor makes a superb dred for folks who don't like dreds; yes, that's me. I could not declare definitely whether Bob and co. decided to voice their DNs "their way" intentionally, but having read/heard enough of his
own comments over the many years about "Martin has their sound we and have ours," I can't help but conclude the DNs sound the way they do
because that is what they wanted to do. FWIW, I never wanted to own a dred despite them being absolutely everywhere throughout the 70s/80s. Sure, I understood folks loved theirs, all of which seemed to be modeled and voiced after the also-ubiquitous D18/28s of the era. I got what these folks said; I just never got into it.
Fast forward to 2000 something when I stumbled onto a Taylor DN (almost tripped over it on a floor stand, seriously) that simply floored me. Done. This was mine. It was the anit-dred dreadnaught. Not sure Bob would appreciate that label, but it's how I feel, LOL! And this guit became my go-to live guit (unseating an otherwise excellent GA) and continues to be still today. And only a few years ago, I picked up a killer 210dlx because it was, um, killer. All to say yes sir, I getcha!
That said, I never subscribed to the guitar = genre thing. Like Teles to country, Strats to blues, LPs to rock. That's just not how I think or approach a guitar, for me anyway. But I absolutely get what you say: the immediacy of the
Taylor dred voice, the attack and punch is "forward" as opposed to the "typical" ol' dred tone that is bottom-biased, nearly devoid of mids, and sparkly trebles. I like mids; I prefer a vocal balance across all the strings; Taylors do this ...to my ears, of course. Look, it's no mystery why "country acoustic types" go for maple. All too many folks dismiss maple as "bright" but it actually is more mids and upper mids that come forward, more so than many are
used to, which is why they "mislabel" them, IMO. Maple is punchy and "present," and focused on the notes' fundamental instead of overtones, as well as tends to decay faster, far faster than, say, rw or mahogany. If that's a "secret" it's only because folks are largely accustomed to hearing the usual suspects and
not used to hearing a well-voiced maple guit, of
any body style. Contrast: folks who
know maple dig maple
because of what it brings to the sonic table. Side note: I also have a superb GC-sized guit that has deep, solid bass tones that defy its size. Those who
know how to build a genuinely good guitar clearly know how to voice it according to its wood species, as opposed to simply slapping maple b/s and call it a country guit
So yeah, my long, Sunday-afternoon meandering thoughts on your post. I'm glad you dig your "old" Taylor dreds as I certainly love mine!
Edward
