OK, second post in the forum, and I ask for a psych diagnosis - not an auspicious start...
So a little backstory, and how it leads up to the question.
I've been playing guitar as a hobby for almost 30 years - starting in high school (in fact, guitar number one was the wine red Les Paul copy from the '82 or '83 Sears wishbook - while it was NOT a good guitar, for nostalgia reasons, I'm still sorry I sold it).
Studied classical guitar a bit in college, and from then on mostly noodled around on cheap guitars for years until about 3 years ago when I decided to get a little more serious - picked up Godin jazz archtop (Kingpin II) and a fairly decent Cordoba classical and started taking some lessons.
Fast forward a bit, and I want to be able to do some acoustic stuff, and the old plywood Samick from college won't do. I'm at a place in my life where I can afford a "nice" guitar, so I start looking around. Though I live just down the road from the workshop, Collings is out of my price range, but I start looking at other offerings in the local shops (can't throw a rock in Austin without hitting a guitar dealer). Some of the Martins are nice, as are a couple of Gibsons, but then I pick up a Taylor 814 and "wow". However, still a little rich for my wallet. The 314 and 414 are nice, but the ones I try don't have the same feel and sound that I've set myself up to look for after playing the 814, so I go home to ruminate.
Digging around on the web, I stumble across the 4 series 2011 fall limiteds - "wow! 8 series wood and design, sans bling, at a price I can almost convince myself I can justify". Unfortunately, it is now the end of January 2012, and most places don't have any in stock anymore - but I find a dealer that does and after playing both of the 414 fall ltds in the store, I pick the one I like best and it comes home with me. And after two weeks with it, I notice something that wasn't apparent in the store. It's a beautiful guitar for fingerpicking, and for single note lead lines with a pick, but (and I'm probably heavy handed - I'm a big guy) I tend to overdrive the top when strumming, and the tone breaks up.
So - your first response is "should have gotten a 416" right? I asked about the GS size when I bought the GA - guy at the store said those were sold out. At any rate, I went back to the store to see what other options I might have, and lo and behold - there's a 416se fall ltd in stock after all - not sure where it came from (a return?) but I played it and this time I played as loud and hard as I do at home to see how it felt - it still had the shimmer of the 14, plus a bit more on the bottom end (maybe not as big a difference as some reviewers led me to expect), but it was enough of an improvement that the trade would be worth it.
Then I notice something sitting there in the corner, looking all pretty with a Florentine cutaway. Closer look - that's a BIG guitar. At first I thought is was the baritone, but its a standard tuning 815ce jumbo. So I pick it up and strum a bit - and it SINGS. The bass is amazing, but the tone is balanced. I can strum as hard as I want, and the sound never breaks up. I try to fingerpick a few things, including some classical stuff - it sounds like I have a harpsichord in my lap (which to me is a good thing).
The dealer tells me it came in as part of a Taylor roadshow last fall, and that model has been discontinued - he's willing to let me have it for not much more than I paid for the 414 ltd (I know - no prices in the forum, so that's all I'll say). I look it over closely - no dings, no flaws that I can detect -- hem, haw -- ok - and its mine.
So - am I nuts? This thing is huge. It should be hard to play and impossible to finger pick. It should sound bottom heavy and boomy. But it fits in my hands and sits on my leg like it was built to be there. Chords just seem to shimmer - and the sound is just, I don't know - wider - than any other guitar I've played. So - why did Taylor discontinue this guitar? What am I missing?
I know - if it speaks to you, its right for you, but I just had to share... thanks for indulging me
