Hi,
I've owned Taylor's for a while but have just found this forum, while researching for a possible acquisition.
Would anyone care to advise me of the relative merits of a PS16CE versus a PS16CE LTD? What impact do the different woods have on the tone and the volume?
Richard
By PS16CE LTD, I assume you actually mean the PS16CE-FLTD, which is the current fall limited offering.
The PS16CE will be Cocobolo back and sides and Sitka Spruce top. Cocobolo will be a bold sounding wood with a lot of crisp brightness and strong low/low mid. It will have a very good dynamic range and lend itself to all styles of play. Sitka Spruce is THE top wood for 90% of Taylor production guitars. It projects well, with clear articulation and has great dynamic range. The wood combination should make for a guitar that projects very well, think high volume. A nice all around guitar, a bit on the bright side but not without depth. Additionally, Cocobolo is visually stunning and can be very figured and beautiful.
The PS16CE-FLTD will be Macassar Ebony back and sides with Sinker Redwood top. This is the same wood combo I recently chose for my BTO (Build To Order) guitar. Macassar is a dense hardwood with a big bold voice, which can take extra time to open up. Expect crisp highs and strong lows with adequate mids. Macassar likes to be played hard and loud, and responds well to it. Sinker Redwood is known as "Cedar on steroids" at the Taylor factory. This is referring to the bold response and high volume ceiling while still projecting crisp clear highs and impressive lows and low mids. These woods together should create an instrument that projects well in any range and responds to hard strumming better than most. Visually, both woods can be breath taking with wild striping and coloration.
So, I suppose it depends on what you prefer. Both will be beautiful with Abalone EVERYWHERE and highly figured back and sides, although the Sinker Redwood top will be more visually striking than the Sitka Spruce. Both guitars will have great volume, and the Macassar might end up being slightly darker sounding than the Cocobolo.
The other thing to keep in mind is that all guitars are different. These descriptions are based on what I've read and experienced myself (my buddy has a PS16ce, and I played a Macassar/Sinker BTO at guitar center), but your experience might be different if you were to pick one or both of these up and play.
Hope that helps.
Oh, one last note. Good luck finding a PS16ce-FLTD...they only made like 80 of them (hence, the "LIMITED" title) and nearly every place you look they're sold out. I was dead set on one, but then decided to go the BTO route. I'm sure they are out there, but you'll have to search and be ready to pay full asking price ($6,300 approx).
