GS Mini neck change

[phavriluk]

Seeing as Taylor products are so precisely manufactured, has anyone taken advantage of that characteristic and offered alternate necks for the GS Mini?  I'd love a 1 3/4" width at the nut neck, and seeing as the necks are bolted on and adjusted by shims, it seems technically possible to substitute an alternate neck rather easily.

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Seeing as Taylor products are so precisely manufactured, has anyone taken advantage of that characteristic and offered alternate necks for the GS Mini?  I'd love a 1 3/4" width at the nut neck, and seeing as the necks are bolted on and adjusted by shims, it seems technically possible to substitute an alternate neck rather easily.

It would be possible if Taylor made a neck for the GS Mini with a 1-3/4" nut, but as of this writing they do not.

[phavriluk]

Ted, thanks for answering.  I was wondering aloud whether an aftermarket vendor could offer a 1 3/4" neck that would be bolt-on-interchangeable with the OEM Taylor neck, subject to shimming, seeing as Taylor precision-manufactures their guitars and appears to offer the possibility of interchangeable parts.  Or Taylor themselves, but it seems likely that they are not inclined to tool up for that.

[michaelw]

from how i understand it, the various neck widths (1 11/16", 1 3/4" & 1 7/8" at the nut)
require different dimensions to be routed for the neck/fretboard extension pocket at
the heel block, so it may not  be as simple as purchasing another neck & swapping it out -
the cost to have another neck built, to rerout the neck pocket & setting up the guitar would
likely be more $ than what was originally invested in the guitar, if it was purchased new

it is possible to replace the nut with one that has 1 3/4" spaced slots & sanding the edges slightly -
this will not change the neck profile, but it will give a scoche more room between strings,
albeit at the expense of having the E & e a bit closer to the edge of the fretboard

[phavriluk]

Michael, thank you for explaining Taylor's configurations.  That helps explain the difficulty of making such a swap.  Oh, well.  I had considered the nut change you mentioned, but I'm not sure that I could manage the E strings' being closer to the fretboard edge. 

[dangrunloh]

I was told at a road show that the upper bout of the Mini could not accommodate a 1-3/4 neck even if Taylor wanted to do it. A redesign of the body would be needed.  Of course this was the same person who told me the ES2 was just an experiment and not intended to replace the ES1.