Taylor 914ce vs. Martin SS-0041-15

Check out the two new videos for a couple of our favorite guitars in the shop right now.
The Taylor 914ce is beautiful and sleek while the Martin evokes high class vintage style.
Don't worry. I will get better in front of the camera. I swear. Enjoy!

 

I can't change this thumbnail picture. I don't know why it set on such a funky face. 

Yes, I'm a bit embarrassed. 

Taylor K26ce -

You know, Taylor Guitars makes some pretty sexy guitars. This K26ce we just got in is a good example as you can see.
The Grand Symphony sized body really lends itself to the Koa tonewood, adding bass and roundness to an otherwise clear mid-range. It rings like a bell when you want it and cuddles you with warm bass when you need it to.

 The grain! Oh My! The grain of this Koa is crazy beautiful and Taylors' shaded burst really accentuates the variety of warm syrupy colors.

The detail in the purfling and fretboard inlay is immaculate. I love the whimsical, vine inlay they have on these Koa series.

It's such a sleek and sexy machine and plays so unbelievably well, given Taylor Guitars expertly carved neck profile. 

Come on in and check this one out. It's such a beautiful instrument, crafted by one of America's leading guitar Manufacturers. The Taylor K26ce should be in your music life if you like big, sexy, bold statements and a clean, clear, even guitar tone.

2014 Taylor Fall Limiteds are IN!

Taylor Guitars never cease to amaze me, with all their fancy innovation and wild building techniques that redefine what an acoustic guitar is supposed to like. 
Take for instance, this new 2014 Fall Ltd 714ce that we just got in the store.

 

Sassafras! They used Blackheart Sassafras for the back and sides. I've never seen (or heard of) a guitar made out of Sassafras but here it is and after playing, I wonder why it isn't used more for a tone wood. To me, it has a similar look to Myrtle but with a honey cream color. At first look of this instrument, the ebb and flow of the variations in the grain are mesmerizing and beautiful. The high gloss finish really brings out how gorgeous this wood really is. 

 

But it's not all about looks. What I get out the tone of this guitar is that Sassafras has a quality similar to a maple but with more balls. It has clear tonal highs, though unlike maple, the low-mids and lows are very present even while finger picking the guitar. It has a fairly quick decay which might make it perfect for a fast lead or when you don't want your chords to bleed into one another. One cool spec for the 700 limited is that it has Taylor's Advanced Performance Bracing in which a protein glue is used. Protein glue is a better bonding agent because, I've heard, it actually fuses the glue and wood into one. They trim this instrument out in in Rosewood for the binding, edge trim, backstrip, heel cap and around the abalone rosette. 

 

This is, by far, absolutely one of the most beautiful guitars we've had in the store in a while. If you're at all interested in checking out what's new and fun in Acoustic Guitar Land, you have to come down and play this. It's awesome.

Pick Of  The Week.

The Taylor K26ce

Unreal.  Just unreal.  The Koa on this new K26ce is breath taking.  Up close, as it catches light, it appears to be on fire at every angle.  View from a distance and a whole other profile appears.

Can you believe the back on this K26ce?

Upon playing this beauty, it was very obvious to us that this guitar takes a flat pick like a champ.  Most Koa takes a bit of time to really open up.  Not this one.  It's a knockout straight outta the gate.  No doubt about it, there is a distinct, full and incredibly round bass response on this guitar.  Surprisingly warm, clear and big, it absolutely doesn't give up when pushed. Yet, light finger picking reveals shimmer and shine in the way of tonal complexity that Taylor is known for the world over.  What a wonderful guitar for a singer to accompany themselves with.

Island Vine Headstock Inlay

Indian Rosewood binding, Island vine inlay on the fretboard from top to bottom, shaded edge burst and The Taylor Expression pickup system round out the exceptional detail on this fabulous guitar.

                          Island Vine Inlay                                                                                Rosette

So, when it comes to looks, playability and sound. This guitar hits, what we call, the "POTW" trifecta. It's a stunner in every way and oh yeah, get this: It's a production model! Not a custom build. Unreal. Just Unreal. Hands down the Pick Of The Week.

The incredible top on this K26ce

If you'd like to know more about this guitar, give us a call at 503-228-8437 or, better yet, come down to 2502 NE Broadway in Portland and ask Gerald or Carrie for a test drive of this outstanding instrument.

Written by Gerald Collier and Carrie Warlaumont
Photos by Carrie Warlaumont 

"The One"...

NAMM is fun.  Really, really fun.  It's where the manufacturers pull out the stops, lift the governors off their engines, spin their fancy tires and try to woo your socks off.  Well, this year, there came that special moment when we'd played her, fell instantly in love and knew we just had to have her...

So, without further adieu...

May we please introduce to you...

Our new love...

Our Brazilian beauty...

Our lovely, big bottomed girl...

Taylor PS18.  

(can you hear the angels singing yet?)

Taylor PS18...

It's hard not to gush about this guitar. It really is that special.  So special, in fact, that we did everything we could to make sure that we got this one.  Not one yet to be made.....but the one we fell in love with.  

Gushing aside, we're sure you'd like some details:

 

Brazilian Rosewood has a long and storied history and is, by almost every measure, the "holy grail" of tonewoods. When it's used on a guitar of this stature, it takes on an almost mythical quality. It's difficult to acquire and it's not inexpensive. But it's Brazilian Rosewood, and that matters.

This year, Taylor Guitars introduced their new body style, the Grand Orchestra (designated X18). The idea behind it was to reinvent the Jumbo. In doing so, they actually introduced a guitar which is closer to the Taylor Grand Symphony size than the old Jumbo. Pairing this new body style with this old growth Brazilian Rosewood and a European Spruce top has resulted in an amazing sounding guitar.

Let's just say that the PS18 is an extraordinary guitar in every respect, and definitely falls into the "investment instrument" category. The craftsmanship is exactly what you would expect from Taylor. It's simply impeccable.

For the uninitiated, "PS" stands for "Presentation Series", and represents the pinnacle of the luthier's craft. It's not only an incredible sounding guitar, but the workmanship which goes into the elaborate inlay work is unparalleled:

The exquisite detail of the Paua shell inlay...

The top, back and sides of the PS18 are trimmed in Paua shell...

The ebony armrest on the PS18, trimmed in Paua shell...

The ornate peghead of the PS18, complete with Gotoh 510 tuners...

The inlaid bridge of the PS18...

Let's talk about aesthetics. We think the one word which best describes the PS18 is "spectacular".

Paua shell adorns practically every surface of the guitar; the top, back and sides are all trimmed, as are the neck, bridge and peghead. The Nouveau Paua inlay, standard on the Presentation Series, is along the fretboard. This is one beautiful instrument.

The PS18 also features the Laskin armrest, developed by Canadian luthier Grit Laskin. The Paua trimmed Ebony armrest is perfectly executed and offers the player a level of comfort that allows you to play for hours on end without feeling the typical arm fatigue.The guitar also features a Brazilian Rosewood backstrap and antique gold Gotoh 510 tuners.

Of course, how a guitar looks is only one part of the equation and, it could be argued, not the most important part. Above everything else, the sound of a guitar needs to reach out and smack you around a little bit. Well, the PS18 just isn't that subtle. The PS18 lulls you into submission and mesmerizes you with its beauty right before it reaches out with a gut-punch that knocks the wind out of you.

Brazilian Rosewood enjoys the reputation it does for good reason. In the case of this guitar, it produces a low frequency response that's warm and round, and which seems to take days to decay. There's a quality to the overtones which can only be described as piano-like. The high-end, while subdued when compared to woods like Maple or Koa, has a glass-like quality which almost shimmers when strummed.

The stunning, milk chocolate brown of Brazilian Rosewood makes for a visually striking instrument...

As if the beautiful inlays and remarkable woods weren't enough, there's a level of scarcity with this instrument that's rarely found from a large builder like Taylor Guitars. Only 13 of these guitars are being made for the entire North American market. This example is the first of the Brazilian Rosewood PS18's, and one of only two which have been built thus far.

If you'd like more information about this exquisite guitar, call or visit Carrie. Our phone number is 503-228-8437, and our address is 2502 NE Broadway in Portland.

5 Star "Off Menu" Delicacy.....

Working in a guitar shop can be a lot of fun. I mean, let's face it, there are certainly worse ways to make a living and, as with any other job, I suppose, every once in a while you happen upon a day which makes your job seem just a bit more cool than it normally is.

This past Monday was one of those days.

Some background:

Last October, Carrie (our fearless leader and store Manager) and I had the privilege of visiting Taylor's huge campus in El Cajon, California. During that visit, we were able to select woods to be used on "Build To Order" (BTO) guitars. The cool part about that is that the woods offered up when we visit Taylor are quite often woods which might be wildly figured, rare, or otherwise just normally hard to come by. The pinnacle of such wood is known as being "off menu", meaning that it's not listed on Taylor's BTO options sheet.

We enjoy a ridiculously close relationship with the folks at Taylor Guitars, and that sometimes reaps rewards. We work hard to represent their line and, in return, they'll help us out when and where they can.  We knew we wanted something special and we knew we wanted something spectacular. With the help of Joe Bina and Andy Powers from Taylor Guitars, that's exactly what we got.

Laid out before us in the "wood room" were stacks of amazing Koa, Walnut, Madagascar Rosewood, various flavors of Spruce; you name it. As gorgeous as all of it was, though, there was nothing that really reached out and grabbed us by the throat.

"C'mon, Joe", I recall us saying, "we want something special".

He looked down at the stacks of wood before him with a quizzical look on his face. He thought. He pondered. And then he had it.

"Okay, hold on".

As he returned with a set of wood under his arm, he uttered those magic words that we always long to hear: "Okay, I don't have too much of this stuff. It's off-menu".

Those magical words.

"Off menu".

He set the wood down in front of us, almost reverently. He laid it down as if he were afraid it might shatter. He stepped back and looked at the wood as though he had just discovered fire. Well, it wasn't fire.

It was Amazon Rosewood.

Joe Bina checks a Grand Auditorium template against the Amazon Rosewood we selected...

Carrie with our sets of Amazon Rosewood and Alpine Swiss Moon Spruce...

It didn't take us long to decide that we wanted to offer a guitar built from this to our customers and, with the help of Andy Powers, we paired the Amazon Rosewood with some Alpine Swiss Moon Spruce (which was also off-menu).

We left Taylor Guitars that day very happy with what we managed to do. As a direct result of our close ties with Taylor, we were able to get a very special wood set to offer to our customers in the form of a Taylor "BTO".

Well, that guitar showed up a mere 49 days after we put it on order:

Taylor Guitars "Build To Order" in Amazon Rosewood and Alpine Swiss Moon Spruce...

Incredible grain patterns abound...

Cosmetically, we took some liberties. We opted for a bound soundhole, which is actually not unusual, as it's one of the classier options offered in BTO. In our case, we opted for Ivoroid binding on the body, soundhole and along the blank fretboard. Since we'd already gotten an off-menu wood set, we decided to find out how far we could take it. We started with an Amazon Rosewood peghead veneer and matching truss rod cover (both gloss). Then we brought the Amazon Rosewood flair down to the top of the guitar, which has a slight bit of bearclaw in it, by including an elegant Amazon rosewood rosette.

Look at your BTO sheet and let me know when you find those options.

I'll wait.

Detail of the Ivoroid bound soundhole and Amazon Rosewood rosette...

A full shot of a very classy rosette...

Amazon Rosewood peghead veneer and matching truss rod cover...

The back of the guitar, which shows off the Ivoroid binding...

Visually, this guitar is stunning. It's almost over-the-top in its simplicity. But a good looking guitar is only that: good looking. "How does it look?" is only one third of the "big question trifecta", which also includes "How does it sound?" and "How does it play?".

Sonically, the guitar is an absolute joy. The Adirondack bracing we opted for pairs ridiculously well with the Alpine Spruce top, and allows the top to resonate freely and brightly. The Amazon Rosewood permits all of the attributes you'd come to expect from Rosewood, but with a slightly increased bass response and rich overtones. The highs are almost crystalline, and there's a distinct separation among the notes which you don't necessarily expect.

This guitar is a strong strummer, and those who lean towards using a pick will not be disappointed. The description "lap cannon" fits here, and it fits well. Likewise, the guitar is extremely responsive and warm when played fingerstyle and the top has a sweet resonance which is difficult to describe with words. Think of the feeling you get when you're working out at the gym, and you're all hot and sweaty and then you walk outside and that first blast of cool brisk air hits your face.

That's how sweet it is.

So, yes, the "How does it sound?" question has been answered.

That leaves us with that third aspect; the missing piece to the fire triangle of our impending guitar bliss:

"How does it play?"

The guitar is short scale and at 24-7/8" it plays almost effortlessly. The slightly reduced string tension makes for easier bends while, at the same time, helps with those mega-fret finger-stretching chords you've tried (probably unsuccessfully until now) to play. The nut is Taylor's standard 1-3/4" and, like the saddle, is Tusq. Taylor's renowned ES pickup is installed, making the guitar stage ready, whether that stage is in front of a 1,000 seat auditorium or in front of the couches and easy chairs at the local coffee house.

It's been a while since I've had this much fun playing a guitar...

Yep, it's a Custom!

And here it is with all the case candy, including a clear pickguard, should you want to install it...

Carrie tested... Carrie approved...

It would be real easy for me and Carrie to sit back and take all the credit for having designed this profoundly wonderful instrument but, truth be told, the wood selection and "design" of it are only two facets which are joined together in this guitar. We would be remiss if we neglected to acknowledge the talents of the Taylor Guitars team down in El Cajon, California. See, we had the easy part. We just had to tell them what we wanted. They had to pull it off, and that was made only more difficult due to the fact that a lot of what we wanted was "off menu".

They did pull it off, though, and they did so with flying colors. As a result, we're now able to offer you this incredible instrument, one which you're simply not going to find anywhere else. Give us a call or, better yet, stop in and Carrie or I will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about this wonderful guitar.