Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
We don’t spend a lot of time on nylon-stringed guitars here at Fretbase (we’re primarily steel-stringers here) but we thought it was worth noting the release by Taylor Guitars of the Taylor JMSM Jason Mraz Signature guitar. The Taylor JMSM Jason Mraz Signature guitar was inspired by Jason Mraz’s Taylor nylon-string NS72ce.
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Taylor has expanded the ability for you to customize Taylor Solidbody guitars. Fans of the Classic, Standard and Custom SolidBodys can now tailor their choice of pickup configurations, colors, and have the option of a Taylor-designed tremolo, all to dial in their perfect tone and look.
The company has also expanded its popular, guitar player friendly, plug and play loaded pickguards for the Taylor Solidbody guitars as well.
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
More news coming out of NAMM as the show kicks off today in Anaheim, California. Taylor has announced a new Baritone 8 String guitar. The new Baritone 8 is interesting because they’ve paired two octave strings with the third and fourth strings, adding a touch of upper-octave brightness. Bob Taylor explains. “We loved the traditional baritone, but missed having some of that upper register. We thought, what if we turned it into a 9-string baritone? So, we made one. But after deciding it was a little too jangly, we pulled off the [doubled second] string, leaving the third and fourth octave strings. It sounded awesome.”
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Some guitarists pick a brand of guitar and stick to it. Think of Johnny Cash and Neil Young and their Martin Guitars or Bruce Springsteen and his Fenders and Takamines. But there has always been something different about Dave Matthews and it extends to the way he moves between manufacturers of guitars.
In a 1999 interview with Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Matthews said his main axe while on tour with Tim Reynolds was a Martin HD-28. In fact, at one point Martin even released a Dave Matthews signature guitar. But now it appears something has happened.
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Or at least that’s what musician David Carroll says. Last summer Carroll was flying on United with his band Sons of Maxwell for a 1-week tour. One of the other passengers noticed that the baggage handlers were being a little rough on the guitars. In her words, “My god they’re throwing guitars out there.”
Sure enough, when Carroll arrived in Nebraska his $3,500 Taylor 710 had $1,200 worth of damage. Despite the fact that United Airlines admitted that the incident occurred, they would not reimburse Carroll for his loss. Most of us would have given up or written a letter. Not David Carroll. He went more than one step further.
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
We’re not always fans of signature models. They are often higher priced variations of traditional guitars with a higher price tag to go along with that celebrity endorsement. Not so with the Taylor Swift Baby Taylor which was just released by Taylor Guitars. The Taylor Swift Baby Taylor is much like a Taylor’s exceptional 3/4 size travel guitar - the Baby Taylor - but with a unique rosette that includes the word “love” inscribed three times and the name of Swift’s latest album “Fearless.”
In the official announcement of the guitar, Swift described how her love of her Baby Taylor inspired the release of the TSBT. Swift recalls of her early days of touring, “I used to sit in the back seat of the rental car while I was on my radio tour at 16, writing songs on my Baby Taylor guitar.” According to Taylor, “I love the sound, and I love those memories.”
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
The title says it all. Fans of Dave Matthews, fans of Taylor guitars or lucky people that like to participate in sweepstakes can enter for a chance to win a Taylor 914ce signed by Dave Matthews. Oh yeah, you’ll also meet Dave himself. Two runners up will win the complete Dave Matthews Band Live Trax Volumes 1-15. I’d go ahead and enter now. You only have until July 22.
Read on to find out how to participate.
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Updated May 8, 2009: We have an updated list with new contests. Go check them out now.
Lately we’ve been writing a series on the “Downturn Guitar” - economical guitars that are relatively comparable to the higher end instruments. In these tough economic times we all have to make sacrifices and sometimes that new Martin or Gibson might have to be a new Blueridge or a new Epiphone. But for some of us even buying any guitar might be out of the question. So what do we do when we can’t even spare a dime, brother?
We enter contests and try and win that guitar! Full story…
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
The New Taylor T3/B
After a successful entry into the electric world with the SolidBody models and the Taylor T5, Taylor announced at this past Winter 2009 NAMM show the Taylor T3 semi-hollowbody guitar. The T3 comes in two different models - the Taylor T3 and the Taylor T3/B. The main difference is the T3/B comes with a Bigsby Vibrato.
The T3 and T3/B borrow from the Taylor T5 body shape but the similarities seem to end there. Both versions of the T3 have humbuckers and the standard 3-way toggle switch, but Taylor added coil-splitting (pull up on the volume knob) to give you an extra dimension of tone. Coil-splitting two humbuckers essentially turns those humbuckers into two single coils and gives the guitar a more “biting” tone often associated with single coil pups.
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
Even though Taylor is now more well-known for its acoustic-electrics, the company has always impressed with its pure acoustic models. In fact, its 12-string guitars are favored by a number of all-time great 12-stringers including Leo Kottke. In the last few years, Taylor started its GS line of high-quality acoustic guitars including the Taylor GS6. But that line has not included a 12-string model - until now. There isn’t a page for this guitar yet on the Taylor website, but after reading a glowing review of the Taylor G6-12 in Acoustic Guitar Magazine and also seeing a new page for it on Musician’s Friend, we know it’s coming. With a solid sitka spruce top, solid “big leaf” maple back and sides, X-bracing and an ebony fingerboard and bridge, this guitar is set to impress. We just wish we could try it in less than the 65 days Musician’s Friend says it will take before it is available.
Related Story: The “Magnificent 7″ Acoustic Guitars
Video Review from Acoustic Guitar Magazine after the jump.
