Taylor 512CE L10 Limited Edition
While it’s still unbelievable, even after nine days, I am thrilled to report that I am the the proud owner of a 2005 Limited Edition Taylor 512CE L10 acoustic guitar. A few weeks ago, Missy and I were chatting when she dropped the big secret: she wanted to buy me a guitar for Christmas. A guitar? Wow. And wow was really all I could say for a few moments—mostly because I was instantly reminded how blessed I am to be married to someone who pushes me into my dreams and drives me to be better and invests in my gifts. Missy believes in me. But it was also just incredibly cool to hear that she wanted to get me something that she knew would mean so much to me. Shoot, even beyond all that, I am getting a guitar. Yes!
Our holidays are generally a bit chaotic with travel and family–chaotic in a good way, but nonetheless chaotic. So we (she—but mostly I :)) decided that we should go ahead and get the guitar sooner rather than later so that we could focus on gearing up for Christmas afterward. So, last Saturday we loaded up and struck out on the hunt for the perfect guitar.
I haven’t purchased a guitar since June of 2000. That purchase was my 2000 Fender Deluxe “Fat” Strat that is now heavily modified. I did receive a wonderful gift in 2002 when a dear friend of my grandfather gave my a 1983 Ibanez Artist Series (AR1505) electric guitar. (There’s a touching story there and one day I hope to share it here.) The next year, I had another gift from my way cool groomsmen who snagged a very nice Alvarez nylon (most folks would call it a classical) guitar to celebrate my marriage to Missy. Of course, in reality, this new Taylor is just as much a gift as any of the other three, but this was a chance for me to experience the joy of shopping for a guitar. And that is fun, too!
Over the past year or two (or three), I’ve really enjoyed hanging out in music stores and playing neat acoustic guitars. I really love the boutique guitar brands like Collings—my all time favorite, Breedlove—a close second, and Goodall. These fine luthiers create guitars that are so rich and incredible—and also expensive. On this occasion, I set out not really intending to buy a boutique guitar, just something in the middle—not a $200 low-end guitar and not a $5,000 presentational. I just wanted a nice guitar.
I’ve really been scoping out the Breedlove Atlas series guitars since my first jaw-dropping experience with them a year ago. My friend Eric Thompson brought one over that he had just purchased. I think he paid around $600-700 for his Atlas and I was extremely impressed with the tone, action and overall build of the instrument. For the price, it was a very nice piece. So nice, that it was a bit tempting to go right out and find one for myself. But I withheld my eager ambition for the sake of the family budget. Still, I’ve always admired what Breedlove has produced in this range of guitars, so I really thought that would be the direction I would go when Missy told me to go for it.
There are several decent music stores in this area. As always, many of them are filled with the pretentious, snobby type of musician-slash-salesperson that really drive me nuts. Whoever thought of mixing musicians and sales should really have a strong scolding. I know it’s a tough racket to deal with, because you put up with 13-year-olds playing Stairway to Heaven at nuclear volume levels and you put up with big heads that cut a demo in 1986 with their hair band and almost “made it”. The class of ‘86—these guys are the exclusive experts on all things guitar. If it doesn’t say Ibanez on the head stock and Floyd Rose on the trem’, then why are you playing it? Anyway. I’ve nothing against 13-year-old guitar players. Seriously, keep playing Stairway or whatever else you are into—just never give up on your dreams. Nothing against hair bands or shredders either. Had I been born ten years earlier, that’s exactly the scene I would’ve dug as well. Props to you for keeping rock alive for all of us to enjoy. That said, you’d think that folks in music sales would realize that the nature of the game is that, like any business, you are going to deal with all sorts of people. So I still don’t think that answers why music store personnel fall into the trap of being really obnoxious to their customers. It makes no sense in a world that deals with the bottom line. And it makes a difference. Trust me, it does. Of course, I’m being over-generalistic here. There are some great shops out there that are staffed with great people. I would much rather spend my hard-earned money at a shop where the sales people are passionate about music, knowledgeable about the instrument, friendly toward the customer and not at all focused on a commission.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into Appalachian Bluegrass Music Shoppe. It was fifty-minute drive to this store which stands in Catonsville, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. Once inside, I was pleasantly surprised with a very positive first experience as I was greeted with a simple no-pressure welcome. I milled around for a few minutes, mostly in their front parlor where the finer instruments are housed. They have large two-tier wooden shelves that display seventy or so acoustic guitars in a glass enclosed, humidified environment. (At least, I think it was humidity-managed.) I noticed the store continued beyond that front room, but a peek around the corner revealed a collection of banjos, mandolins and a few middle-of-the-line guitars and another room full of boring sheet music. I didn’t spot any jewels amongst the other instruments, so I stayed near the large case.
I plucked around on a couple of Atlas Series Breedloves. To my surprise, I wasn’t thrilled with either of them. They were fine guitars, but these didn’t feel like any Atlas I’d played before. Perhaps the action needed work or the strings were a bit heavy, certainly issues that can be remedied. But I was simply not feeling it. And feel is important to me. So, I decided to check out a few more guitars in the next price range.
By this time, I had enjoyed a couple of different conversations with some of the guys behind the counter and on the sales floor. Missy was across the street getting her nails done (a perfect boredom-preventer for her) so I had time to enjoy the experience. Even though I had a couple of other stores to hit on my list, I was really amazed at how cool the store was—I enjoyed their selection of fine guitars and I actually liked the people I was chatting with, specifically Joe and Tim. It wasn’t sales, it was conversation. Man, I appreciate that.
I asked to play a 300-series Taylor, just to see how it compared with the Breedlove Atlas. They are comparable in quality and not too far apart in price. Joe, one of the fellows who was assisting me, pulled a 314CE from the shelf and guided me to a room in the back where I could cut loose. Yes. A room in the back. Only the best music stores do this. If you can’t tuck yourself in a cozy closet somewhere, you can’t really evaluate a guitar. If you’re in a store that doesn’t do this, walk out. They aren’t serious about selling guitars. Appalachian Bluegrass is a serious store where serious musicians shop. Joe even handed me an electronic tuner to use the entire time I was there. This is my kind of guitar shop!
I didn’t dig the 300-series at all. I mean, they are nice guitars. Really nice, but not the right fit for me on a personal level. I think I played two different guitars in this series including the 314 and both were hard work for me to play. Again, it could have been a simple fix with action and string gauge, but I just didn’t have that feeling I was looking for.
So, I played a few in the 400-series. Now we were finally getting somewhere. This series is nice. In fact, I played a 414CE that I really liked. Enough so that I considered it for a few minutes. But I couldn’t resist peering into the next section of the wall case. I had played about six or seven guitars already and I had been in the store for a solid hour, taking each guitar back to my own little room and jamming for ten minutes or more. Time flies when you are cutting up like that. Nonetheless, I was intrigued by something in the next section.
What is that? Those were my exact words to Joe. I was pointing to a Taylor 512CE L10—a limited edition guitar that was brand new but had been in stock just over a year.
“Oh, this? No, you won’t want this. I mean, you don’t want to see this guitar. It’s one of my absolute favorites in the shop here and I really don’t want to show it to you for your own sake.” Sounded like a bit of a sales spiel, but I had mentioned that my budget was $1,500-$2,000 and this guitar was priced at nearly $2,400—and the retail was $3,300. Maybe he’s looking out for me, I thought. So I took the bait ignoring his disclaimer and said, “Let me see it.” Fifteen steps to my little room, a quick tune-up and I strummed the first chord. It’s tough to say it was love-at-first-strum, but I can say that within about five minutes of playing and really stretching it out, feeling it, holding it, exploring it, analyzing it, admiring it, I was really digging this guitar. Seriously digging it.
It caught my eye for one single reason: mahogany, mahogany, mahogany. Now that may be three single reasons, but the guitar is so striking because of the gorgeous use of a single wood throughout the guitar. Tropical American Mahogany on the top, on the back and sides and through the neck. The fretboard is a gorgeous and fast ebony with perfect pearl inlays. The rosette around the soundhole is a stellar abalone and the binding is a very tasteful tortoiseshell. The guitar features the Taylor Expression System, a high-quality pickup system that I have become quite familiar with since its release. (In my opinion, the ES is one of the best products Taylor has ever manufactured—and it’s an accessory, not a guitar!) The string action is dead on for my tastes and the guitar really plays itself in my hands. I know it may sound a bit strange to non-musicians, but I really wanted to find a guitar that simply played. I put effort into my playing, but I don’t want to put effort into the guitar. I need to play, not work. That may not even make sense to some musicians, but that’s just my personal process for these things.
The tone of the instrument is more amazing than I imagined and it performs even better than the beautiful aesthetics. As much as I am pleased with its beauty, it is the sound that is most captivating and important. The tone is heavy in the mid-range and, like most Taylor guitars, sparkly on the high-end. But I am most impressed by the depth of the low end, something I’ve usually found lacking in Taylor. This guitar is very different that any other Taylor I’ve ever played—different in so many ways. The clarity of sound is excellent and though I’ve read reports of other owners having the guitar “break up” (distort or lose tonal quality) under heavy strumming, I haven’t experienced anything negative. The tone is superb to my taste.
Well, the guys at the store and I had a long conversation about the guitar, about Taylor, about God, about life, about music and we chatted a little about money. I mean, this guitar was several hundred dollars over budget and as much as I loved it, I was having a tough time justifying it. Missy had come into the store just after I sat down with the guitar, so she experienced the joy of falling for the guitar with me, but I noticed her eyeing that price tag once or twice. And I was eyeing it, too. Maybe we were hoping the Wal-Mart smiley face would pop in a do a price drop on us. I mentioned the budget again to Tim (and honestly, it was a bargaining effort—it was my first and last negotiation tactic). He said, “Hang on. Let me go crunch some numbers.” Missy and I were praying for the best, but I told her I didn’t want it if they couldn’t do anything. I’d just keep looking, even though I felt like this was the guitar. I’d figure out a way to pry it from my clenched hands and carefully place it back on the shelf for someone else to come along and love.
After a few minutes, Tim strolled back in. “We can do the guitar and case for $2,000 flat.” Whoa! Seriously? Did he just say that? I was surprised and elated. Missy was too—and she gave me the affirming look. But I needed clarity so I asked her, “Can we do it?”
“Yep. You love it. It’s yours,” she said.
Woooo! And that was that. Nine days later, I still love it. And I’m still grateful, not for material possessions, but for a wife who believes in me and invests in my dreams through love and sacrifice. And I’m also glad I found a music store that employs great people who go the extra mile for the customers who share their passion for music.
Appalachian Bluegrass Music Shoppe
Technorati Tags: guitar, Taylor, 512CE, L10, instrument, tone, wood, review, Christmas, gift, music, sales, customer service, Appalachian Bluegrass
