Taylor T5

gnease has one. I heard a soundclip of it and it sounded pretty sweet!

I still haven't gotten my hands around one myself but, I have heard a lot of good things about them.

I'm sure Greg will find this post and help you with the "in's and out's" of it.

Good luck with your hunt, B-man

GN seems to be losing posts -- I put up a similar answer earlier:

I have a maple-topped T5 Custom, and it is versatile, yet somewhat unique-sounding guitar. Still getting used to it. I took it to do some studio recording this weekend, and am glad I did. Usually, I would record with my G&L S500, but wanted to push the T5 learning curve a little this time.

Here are the sound cuts Tracker mentioned. They are from the "Guess the Riff" section of the Games and Trivia forum

Mystery Train

Best Shot

I bought a maple top standard, should be here on Wednesday morning. In return, I am selling an American FAT Strat/Texas and a Gretch Nashville to please the wife. I've got too many that really don't get played and these two are the least played. Anyway, I'll keep you posted after I get a chance to play with it. :D

Oh, by the way...your two post sounded great and helped me make up my mind. Do you know if the is any difference in the standard and custom besides the inlays and gold hardware?

Someone I knew played it and he said he didn't like it very much.

That's very helpful GEEK. What does that mean? :? Someone I know played one and they said the DID like it.

Doesn't matter who else likes it or doesn't, as long as you do, that's all that matters.

I know Mike, maybe my sarcasism doesn't translate as well in writing? Thanks for the support. As I said earlier, I'll give a full report soon.

Peace.

maybe my sarcasism doesn't translate as well in writing?

No, it does, but it isn't warranted.

Here at GN we pride ourselves on self moderation. Just because you don't like a response doesn't mean you have to take offence to it.

I'm a FIRM believer on play/try it yourself before you even think to pass judgment on said product. With that said, if people stick around here they will learn that and understand the importance of it.

I'm not knocking anyone, just trying to let people understand the “community” that we have here.

Looking forward to your review B-Man.

Mike

Fair enough! 8)

I bought a maple top standard, should be here on Wednesday morning. In return, I am selling an American FAT Strat/Texas and a Gretch Nashville to please the wife. I've got too many that really don't get played and these two are the least played. Anyway, I'll keep you posted after I get a chance to play with it. :D

Oh, by the way...your two post sounded great and helped me make up my mind. Do you know if the is any difference in the standard and custom besides the inlays and gold hardware?

Oh man your killin' me you had a Gretch and didn't play it much OUCH!!! That's one sweet guitar.

Not all Gretches are great guitars.

Anyway, I think the only difference between the standard and custom are the cosmetics. I really wasn't paying a lot of attention to that part, as the store only had a trans-black custom with maple available. BTW, I was able to get the Maple T5-Custom for $2399 plus the usual strings and strap without much bargaining from my local independent shop. That seemed pretty good at $300 less than MF catalog price.

I had a chance to spend a little quality time with one a few weeks ago. I was suprised to find how much more it felt like an electric it felt than your normal straight up acoustic, considering the styling choices.

I was also suprised to note how thin it was. I had only see straight on pictures of it and I assumed it had dimensions more like an acoustic, but if I recall correctly, it's only maybe 2" thick(?).

Anyhow, I really liked feel and strong natural resonance I was getting from it, but I'll honestly say that the plugged in tones didn't blow me away, as much as I wanted them to.

A versatile beast, to be sure, but I think if I really needed the acoustic sound with the electric feel, I'd probably just run my LP through an acoustic simulator and call it good. For my particular needs, not worth the expenditure, but YMMV.

Undercat: I like the body resonance and the fact that I can play it harder than a LP. These tend to make fingerpicking and acoustic style, cowboy strumming more fun. OTOH, it's also an easy enough play to make fast electric stuff possible. I gave up on the LP years ago, when I realized I like to get more physical with my guitars -- pulling strings, strumming to the point of mechanical compression and just general wide dynamics in playing. At that point, I switched from and Ibanez Artist solid body (very LP-like) to a G&L S-500 (still my fave). For years, I'd been thinking about a hollow or semi, and had pretty much decided that something like a '335 semi and/or a '135/7 and/or '175 might be the way to go. Problem was I never found a '335 or '135/7 that clicked -- or seemed built to the quality the price implied. Couple of times I've been near the edge with a Johnny A signature and an Ibanez Scofield, but held back, though both are great guitars. After playing the T5, I thought it had a pretty slick feel, plus the unplugged sound was really nice, and surprisingly loud. And it actually seemed worth the price. So I bought it first and foremost based on feel, acoustic sound and quality. And there's one other big plus: It's also so light, I can keep it strapped on for many hours with absolutely no fatigue.

As far as the electric sounds go, I can understand your POV. The 'buckers are not hard drivers. Most of the tonal advantage comes from the active bass and treble and the magnetic body sensor pup. The recommended amp set up is a paralleled or switch arrangement into an electric amp and an acoustic or PA (which it can drive directly). I haven't tried this yet, though will -- just picked up a small Yahama PA last night! But all that aside, I can use the T5 pretty much in the converse fashion as you would your LP for acoustic: Plug into a good overdrive pedal (Voodoo lab for me), and it cranks. And the acoustic body sensor pup is great for feedback effects and adding an acoustic attack.

There's a disadvantage to that body sensor though. Last weekend, I used the T5 for some group studio recording. My amp was mic'ed in an isolation room, but I was playing "live" with the rest of the group in the main studio. At one point the engineer came into the studio baffled because he could hear everything else leaking into my channel. Took about 2 seconds to realize the T5's body sensor is quite a good microphone coupled to all that lively top area.

I'd still say the S-500 is my favorite, and probably best guitar purchase made, but the T5 and my lowly Burns Steer sit pretty high in my collection. All are distinct players, with individual sounds and capabilities. I'd replace any if lost. If I had to chose one guitar to take to a gig, the T5 would probably be it -- unless I wanted to do killer surf: S-500 for that.

Gnease, I really enjoying my purcahse. I ended up with a standard Tobacco finish in Maple for $1,750. It's just a couple months old and in mint condition so I saved a little over $600 off the discounters price. I still exploring the many option it presents. So far, I too am really impressed with the unpluged sound. If you noticed my post on PAIN, after two back surgeries, i've given up the Les Paul also.