Taylor Guitars 210e

I bought this guitar recently and am thoroughly unhappy with it.

Dull

Action high, not concerned about the finish

I bought this guitar, thinking that Taylor might be a good choice for 800 bucks. I was seriously wrong. This thing barely has any sustain (perhaps the old versions did, when they had REAL tonewood for the back and sides), and the sound just drops to the floor like a dead fish.

There is no back bracing inside. This makes for a really nice swollen back, right off the assembly line. Mine has a nice bubble.

It's NOT made of rosewood, it's laminated plywood. Dull, dull, dull.

The intonation was fine, but the action is somewhat high.

Not recommended here. An 800 Guild GAD 50 is a way better buy, even though it's made in China.

This American made Taylor is the pits. I wish I could pick Bob Taylor's brain when he decided to not use back bracing and started using plywood.

I give this a low rating, as it's worse than anyone can imagine. If you like the sound of dull, you'll love this one.

Satin finished dreadnought with a solid Sitka spruce top and laminated Rosewood back and sides. Tusq nut and saddle, plastic bridge pins, ebony saddle and fingerboard, and budget chrome tuners. Comes with Taylor's ES-T pickup system that has volume, bass, treble and phase controls. Made in Mexico at Taylors Tecate plant and comes with a nice hardshell case.

Unplugged this guitar sounds great! Which is the main reason that I purchased this guitar. It has a nice bright but well balanced sound to it with plenty of voice. Good tone but not as nice as Taylor's higher end guitars. Plugged in the sound has good balance but it is a bit on the harsh side. I was able to soften it up quite a bit by turning the treble all the way down and turning the bass to the 3/4 mark.

For a guitar that was made in Mexico the fit and finish is very nice, typical Taylor. The set-up was pretty much spot on with the factory specs. I found the action to be a tad high for my personal taste though. I didn't realize this at the time of purchase but the wood grain on the back and sides is a faux sticker. Don't get me wrong, it looks nice enough but it just kinda bugs me. For some reason this guitar has no back bracing??? Budget line guitars equal budget tuners and plastic bridge pins I guess. The tuners work ok but I will be upgrading them to Taylor Tuners and replacing the plastic bridge pins with the Taylor ebony bridge pins.

This is a solid guitar and appears to be able to handle just about anything you can throw at it. Not sure how long the tuners will last but I am not going to leave them on long enough to find out. A Taylor customer rep told me that the laminate is 3-ply with the inside layer being Sapele, middle layer being Poplar and the outside layer being Rosewood.

I spoke with customer support numerous times before and after my purchase and they were always polite and very responsive/helpful.

For the price range ($800) I think this is the best guitar out there. Very easy to play and sounds great compared to other brands. I spent 2 hours in Guitar Center playing other brands in this price range (Martin, Breedlove, Takamine and Taylor 110's 114's and 214's) and I always keep going back to this one, just plays and sounds great. Bought it new for $640 because Guitar Center had a 20% off sale going on that day, otherwise I would have paid $799 for it.