Taylor Guitars 512 acoustic six-string

My 512 was built in the '80's in Lemon Grove, CA. It's a small body acoustic made of mahogany and spruce with gold plated Grover tuners

I had a Martin D-18 when I bought this guitar. I don't have the Martin anymore, but I still have the Taylor. It's just a great sounding guitar. Rich, well balanced. I love it.

This guitar plays like butter. I use medium-light Elixers and I can play anything on this guitar. There are no finish or construction flaws.

I've had this guitar for close to 20 years now. Other then a ding a former bandmate put in it, it looks almost new. The gold plating on the tuners has tarnished, but I think it gives character. I've played a lot of gigs with this guitar and it's never failed me.

I've never needed customer support on this guitar, but I have a Taylor 12 string that had the bridge lift. They were quick with turnaround and I haven't had a bit of trouble since.

I've been playing for 30+ years. I have three Taylors, a 12 string and an 812C. I also have a Gurian JM. The Taylors have near perfect intonation. They're a joy to play. The 512 has the best neck of any guitar I own, acoustic or electric. I currently don't have a pickup in this guitar, so I can't gig with it. I had an Acoustech system which really captured the acoustic sound, but didn't stay in alighnment so I took it out. I'm looking for a good sounding non-invasive pickup to put in it. K&K maybe? No under-saddle systems.

When I first played this guitar in the store, I fell in love. I went back to buy it and it was gone. Soon afterwards, a friend invited me over to see his new guitar. There it was. I made him promise to sell it to me if he ever wanted to get rid of it. About a year later, he needed to raise money to buy a brazilian rosewood D-28, so he sold me the Taylor. Thank you, Gary Alder! It was really supposed to be my guitar all along. ;-)

If something happened to it, I don't know what I'd do. I've never played another 512 as nice as mine. So, I'm going to take care of it and make the best music I can on it.

The best acoustic guitar I ever played was a pre-war 00-45 Martin. I'd give it an 11 or 12. A 10 would be one of the few outstanding modern production or custom made guitars I've had the pleasure to play. I give my Taylor a 9 because for me, it's near perfect. But there are better sounding guiars out there. But they cost three or four times what my Taylor is worth. Got to figure in the bang for the buck.

My 512 is a 1997 or 98 model. Solid spruce top, mahogany sides and back (the back is two-piece, nicely matched) with abalone inlay around the soundhole and tortoise body binding. Ebony fretboard, one-piece mahogany neck (neck is matte finish). Flawless gloss finish on body. A very attractive instrument. Having said that, I feel compelled to chastise Taylor for changing the neck design and using that cheap-looking finger-joint! The neck on mine is one lovely, continuous piece of mahogany, and for the $$$$$ prices Taylor is asking, they oughta change 'em back to one piece.

My sound is finger-picker wannabe, I guess. As far as flatpicking (or fun-strumming, as the old TV ad used to say) this guitar can't be beat. It's small and comfy, and the sound is big and robust. It's strung with 12s, and the unwound strings kind of give up if they're spanked too hard (I guess a .013 E might help), otherwise, it's very well balanced. And the intonation is dead-on. I never had an acoustic that had such accurate intonation. It makes capoing a delight!

The guitar was set up perfectly---straight out of the box, as far as I could tell. It may have been tweaked by the store, I don't know. The fit and finish are second to none (no flaws, no sloppy glue, frets polished and even). The neck has about the fastest action you could possibly want on an acoustic, allowing l-o-n-g hours of playing with zero fatigue.

I was very leery of purchasing this guitar initially, because it is so light. I figured anything that felt so flimsy and ephemeral couldn't possibly be durable, so I proceeded to play it with, as we like to say in Philly, addy-tood. It stood up to the hardest playing I could dish out, and has ever since. I came to realize that the incredibly light weight allowed it to resonate in a most impressive fashion. The top and neck tend to flex with the seasons, but the truss rod is easily adjustable (even for a klutz like me), so I've had zero problems in over four years.

I've had no problems, so I haven't had to deal with Taylor at all. I love their free newspaper!

I've been playing for 36 years and I have all kinds of stuff, electric and otherwise. My Taylor 512 is the best acoustic flattop I've ever owned, bar none. It is a true pleasure to play. Everyone who plays it comments about it. I compared Gibsons, Martins and Taylors, and the Taylor really left no doubt. It just out-played all the others, and for my ears, offered the crispest, most shimmering tone.

This is a 1999 Taylor 512-M. It's a concert size, with a solid mahogany top, mahogany back and sides, and mahogany neck. The body, as is typical with Taylor, is glossy, and the neck is satin finish. It's the old one-piece neck and is the older neck fastening system which, frankly, has given me no trouble. At the time of purchase, I had a Highlander dual input (piezo/mic) pickup installed at the Highlander factory without the mic option. There are no controls on the guitar - I use an LR Baggs Para-Acoustic D.I. pre-amp. No cutaway. Put together with wonderful craftsmanship, as seems to be typical with Taylor.

I was curious about mahogany as a top wood, but I'm convinced. It gives the guitar a very nice, even sound that is incredibly resonant. When used for blues witha flat pick, it's got a chunky, tight sound that works very well. Having tried out cutaways in the concert size, I have to say that I would go without one... on this size guitar, it makes a huge difference. Not having a cutaway allows longer frequecies to reverberate inside the guitar, helping to fill out the low end, which is always more important for smaller body guitars. If heavier low end is your thing, this size of guitar is not for you.

My only observation is that this guitar is much more susceptible to humidity than my other Taylors... on a recent trip to Florida, the sound became much duller in the high humidity within just a couple of days, even kept in the case. I'll say it's a distraction, but I consider it part of owning a guitar with thinner, more resonant woods.

The guitar was set up very well at the factory, and the Highlander factory left the action a tad higher at my request after installing the ribbon transducer under the bridge... I strum this guitar more than most and I like the extra bit of string clearance.

I had the pickgaurd removed by the dealer, and there was a slightly darker shadow where it had been and the finish had faded. During the summer, I left it in a sunny room (not in direct sunlight) and by the end of summer, the fading matched. Back in the case, thank you!

Otherwise, aslthough I looked for any flaws, I couldn't find a single one.

This guitar is great for live playing... with a pickup. It's suscepibility to humidity makes it a little less dependable for the sound I want in a mic'd situation. Not a problem, for me. Otherwise, it's a workhorse, and I'll be using it for many, many years to come. All the attachments and hardware appears to be rock solid.

I only had to deal with Taylor once, when my cat peed in (and ruined) the case. They were very helpful, as far as they could be. I ordered a new case (300 or so list) from a dealer, and it took longer then I'd like to get it in.

I've been playing for 25 years. I own two Taylors, and gave up a Martin Shenandoah D-41 (which was a very nice Martin) for this guitar. I also have several electrics. I would buy it again, but I might look at a Koa concert size or a maple Taylor... thinner sound on the maple, but that's less important in a pickup situation, I've found. This guitar would be a great guitar if it were my only guitar. If it WERE my only guitar, I'd probably go up to an Auditorium size with a cutaway, so I'd have more neck access and not sacrifice any more low end. As it is, this is one of the most well-rounded guitars I've ever played, bar none. For price/quality ratio, nothing I've played (Guild, Martin, Collings, Santa Cruz) nothing else even comes close.

This is a 2002 512 that I ordered from Taylor through my local dealer. I asked for an engleman spruce top with a clear pick guard. This model has the koa rosette and rosewood binding. A very pretty small-bodied guitar.

This guitar came without the cutaway or electronics. It has a very big sound that is clear whether strumming or finger-playing. The volume is remarkable and a very pleasant surprise.

The guitar was set up by my dealer, but I was told they didn't have to do much if anything to improve the factory set. The action is Taylor's standard low. I cannot detect any flaws. The top is beautiful and well-matched.

If this guitar holds up as well as my previous models I know I am in for many years of trouble-free enjoyment. Taylor's customer service is also first-rate, so I'm not worried about ever having a problem with it.

All of my contacts with Taylor have been great and I always get the impression that they are happy to talk with me.

This is a guitar I have owned longer than any other in my stable of instruments. Small Mahogany body, Engleman spruce top, mine is a 97 which means no headstock joint and the old neck bolt system. Mine is also a sunburst with a florentine cutaway. I have added a Baggs ribbon transducer and use it with the Paracoustic DI.
Ebony bridge and fretboard. The neck is wider for fingerstyle at 1 3/4"


How do you rate Features on an acoustic?

This guitar is amazing. Very even string to string response. Very balanced and warm sounding.

I got this guitar to use plugged in for church services. The smaller body and the wider neck I figured would;

1) Feel more like my electrics

2) Not have as many feedback problems as my larger bodied acoustics.


What I didn't expect was how inspiring this guitar is to play unplugged. It just makes me sound like I know what I am doing. I understand that this guitar was designed for the finger style player in mind but with a smaller body to keep out of the way, the insanely low action on the fast ebony neck, and the warm rich tones, us flat pickin' hard strummin' blues wannabes really have an instrument that we can play without adapting our styles to a completely different feel.

I have had more than 20 different guitars in the last 3 years but NEVER have I considered getting rid of this gem. I consider this guitar to be my friend.

This is a beautiful guitar, made before Taylor started finger jointing the headstock. I wish they would go back to that, I find it hard to even look at a 2000.00+ guitar that has that ugly finger joint. (I don't care if it is stronger it is still wrong)

Been playing on it for quite a while and don't even have a surface scratch. It looks like the UV finish is quite tough.

Been through the tour. Seem like nice folks I just wish they would stop trying to tell me how much better (read cheaper) the finger jointed headstock is.

I have been playing for quite a while mostly electric. I have used this guitar more than 200 times in all kinds of different venues, indoors, outdoors, big and small. I would miss this guitar if it were lost or stolen or damaged beyond repair. I am not sure that I could replace it. It just has that right combination of not too expensive to worry about sitting on a guitar stand and the cool looking well built vibe. I have played other acoustics that I have liked better but, at a 3500.00+ price tags I wouldn't be able to play them without having it chained to my body.

I think that this is a great guitar that SUITS MY NEEDS well your individual results my vary, heck you might even like the way the new finger joints look.

I wanted to love this little guitar, but I just couldn't. The top 4
strings were beautifully in balance, and had a wonderful clear,
resonant sound, but the low E and A strings were just dead. They had
no volume, no resonance, anywhere on the neck. It was just as if
they had been selectively muted. However, this problem may have been
unique to this particular guitar, because I've tried other X12 Taylors
that seemed to have better balance across all 6 strings.

This guitar was extremely well put together. The finish and detailing
on it were impeccable. The action was beautiful, and the intonation
was great. I just loved this guitar's appearance, with the unbound
neck, the snowflake position markers, the tortoise shell binding on
the body, and the shape of the body. The neck was extremely comfortable.

I had the guitar about 2 years. It was always reliable, never went
out of tune, never needed adusting. Very solid overall, despite
Taylor's reputation for being finicky about humidity.

Taylor were very responsive to my enquiries about the lack of tonal
balance, but were able to offer no solutions, except to consider
a different body size.

I personally would be hesitant to get another X12 size Taylor body again.
I'd probably go with anything in the X14 size. I have nothing
againstTaylors overall. I'm a Canadian, and I consistently like them
better than their Canadian rival, Larrivee.

Smallish flat-top style guitar similar in proportions to a Martin "00" series guitar. Mahogany back and sides; Englemann Spruce Top; Ebony fretboard and bridge; mahogany neck. This particular guitar was made in 1993. The top has very tight but somewhat wavy grain and a number of "bearclaws", which seems all the rage now. Bought it used in 1999 and there were several dings and some wear on the finish, e.g., belt-buckling. Also, the previous owner had taken off the pick-guard to give more of a parlor guitar appearance. Replaced the pick-guard. Note comments on Taylor's customer service below (+++).

I finger-pick a lot: 1920's and 1930's ragtime/country blues and light jazz; 1950's & 1960's folk; traditional Appalachian music; a little classical; Kottke 6-string stuff, etc. etc. I was looking for a smaller bodied flat-top for this purpose. After trying a bunch of different brands (Taylors, Martins, Gibsons, Tacoma, Larrivee), I ended up doing an A-B with this guitar and a 1964 Martin 00-18. While the Martin was very sweet and had the wonderful aged-wood sound only time provides, the 512 was a little fuller and had a touch more bass response. Additionally, being 7 years old and having been played a lot, it had shed the baby-fat that new acoustics tend to have. It has a sweeter, fuller sound than a new 512, which tends to have some high sizzle. Understand: it is not a flat-picker's guitar and will frustrate anyone who tries to use it for that purpose - not enough sustain. But then that is its virtue as a finger-picker. It has excellent balance (nice bass response for a smaller guitar), good projection, real nice undertones and overtones, and just enough sustain so notes ring-out without lingering. Also, being mahogany it has excellent resonance and the warmth. I have rosewood and koa guitars and the difference seems to be that the latter immediately project out with a lot of brightness whereas the mahogany is warmer and sounds as if it is resonating from within the sound box.. Make sense? Sounds are hard to describe. Anyway, the 512 is not a versatile guitar but it is a very good choice for finger-picking duties. I have heard it also works very well for jazz chordings. My limited knowledge of inside ninth and seventh chords seems to confirm this.

The woods seem very well chosen. The mahogany is very straight grained and uniform. Even the neck has very straight grain even in the heel. I love the ebony fretboard. Has a great feel and is more durable than rosewood. I tend to gouge divits with the latter. The spruce top has intrigued me. It is very tight but slightly wavy at places. I thought wavy was bad but then the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. This guitar sounds very nice. The neck is smallish in diameter and very comfortable.

This guitar has already been beat up a bit. Couldn't get full price for it on E-Bay but then I did not pay top dollar in the first place. Frankly, this is an excellent sounding guitar partly because it was played a lot, which is what got it in that semi-beat up condition. As for this 512, given that it is structurally perfect after having been beat up, I would say it is very durable.

My one direct contact with Taylor was very positive. As indicated, the pick-guard was missing. I called them up and the guy was very nice and asked for my address to send the pick-guard. I asked how much and he said "nothing." It arrived two days later. That says it all.

As I have said it is not versatile but still a very good choice for finger-picking styles. I have played for over thirty years and have played a lot of different guitars, electric and acoustic. This is one I will keep. It is starting get that warm, woody sound that older, well-used guitars have so it would be hard to replace. If faced with that situation, I would look for something similar in type and age. I have other acoustics - a Tacoma koa-wood parlor guitar, and a Martin D-18V. Each fills a particular niche, a conclusion I have come to after spending too much time looking for the "perfect" guitar. There is no such thing as a perfect all-around guitar, as one's style dictates what is going to sound good not the other way around. So with that said, any of the "12" series Taylors are well worth the look-see if you are interested in a smaller bodied guitar. Give 'em a try.

Made in California in 1999 (Taylor serial numbers include the date of manufacture, right down to the day). Concert grand size: 15 x 19-1/2 x 4-1/8 inches (38 x 50 x 11 cm), similar in shape to a Martin 000 body, and about the same thickness, but somewhat larger. Twenty frets, 14 to the heel (so you can play a barred D chord way up there), no cutaway. No electronics. Neck width at the nut 1-3/4 inches (44 mm), string spread at the bridge 2-3/16 inches (55 mm), just right for finger-picking. Body all solid wood, scalloped bracing, with brown "American" (whatever that means) mahogany sides and back, pale Engelmann spruce top, bolt-on thin mahogany neck with truss rod accessible from the head, ebony fretboard, Indian rosewood head overlay, ebony pin-type bridge, "Tusq" nut and compensated "Tusq" saddle. Tortoise-shell body-edge binding, abalone inlay around the soundhole, smallish diamond-shaped fretboard markers, very small pearl markers on side of neck. High-gloss finish on the body, matte finish on the neck. Chromed Grover tuners. Came with a very solid, tight-fitting, vinyl-covered laminated-wood case with good hardware. Inside was a wrench for adjusting the truss rod, with an integrated screwdriver for removing the truss-rod cap and adjusting the tuning machines. Nice touch. This is a very beautiful guitar, not overly ornate, and very well made. Had no strap pin installed, and installing one is tricky on Taylors because of hardware hidden in the heel, so I'll rate it 9 out of 10.

Taylor recommends this as a finger-picker's guitar, which is my style. Almost bought a new Martin 000-15, but the sound was too plunky for my taste. Spent lots more for the Taylor 512, but it's perfect: bright treble, warm midrange, solid bass without being boomy (can see why Taylor also recommends this model for recording), lots of volume. Can strum it hard without that tinny break-up sound small guitars are notorious for. And the 6th-string-at-3rd-fret dead spot found on so many small solid-wood acoustics (terrible on the 000-15) is minimal. Full marks.

Came with Elixir light-gauge strings. Action was too high for me in the shop -- I like low action -- and they wouldn't lower it all that much, but it was enough for me to realize that this was a very playable guitar. I finished the setup myself, referring to Taylor's excellent on-line "tech sheets" about saddle, nut and truss-rod adjustment, and the guitar is now wonderfully easy to play. The neck is slightly wider than a Martin neck, which I wasn't sure I'd like but found that I do, and it's nice and thin. The satin finish is silky and very fast. Love the ebony fretboard; have always played rosewood, but ebony is noticeably slicker. I bought a good electronic tuner to check the intonation of all the guitars I tried while shopping for this one. Most any $1000-and-up instrument has good intonation these days (not true the last time I shopped, in 1978) and the 512 is as close to perfect as any I tested, including a $4500 Bourgeis. Some guitars produced a lot of needle-waver when tuning, especially in the fatter strings. Imperfect harmonics? Don't know, but the 512 showed little needle-waver and sounds terrific. The back of this guitar looked to be made in four pieces: the central joint, and what appeared to be another joint off to each side. However, a close look at the grain revealed that the extra lines are in the wood, properly bookmatched. Perhaps this kind of banding is typical of "American mahogany," but the 500-series Taylors are not top-of-the-line, so perhaps this is a blemish that would not appear in Taylor's high-end instruments. It doesn't bother me; probably adds strength. The Engelmann spruce top (supposedly a little warmer in sound than Sitka spruce or cedar) is near-perfect: only a tiny bit of waviness noted. All glue joints are clean inside and out. The edge bindings and inlays look perfect. The neck is bolted on, as per all Taylors, but you'd hardly know it, the fit is so close. (Amusing: Taylor goes to great lengths to explain how their bolt-on neck, long associated with cheap guitars, is actually superior, then they cover the boltheads, which would otherwise show inside the body, by pasting a piece of paper over them. Lingering inferiority complex?) Two minor flaws noted: a bit of glue had escaped from under the nut and had left a tiny rough spot in the neck finish there, which I rubbed smooth with my thumb, and there was a little scratching inside, directly below the soundhole. Could have been caused by someone trying a soundhole pickup on the guitar.

The 512 is a lightweight guitar, so I'm going to be careful with it. I have heard that Taylor instruments are solid and that the UV-baked finish on them is tough and hard -- it's certainly thick enough -- but I'd like to keep this beauty at home. One good sign: it didn't show any dings from in-store handling. Maybe I'll put a pickup in my old Takamine F-312 (copy of a Martin S-series) and use that for playing out. As for the long-term durability of the 512, I haven't had it long enough to tell.

My only contact with Taylor thus far has been to download "tech sheets" from their website. I'm impressed. The information is complete and well-written, with good illustrations. The company assumes that people buying their instruments are not dummies, so the material is not watered down. Further, for people like me who live far from the nearest luthier and need to do their own setups, Taylor provides full instructions. The warranty is lifetime, transferrable to another owner.

Have always loved guitar, playing folk music and my own compositions for 37 years. Learned on a 1952 Martin 0-15 and went through three other guitars (Yamaha, Hagstrom, Takamine), none as good, before acquiring this one. Was playing less and less as the years went by, mainly because I was frustrated by not having a suitable instrument. Now I do, thanks to my wife, who ordered me (really!) to go out and get something decent. Am playing lots more and loving it again. For me, that's worth a 10.