Product: Taylor Guitars 812c
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
11/26/2008
at
11:27am
by
Rambler
Features
:
9
1997 Taylor 812c. Great finish, woods, fine neck, durable case, etc
Sound
:
9
Great finger picking guitar. Small body makes fingerpicking location more critical: that is, if you play forward on the body you get a much better sound, almost bell like, than if you play back toward the bridge. I play my 812 live alot and am very happy with it. You cannot dig into it with a flat pick like the 14 series or the 10 series because it just won't keep up in tone. This is especially noticible when recording the guitar.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
I have had the saddle replaced and the frets dressed once in 11 years. The factory action was very good, better than the guitars come out today based on the instruments I have played recently at Guitar Center. Really nice handmade feel to this guitar.
Reliability/Durability
:
7
My guitar is humidified. I developed a centerline finish crack about 1.5 inches starting from the bridge. The crack has very slowly gotten larger over the 11 years I've owned the guitar. A second crack has now started behind the bridge also that is about 1/4 inch. I have seen the same tpes of cracks on other guitars made around the same time so it may be a production problem. I have installed two different LR Baggs pickups in the guitar since 1997.
Customer Support
:
3
The female factory customer service person was impatient and not helpful when I called about the cracking. I was looking for advice and she gave me a headache instead. I wanted to send the guitar to the factory for evaluation/repair and she acted like it was too much trouble. I went to a local luthier and got the service I was looking for.
Overall Rating
:
8
I've been playing live music for 25 years. I love this guitar, but if I had it to do over I would buy the 14 series because it would give me more low end and be more verstile overall. I think a 414 is probably in my future, although, I am not thrilled about the concept of the newer "bolt on" necks and so I may look for an older used guitar. The fingerpicking tone/sound and the playability of the 812 guitar are my favorite features.
