Taylor Guitars GA6

Flamed maple sides and three piece flamed maple back. Sitka spruce top. Ebony fingerboard with small abalonie dot markers. Ebony bridge. GA stands for Grand Auditorium body style. No expression system.

I played somewhere between 30 to 50 guitars when I began my search for an acoustic. This guitar stood up to guitars costing several thousand dollars more - several of which were hand made boutique guitars. It is just an incredible example. I was prepared to pay much more. I was looking for a guitar with a cutaway and electrics, but I could not deny how good this guitar sounded. It was more than worth sacrificing easy access to the upper register. No guitar has it all, but this guitar has exceptional balance from string to string. It has a very crisp sound, but also has a great deal of body, warmth and character. Not a dreadnought boomer, but balance. I have been playing for over 30 years professionally and I new immediately that this guitar would work for me. I have been focusing on solo acoustic the last several years, and needed a guitar with good voice seperation as I play a lot of jazz standards (fingersytle and pick) with extended chords as well as open string arrangements more typical of "acoustic guitar players". Even up at the 14th fret I get great sustain from the higher notes and, as I mentioned, great balance. I have never played a bad Taylor, but some, like this one, are exceptional.

I have never played a guitar that played great off of the "rack," and this one is no exception. All Taylors I have played are set up better than most, and it does play well for a stock guitar. But, it will get sent to my luthier for set up. Like I said, I have been playing a long time, and I always get my guitars set up to where I like them. However, it may be set up great for some as it is.

To new to tell, but Taylor has a reputation for excellent build quality. Fit and finish work all look very good and I have not found any finish flaws or bad finsh work yet.

I inquired, through my dealer, if I could get an expression system installed without drilling the volume and tone pots through the side. I would have bought the guitar if it had an expression system already installed, but I just didn't want to drill into the body if I didn't have to. Taylor couldn't do this, but they responded in minutes to my inquiry. If I had chosen to, they would have installed the expression system with a claimed two week turnaround. I purchased a Fishman system to be installed when the guitar is set up.

Sound wise, it is among the top 5 or 10 acoustic guitars I have ever played. Fit and finish are typical of a production of this level...very good, but frets could be finished better. This isn't a criticism, as I have played a lot of new guitars, and many expensive guitar manufacturers (especially production guitars) could do a better job of polishing and leveling the frets. Some buzzes around the 10th fret on the high E string, but once again, not unlike other production guitars I have played.