Taylor Guitars 450PF

12 string Dreadnought. Build in 199? Can't read because the Fishman is in the way. All solid wood of course. Spruce top, Pau Ferro back and sides. Taylor only build 63 of them because they ran out of this rare wood. Sounds a bit like Braz. Rosewood.
Fishman under saddle.
Satin finish. Chrome Grover runers. Mahogany neck.

Bright, big sound. I use it with a Marshall AS100D amp.

Very easy to play!

The 450PF PF is your basic 12 string dreadnought guitar. The top is spruce; back and sides are "pau ferro", a brazilian wood also known as ironwood and more often found on fretboards than in body applications; the neck is mahogany with an ebony fretboard. Very few (maybe 50) of the 450PFs have been made and it is shame since the wood finishes as a poor man's KOA--orangey tiger striped with a hard,maple-like ring. I have never counted the number of frets since with a 12 string, I rarely go beyond the 15th fret. Twelve tiny grover tuners finished in chrome and a black pickguard and body molding complete the affair. This guitar is a looker and a pleasure to play. Since it is not electrified and has no cutaway, I give it a 8 for features but in an acoustic guitar, this rating scale is meaningless in any event.

This baby sings. The 450 produces magnificent bell-like tones, warm and vibrant and not harsh or boomy. The individual strings are clearly voiced, and do not succumb to the droning muddle of many 12 strings. I find that I often play it in a flatpicker version of fingerpicking giving rise to a harpsichord-esq sound and style. I am entranced with the tone.

Taylors have great action and this one is no exception. When I bought the guitar (Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center) I intended to try the Taylor and buy a Guild, a brand I had always admired for its 12 string selection. However, the Guild I tried played like a brick, and two Martins I played were dull and lifeless, In fact, the only guitar to give the Taylor a run for its money was an exquisite Larrivee 12 string in solid maple with some of the most beautiful mother of pearl (?) inlay work I've ever seen. The Larrivee's action was excellent but the tone did not compare to the Taylor, perhaps due to the fact that its maple top would take some aging to come into its own whereas the Taylor's spruce top was ready to sing. Anyway, I bought the Taylor despite its lack of fancy inlays etc.

I have no reason to suspect that the guitar will suffer from extended playing. The top has additional bracing not normally found in Taylor six strings to accommodate the additional string loads imposed by a 12 string. As you can tell from the gushing review of its tone, the bracing has not compromised the Taylor's sound. Someone (not a professional luthier) once opined that the bolt-on neck system could eventually fail under the 12 string stresses, but I have no reason to believe it at this juncture and am loathe to get into the bolt-on versus set-neck dispute in a guitar review. Suffice to say that everything fits, no rattles, no dings etc.

Taylor publishes a folksy little magazine that provides tips and induces G.A.S. (guitar acquisition syndrome). The warranty is reasonable and fortunately, I have not had to access it. I did write the company to verify a comment made when I bought the guitar (I was told that only 50 of these guitars were made because the steaming process involved in bending the wood produced toxic/noxious fumes). Taylor promptly refuted the rumor, saying only that the limited run reflected the lack of availability of large sheets of pau ferro, and was not due to a health hazard at the plant. I still like the story anyway.

I find I play the Taylor almost exclusively when I reach for an acoustic guitar (My other mainstay is a Heritage Roy Clark semi-hollow electric--discussed in the Heritage section). Its competition includes several acoustics I have picked up over the years including a 1951 Martin 0015 and a 1973 Gibson Hummingbird. Neither six string compares with the overall tone and plyability of the Taylor. I have no interest in trading or selling it and only wish I had the cash to buy a companion for it (maybe a 610CE).