Taylor Guitars T5 Thinline

I had the first run of the t5 made in 2005. I got a solid flamed maple top and i loved how it looked. The feel of the guitar is amazing. Tuners were superb. I couldn't put it down for the next couple weeks because every time i saw it i wanted to play it. I must say the pick ups are pretty versatile. The whole build of the guitar is just supreme. And the pick up switches made the guitar so useful in a lot of genres that it really lightens up your load.

One of the team members said that the t5 will not replace the 814ce or the gibson les paul and they were right. Although you can achieve a vast amount of sounds it will not give you that rich warm full bodied acoustic tone. The acoustic tone although it is somewhat impressive, it tends to sound a little thin. I mean there is no substitute for the sound of a full bodied acoustic. But i was impressed. just mess with the eq's for a bit and you can get some good acoustic sounds. The electric side of the t5 impressed me. First because this is Taylor's first attempt to make an electric and the sounds were not bad as i expected it to be. the single humbucker option is my favorite because it has in my opinion the most even response from the highs, mids and lows. The dual humbucker run in parallel can give you a fat tone but the lows can get pretty muddy so watch out for that. The dual humbucker run in series gives you the most fullest tone without getting too muddy. However it is a hybrid and you will not get a gibson tone or a prs. You may however achieve the spanky tone of a fender tele or strat with the right eq.

Action is perfect. Pick ups were set up nicely. However you cant customize the pickups. The finish and the final touch ups were perfect. Overall setup was nearly perfect

All instruments should be treated with care. With that being said the guitar is so light and i feel as if it could break with one wrong move. But i was proven wrong. I played a lot of gigs and its pretty sturdy. The hardware is tough. The finish however may take a beating but that is with all guitars. For taking it to a gig you might want to bring an extra 9 volt battery because you never know when the guitar will die out. This guitar's versatility will allow you to only bring one guitar per gig.

Nice people. Knows their stuff.

I've been playing guitar for about 10 years. I own a chet atkins sst, sg special and used to own a couple of taylor acoustics. Overall i love this guitar. Because the tones are so different from your traditional acoustic and electric it gives you a new pallet of sound to experiment with. The quality of this guitar is amazing i mean it is a taylor after all. This is an awesome guitar and recommend it for those who are looking to play in both worlds.

I played the T5 last week at a store not plugged in, because I was short on time. I feel in loved with the look, feel and the action. I was very excited about the possibility of this one guitar for acoustic country rock, to Bob Dylan folk, to rock and blues, some Jazz. .
I perform weekly at a bar, doing a one-man band with looping devices, drum machine, and sometimes other musicians sit in. I wanted badly to love this guitar. And I was ready to pay big. I read all the reviews and thought bad reviews were do possibly overly picky reviewers.
I returned to the store and plugged in to a Fishman Bigbox and a small PA. I mainly wanted to check the Acoustic sound, because I'm moving toward a more acoustic set. I have a Taylor 114e, and play it though a PA, or Blues junior, Champ XD into the PA. I was very dispointed. The T5 acoustic sound was not satisfactory to take the place of my Acoustic electric Taylor.
After finding the acoustic sound unsatisfactorty and did not check the electric sound out very much. I did not like its sound compared to my Strat or Les Paul, but that could be improved with pedals. My goal was to find both kind of guitars in one. I wanted to record a loop rythem with an acoustic guitar, and then play electric lead over it, without changing guitars on stage. It really did not matter to me, how good the electric sound was since,i didn't like the acoustic sound.

The best action, neck I could very ask for.

I agree with other reviewers said who said this guitar has its own sound, and would not take the place of a good Acoustic guitar, or a Strat, Tele, LP.
The Taylor demo on Youtube the "acoustic" sound was way better than what I heard. I was unrealistic wanting this guitar to be great sounding acoustic and electric. The look feel, action every thing but the sound was super. I was disappointed cash in hand rerady to buy.

Built in 2005. CMR Air Coil bridge pu, Dynamic Neck pu built in and Dynamic body sensor under body. 5-way switch and you can re-arrange the pu combinations if you want to play around with the plug-in connectors inside the body. Battery changes and access to electronics are ok but don't attempt a switch replacement or amp/equaliser replacement unless you are really skilled at these things!

Good choice of sounds but no single guitar will ever be 'master of all sounds'. I use a Roland GP100 sound processing system and that provides me with realistic acustic sounds when combined with the appropiate 5-way switch settings. Bridge pu will never get the guitar to sound like a Tele or Strat of course.

Great action, well built.

This may be the first '5' rating in this category but I've given '5' because two of the pcikups have failed! Currently only the CMR Air Coil bridge PU is working. I've read through lots of reviews and it seems this is not a general problem but, nevertheless, still disappointing for a guitar less than two years old.

Because of being non-US located support is not easy to get. The response form the Fender GB appointed Factory agent was prompt but they couild not help solve the problem without returning the guitar for repair. I'll have more to say on this after I've been through the repair process! It seems that I will have to pay for repairs. One year warranty is a bit mean!

I fully support the comments about the non-electronics build, its very good and comparable with the Rick guitars. Neck action is excellent. Only negative is that intonation on the fifth and sixt strings (as usual) is out until you get to the fifth fret. Sadly, there is no adjustment for intonation, but I guess adding such a feature would turn the guitar into an electric.

Features have been pretty well covered. Stacked bridge humbucker, hidden humbucker under the neck, internal transducer. 5-way selector switch. This is the koa top custom model.

While I like the array of sounds the T5 produces, I'll say that if you're expecting this guitar to sound just like your ES-335, your miked Martin, AND your Les Paul, you will be disappointed. The T5 has sounds all its own, which I find more useful for jazz/pop/blues through a tube amp than for hard rock or metal through a solid state modeling amp. But it's important to know that the T5 produces its own unique sounds, and is not going to satisfy you as a direct substitute for any other guitar.

Trying to characterize the sound in general terms probably isn't that helpful. I tried the maple top, spruce top, and koa top, and bought the koa. Very different personalities. Since I was aiming mostly at jazz, I found the maple a bit too sparkly. The koa is much more mellow.

However, since the T5 is a fully hollow body guitar, it is going to have feedback issues. At even moderate volumes, you won't want to wander on-axis of your amp. And the switch setting that couples in the transducer pickup must be handled with extreme caution.

In terms of overall sound, I would say that the acoustic properties stand out; you'll never mistake this for a solid body electric. It has a very sweet pure acoustic sound when not plugged in, but it's not loud enough for anything but quiet practice.

When I bought mine, I looked at two of the koa model, both with straight factory setup. The first was not playable and couldn't be made playable. Tried cranking the neck, then unbolting and shimming the neck. Finally got the strings off the frets, but two of the pickups weren't working. Kind of worrisome.

The one I bought also had action problems; the low 4 strings were too high, and the B and E strings buzzed. So this one required a shim under the treble end of the bridge and a little neck relief, but these tweaks worked just fine, resulting in perfect action. The outer strings (E strings) are just a bit closer to the ends of the frets than on most guitars, easy to pull off the fret, so this takes just a bit of getting used to.

Beyond this, the fit and finish are flawless and deeply sexy.

After a month of steady playing, there have been no reliability problems. Bear in mind, this is a hollow body acoustic-type guitar, very light weight and delicate.

No call for this yet.

Now that it's set up, and because I enjoy the sound for what it is rather than for what I might have mistakenly expected, I join the group of players who just can't set it down. I never expected it to be a one-size-fits-all instrument ideally suited for everything from bluegrass to death metal.

The neck is very comfortable and effortless, the guitar is light, thin, balanced and easy to play. There's enough variation in the 5 available settings (and 2-band EQ) for every purpose I'd ever use it for. I find it quite versatile, bearing in mind that it's not going to sound like the traditional (and fairly narrow) selection of "acceptable" guitars for most styles.

If I could add one feature, it would be a notch filter. The feedback can be unexpected and quick!

Sage Green Metallic with two top-mounted humbuckers and an under-neck pickup (no body sensor), otherwise a normal T5-S standard guitar. All of the hardware and appointments are 1st-rate... it's extremely well thought out and un-cluttered. The neck is on the wide side, but emminently playable and comfortable, with perfectly-dressed thin, low frets. 5-way switch and active boost/cut treble and tone controls give you TONS of sound options. The volume actually has a 6db boost past the detent position and does a great job of compressing the front end of a warm amp. You might not think it to look at it, but this guitar is loaded with everything you need.

Sounds are amazing... extremely versatile. I can nail tones from the best guitars I've ever played... my Ric' 360, Gretsch, 335, even my custom Strat. It goes from beautiful dark jazz to sparkling clean, thin highs, to full-tilt crunch and awesome fat lead tones. It doesn't have a body sensor, so it doesn't do the acoustic sounds like the single top-mounted pickup version. Everything it does it does extremely well... this is not a "do a lot of things marginally well" kind of guitar.

I bought this guitar used at Gryphon Strings in Palo Alto, CA... This is a fantastic shop that hosted one of Taylor's road shows. I don't know if these guys set up the guitar, but it had an immaculate setup when I put my hands on it. The action was nice and low, the tension spot on for fast picking, finger style, etc., and the fit and finish were flawless. A supremely beautiful guitar.

This thing is very light, BUT... it's put together very well. There is no doubt in my mind that this thing will stand up to anything I can throw at it.

Haven't had to call them, but the guys I talked to at the Taylor Road Show were super... they entertained a barage of questions with grace and enthusiasm. In the clinic were several previous Taylor-owners who've called the company, one of whom spoke to Bob Taylor, and all of them were supremely happy with their service.

I've been playing for about 20 years and I've gotten rid of more guitars than I care to admit, including some custom Strats and Gibsons. Right now I'm down to a Clapton Strat, a Rickenbacker 360, a Carvin AE-185, a Guild Songbird, Tacoma DR-38 and a Dobro resonator, with about 5 or so 'lesser but good' instruments. Compared to anything I've ever owned, this guitar is easily the best made and well thought out. It's a gem and I'll sell my wife before I get rid of this guitar.

I bought a new 2007 T5 Custom with a cocobolo top a month ago. Before I got it my Gretsch 57 DuoJet was my favorite. Now I can't put the T5 down for a minute!!
The finish is superb.
The body is perfect and comfortable
The tuners must've been made by Rolls Royce
The neck is like silk and glass and the action was perfect right out of the case (really cool looking faux alligator by the way)
Pickups are great and overall have a nice warm sound. But........when you need the crunch it delivers.

Likes are many........dislikes are none. I truly love this guitar. I have been an electric player for 40 years and this is the first acoustic I am 100% comfortable with.

Perfect right out of the box. It came with Elixer Nanoweb 11's. I imediately changed to Rickenbacker 10's......simply becaust I prefer half rounds/flat wounds.

Flaws? none....period.

Looks delicate and feels so light compared to my Les Paul. Then again, my car feels light compared to the LP!

Haven't had it long enough to comment on the finish, but if it's like other Taylors, it should hold up nicely.

Have not had the opportunity to deal with them yet.

Been playing for 40 some-odd years and been through about 60 or so guitars. This and my Gretsch 57 are my favorites to date.

I originally saw this when they first came out and from time to time would play one at a local GC. I said to myself "I gotta get me one of these one day".

A bit expensive for the Custom Cocobolo model. I'm sure the Std models play just as well.

'05 T5 Cherry sunburst Polyester UV cured gloss finish over solid flame maple double bound cutaway flat-top.
Made in El Cajon (CA).

2" body thickness (of red stained gloss Sapele); 16" across lower bout.

Deep red gloss finished bolt-on medium "C" shape mahogany neck with single bound ebony fingerboard and headstock; 15" radius; 21 medium frets; sealed chrome tuners.

Active electronics.

Came with a very nice faux-alligator hardshell case with 5 yellow metal latches (one locking).

I like the bright hybrid sounds: from shimmering "plugged-in acoustic" type sounds, to "airey" electric guitar sounds.

It is what I was looking for, coming from a more "vintage Telecaster through a tweed Deluxe" type sound, which was more primitive and midrangey, that I previously used for everything style I play. I wanted less midrange (though I like the crispness and intensity) and more high and "pretty" tones.
This is basically the trade-off I got too. So I'm pleased.

I did need to buy a better amp to take advantage of the range though.

For me, the T5 useful for: live Jazz; Showtunes & Pop; and acoustic rhythm jobs: using the supplied balanced cable with the XLR into A SWR California Blonde II amp.

I also use it straight into a Boss BR-900CD digital recorder for home recording with lots of versatility from gritty Blues sounds to "pretty" air pudding noodling.

It sounds pretty ghastly straight into my Allen Class Act class "A" tube amp. It will do a pretty convincing telecaster/tweed amp emulaton through the Allen (which is sort of a super "champ" concept), but it's harder to find that broad "sweet spot" when working it in a medium sized room. It's there, just not as easily accessible on the fly. It'll do Country and Blues well though, with the Allen.

The range of tones is pretty wide generally, though it doesn't have a whole lot of walloping midrange "punch" if you like say, Joe Walsh sounds from a P-90 LP Jr.

There can be some hum with a standard 1/4" cable in a noisy environment on some of the settings, but I've had no intrusive noise on jobs that I couldn't move around a little and make acceptable.

Here it flat out gets a 10.

The set up was perfect, and the playablity next to none. The neck is exquisite. Just right for me, though I have generally preferred big Nocaster necks lately. This isn't anything like that. It's like a fine Jazz guitar from the sixties, like a Byrdland or something.

The input jack worked loose over time. No biggie. Bears checking, as on most electric guitars.

I love the concept of a bolt-on neck: no future expensive neck resetting will ever be required!
The T5 has tuning machines that are among the best I've ever experienced: no lash at all; and smooth as silk.

I was afraid the top needed a pickguard to protect its beauty, but it rubs out fine. I greatly prefer the feel of the Polyester finish to lacquer -which feels sticky to me- but I'm sure the T5's finish is harder.

It looks like a museum piece, but holds up to steady use just fine so far. I take pretty good care of my equipment: it is a hollow wood guitar after all, not a piece of diamond plate steel (or an ash Telecaster).

Original owner lifetime warranty against defect in materials etc etc.
Usual stuff.
The warranty card lists some general Taylor guitar care and feeding principles, for the ham-fisted ignoramuses who need them explained.

I have no experience with Taylor Guitars on customer support. They seem to have their own cheering section worldwide though, starting with their own suits. Impressive appearence of caring. I have not heard anything that gives me pause.
This is my first Taylor.

47 years all styles guitar. I appreciate the versatility of this instrument's intended use.

It comes at a time when I'm gravitating towards versatility on the bandstand, and wanting to add some "acoustic" sheen to the sounds, generally.

If I'm their target, they hit it square: this is a great step forward for performance oriented guitars.

I'll say this: it's NOT your father's guitar!

When I was trying to find the "sweet spots" etc in my usual manner, developed over a lifetime of passive circuit high impedence phase relationship compromises and what sounded good to the powers that be (circa the fifties, when most electric guitar and amp "sets" manufacturing was ramping up and finding its market place), I frustrated myself.

I knew there were great sounds in there, but you can't expect a low impedence active circuit to give you your usual comfort zones of mush to soften the edges.

Even an Ovation through a tube amp (I've always hated piezo sounds) was understandable to me, but I prefered trying to get a more "acoustic" sound out of a Telecaster, which can be done somewhat in a live situation.
I never could understand why anyone would choose a piezo sound for recording though, if they didn't have to.

Over the years, I've tried or owned most types of popular electric guitars, from archtops to Reverends to Fishman Blender equipped Tacomas, as well as fine flat-tops and even acoustic only archtops.

But tastes change, and the public's perception of an acceptable so-called "acoustic" guitar sound has changed too (though not much in Bluegrass or Hawaiian Slack key circles).

The T5 isn't out to convince Bluegrassers OR heavy Rock players, IMHO.
But it does offer an old hand like me the opportunity to be as versatile as I want in the course of a live set, without changing guitars.

If I wanted to go for even broader versatility, I suppose I could A-B switch between my SWR and Allen amps, but I don't need distortion of the type I like at the jobs I play, so the SWR California Blonde amp carries the load all night for me.

I also like the unplugged tone and level fine too.

The active circuits don't react like passive ones, and the T5 Thinline will not react from the body like a thick slab bodied Hamer with P-90's. It's different.

I like this new modern guitar for the new millennium.

It's not the end of guitar development. They've just landed on the beach, and there's a whole Continent laying ahead, ripe for development.
Taylor has stuck a banner in the sand of that beach.

I'm sure it will spin off Jay Turser copycats. But it won't be the exquisite example of the guitar manufacturer's art the Taylor is.

Mine is an '05. It is now '07. I'm sure this ax can be bettered, but it does the job for me right now and for the foreseeable future (unless I get real rich real soon). At my age and declining activity level it could be the last guitar I'll need or want. I traded in most everything else I was using on it, and have since sold off the rest due to lack of use. I don't need or want that stuff anymore: too much compromise without redeeming user friendly simplicity.

I'm not going back to muddy sounding planks and snarky Ovations, thankyouvermuch. This thing has highs only my dogs can hear. I like that.

Features are well documented. I've had two T5's, a Standard with spruce top and body sensor, and a Custom with spruce top and double humbuckers. I sold the Standard and kept the Custom. Features are pretty robust, but could have more electronic options and better output flexibility, so it gets an 8.

Excellent, varied, and expressive instrument. But I take off one point because the tone controls are not as profound in their adjustments as they could be. Particularly treble; it's not possible to REALLY roll off the treble, like on a standard passive tone pot. The guitar handles different amps well, and has a personality with each one. I'm using it with a Fender Princeton Reverb (tube amp), an Acoustic Image Clarus/Redstone cabinet (jazz rig), and a Roland AC-60 acoustic amp.

Pretty much impeccable, but in selecting my T5's, I played many - and there is quite a lot of variability, especially on the action. Some had high action, some low. Odd for this to be so disparate, after all, the saddle should be a standard component. Pickup heights are consistent, and all played well on the low frets (nut setup). Intonation is excellent. I have tried Elixir electric 11's (stock) and D'Addario XL 11's so far, and both sound and intonate well.

The guitar is durable, but it's not a stone. It's an instrument made of wood. The battery seems to be a bit of a wild card, with only 40 hours of use prior to dying (per manual).

I'll give most of the substance of my review here.

I've been playing for 30 years and own 20+ guitars currently. I've owned over 40 in my life. I am fascinated by electric guitars with an acoustic personality. I love jazz archtops, semi-hollows, and hybrids of all kinds. So of course I had to check out the T5. It's a new flavor on the somewhat misled theme of "one guitar for all seasons."

Let's focus on that, because it's Taylor's marketing theme on the T5. All of the videos show rockers cranking out the distorto tones on their T5's. Taylor seems almost embarrassingly proud of its "Electric Guitar(tm)" as if it's the first company to make something like that. It's almost like the dorky kid realizing he's done something sort of cool for the first time, and not quite sure how to deal with it.

And herein lies the T5's curse: If you go into it with the expectation that this guitar is a jack of all trades, you will be disappointed. I see reviews where people call it a "crappy acoustic and a crappy electric" - and I cringe. True, it is not a full bodied acoustic, and it's not a proper electric guitar that a real overdrive junky would choose to sling if given other options.

BUT, it's a really interesting, unique, expressive instrument **in its own right**. Are you prepared for that? Taylor may not think that it can market the T5 with such a radical message, but this is what does it for me. The previous review states how the acoustic side never quite goes away, and this is true. And great! So it's all about expectations. If you are interested in your own voice(s), the T5 may be for you. And yes, it IS damn versatile too; perhaps 75% of the marketing promise is delivered.

One last thing... I discovered something fun about the T5 that I have not read anywhere else. The pickups are wired to the circuit board with plugs, so they can be easily removed in modular fashion. On the double humbucker T5, this is interesting... because you can SWITCH their positions, enabling other pickup settings. How about the middle humbucker alone? Or the middle and bridge together? Yes, we can do that. And for me, this unlocked the magic of the T5 even more, because I play in a jazz-oriented style. The sound of the middle bucker alone is much more "PAF-ish" than the oddly voiced under-neck pickup.

My switch is wired as follows: (1 = closest to neck)
1 - Neck + Bridge series
2 - Neck alone
3 - Middle alone
4 - Neck + Middle parallel
5 - Neck + Middle series

I am passing for now on the Bridge-only and Neck/Bridge series settings that are part of the stock wiring, opting instead for more variety of warm/dark flavors. The T5 is fairly bright to begin with, and rolling off the bass enables brighter sounds easily.

Feel free to email me with T5 questions or comments.

I've been playing for 31 years, full-time pro for 23.

Like a lot of other reviewers have said, I really wanted to love this guitar. I spent quite a while with one at a local music store a few days ago. I played it through and acoustic amp, an electric amp and unamplified. The instrument played well enough and sounded good unamplified, but it just didn't do anything really well. The acoustic sounds were best but that's no great accomplishment for a Taylor. The electric side is where it needs to shine and in my opinion the T5 doesn't measure up. Everything that is supposed to be "electric" still has a acoustic vibe to it, even high-gain sounds. You can't get the standard electric sounds you need, only semi-reasonable facsimiles. I would be much more inclined to invest in a Fishman system for one of my electrics.

I have repeatedly found over many years that a guitar which is supposed to do everything rarely does anything exceptional. That's pretty much my bottom line on the T5.

The features are well documented on the Taylor website. Mine is a standard. I describe it as a hybrid guitar. It has a solid spruce acoustic guitar top with stylized F holes glued to a routed out piece of mahogany.

I give it a nine only because I think it needs an on board notch filter.

I've owned my T-5 Standard for about 9 months now. I bought it for band work but occaisionally I use it for solo work. I had been hauling 3 guitars to my variety resort gigs: a classical, a steel string and an electric. I play acoustic and electric classic rock and jazz. I also play classical but it doesn't do that of course.

For jazz I play it thru a Line 6 Pod thru the tube preamp with the compressor on, then thru a Trace Elliot Dual Compressor and a Trace Elliot Acoustic Preamp that has a notch filter - then out to the two AER Dominoes. If it's a small room I'll leave the Dominoes at home and play through an AER Compact 60.

For rock I also play thru a Roland Cube 30 from a Korg pedal tuner. It makes a great A+B box. The cube gives me all the vintage effects for the electric parts while the pod and AERs give me a great clean sound.

On the guitar I always turn the treble pot off and set the bass pot somewhere between off and in the middle. Otherwise there is too much presence and too much bass. I do the same thing with the tone controls on the Domino and the Cube. This helps control the feedback.
There is still plenty of high end.

With these two setups I can play jazz plus steel string and electric parts all with the accessibility of a solid body electric.

I auditioned about 12 of these guitars and occaisionally thought I noticed a string balance problem: The first string was weak in volume on a few of them. For me the set ups were consistently too low: I had to shim the saddle and put 12's on mine before it really worked for me. It behaves like an acoustic guitar because it is one but I am able to get great electric sounds once the sustain issue is addressed with compression.

I had to ground the strings with aluminum duct tape from bridgeplate to lipstick pickup because I can't always be assured of a decent power supply. I was having hum problems in some environments. This is not the fault of the guitar.

This is an absolutely beautiful instrument and I really appreciate the piezo element that is not under the saddle - it is on the soundboard behind the bridge - the place where you would expect to find the warmest sound. The finish is beautiful. I need to put a tap plate on it so I don't trash the top.

Very solid.

Just one thing you need to know: The battery light is on when there is a fresh battery. This is the opposite of most instruments that I've used where the battery light comes on when the charge is low. The light fades as the battery fades and eventually you'll get distortion. Carry an extra battery!

One of the tuners malfunctioned and Taylor sent me a new one in two business days. They are one of the finest companies for customer support.

I called and spoke to a tech a couple of times to get some basic questions answered.

I've been playing since 1967. Last year I played 250 gigs.

The T-5 has completly changed my act because I no longer have to change guitars to play all the styles that I cover. Variety is now from song to song, not set to set. I've always been dependent on at least three instruments and if I'd had the money for an archtop it would have been 4. I like to say that it has cured my schizephrenia.
While it doesn't replace my other instruments (which I still prefer on most solo gigs) it is a whole lot more practical. The timbral compromises are minimal and are off set by the convenience and the accessible upper fretboard. Also now it is possible for me to change from an acoustic tone to an electric tone and back again during the same song with this biamp setup.