Taylor Guitars 414-CE L7

Taylor 414ce-L7 November 2004. http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/limiteds/fall2004/

Nice factory package, with the great case, cable, DVD...
Mine was a great price, too.

Try one they all sound about the same. Given the exact same model, after all they are tooled manufactered guitars.

I like mine, that's why I bought it. I like a couple Gibsons better, but the overall feature set of this guitar fit my requirements. I gig a lot and wanted one I wasn't afraid of scratching, to take out. I'd hate to scratch a 700 series or better.... just too pretty

I've only ever run into one Taylor recently made that didn't feel exactly like every other one I've ever played, after all they are machined.....

I really like this guitar, BUT this is where I gripe...

There are 4 pickups in the ES system, 3 of the 4 were bad in mine, from the factory!!!

Then I called Taylor and they recommend a local repair shop, when picked up the guitar after the repair work was done I found a bunch of small indentations surrounding the sound hole, that I am quite certain were not present prior to the repair work.

The repair shop did not deny that they had damaged the guitar, BUT they did deny that the methods they use could have possible damaged the guitar. I was told, "We keep all guitars in their cases until they are worked on, and our work bench is carpeted." To which I replied, the damage is on top of the guitar, undoubtly were wrenchs and tools were inserted through the sound hole to remove the neck and the pickups, and besides the carpet on your bench top looks like it was the recycled doormat it is so old and filthy.

Now, I bought this guitar to gig with so I know it's going to get a few dings here and there, but no one would even acknowledge that my brand new guitar had been damaged. I even sent two emails to Taylor and called them once, just to complain about the repair center, and they never even responded. I can't say that I'm impressed with this end of things.

Is the guitar durable well?, I don't drive railroad spikes with them in gigs, and I don't let other people touch them, so the only real difference between a gig and staying at home is the battery of the transit, between gigs, packing and unpacking and bouncing around. Reasonable handling should be part of owning and traveling with any guitar, so with any credible guitar most of the durability function is on you, not the manufacturer. Buy a good case(although the Taylor case is pretty good) and treat is like you care about it and everything will be ok. Watch though zippers and belt-buckles, no guitar finish is going to stand up to them, be real.

I also complained about the custom Taylor strap I ordered from their website. The strap is too thick to fit safely over the strap button on the ES jack, it'd be a tragedy to have it pop off and hit the floor. And the tie string (suede leather) is barely a better choice. For all the engineering they put into the guitar, the accessories, really aren't at the same level. They did not respond to this complaint either.

Luv the guitar, how can I rate that??
I own a lot of other gear that you couldn't care less to hear about, so why bother.

I would absolutely buy another Taylor, if they continue to make guitars like this one, I will almost certainly always have at least one. But then again maybe some else will arrive on the scene that leap-frogs Taylor, like they did to everyone else...then I'll buy one of those leap-frog brand guitars.

I just hope those guys get it together from a customer support perspective, especially if they feel the need to mention their personal religious activity in their publicized material. I'm not saying I expect them to be flawless just because of that, I would just hope their standards are a little better than all the other players in the field.....