Taylor Guitars 510

Has Fishman Matrix pickup installed as well as Gold Grovers (as opposed to the silver chrome ones). I got it used in 1997 but guitar was made in 1994 according to the serial number so I don't know if the Gold Grovers and Fishman pickup were factory installed or not. I was told by the sales guy they were factory installed.

I use this for playing in my church ensemble and this blends in very well. I also use a L.R. Baggs para-acoustic D.I. between the Taylor and the church's P.A. system and they complement each other very nicely. The 510 has a very well balanced sound (I used to own an Ovation Elite which was too balanced - it had not personality) but with a full/airy personality which for me suits blues playing perfectly.
It's not as bassy/boomy as a solid rosewood guitar but I was surprised at how much bass this 510 had! Other 510s I've played were not as well endowed on the low end.
This guitar sounds great either unplugged or plugged. Of course the Fishman Matrix and L.R. Baggs D.I. help shape the plugged sound.

The guitar was setup very well when I got it (of course it had been played for 3 years before I got it so it was broken in so to speak). There is a little separation on the tortoise shell binding on the edges and there's also some separation starting on the tortoise shell pickguard but nothing major.

Other than the aforementioned binding/pickguard separations everything seems in fine working order and is just showing normal wear and tear. The most wear is on the frets down near the open position chords and I could tell the prevous owner must've played a lot of "G" and "D" chords because that's the area where the frets are wore out. I probably just need a recrown but I may opt to spend the extra needless cash and get a total refret.

Customer support is top-notch. I was doing some truss rod adjusments and wore down some of the screws. I called Taylor and ended up talking with Terry Myers himself and he sent me the screws in a couple days. I also talked with him again on another occasion where I was going to send in the guitar to have fret job done. Again he handled everything great. When I placed an order thru the Taylor website for some stuff, I got it within a week.

Overall I have to say this is the best acoustic guitar I have bought. I've owned Ovations, Ibanez, Sigma acoustics and the Taylor blows them away (of course only the Ovation was a comparably priced guitar but the Ovation and Ovations in general I think are way overpriced). I've friends with Martins and Gibsons but I like my Taylor better than those guitars which cost $500 -> $1000 more.
The only guitar I like better is the Taylor 610 but as of now I still don't have the cash to get it plus I have 3 kids and a wife now to feed.

I own a 1997 Taylor 510 dreadnought. Mahogony body and neck, rosewood freboard, with an american spruce solid top. High gloss finish throughout body, back and sides. The neck was a satin finish. Truss rod. Chrome tuners.Tortoise binder and abalone rossette. SKB hardshell case. Beautifull just standing there.

Beautiful sound. Great for blues and rock unplugged. I bought it eight months ago and in the past 30 days its really started to open up. Lots of treble and big bass. This instrument really plays loud and clean! The kids close the door cause they can't hear the TV when I practice.I don't think they close the door because I can't really play. Some buzz when you play real hard...but its a good kind of buzz

The action is nice and low. Easy to play. I used to practice on an old Yamaha G240 with a wide-ass fret board. This Taylor is so easy to play I practice longer. I found one bubble on the body and one bubble on the neck that were imperfections on the finish.

Looks and feels solid. I just use it to practice.

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I've been playing 7 mos. I spent teh extra dough becasue I wanted a guitar I could grow into as I got better. I didn't want to upgrade later as I got better. I feel I'm growing into the 510 now. I am very happy with the sound and will keep this forever. If it got stolen I would save up and get a new one. I bought an eletronic tuner with the deal which is a great. I've only had to tune it 3 times in 7 months but it was so easy. At some point I probably won't need it but as a beginner it's great to have.

I'm playing my first bigger gigi with my 510 this weekend...but as of right now, the first 3 or 4 weeks have been great. I am officialy going to say that this is the perfect guitar for me. I can't put it down...unless I'm forced too (which has happened.) This guitar sounds good strummed, fingerpicked, or really layed into. Plus the Martin pickup I had put in sounds well with just about anything...al lot of that has to do with the guitar. It is the ultimate live and versitile guitar in my opinion. Like I said...I tried out practicly every model and every brand of accustic...high end accustics included. (Martin, Larivee, Bourgeis, Gibson) I think you would like this guitar. It looks, sounds, and plays awsome.

My new guitar now has a Martin Thinline Gold Plus pickup in it. The pickup (which has a preamp, but no on-board controls) does a good job of putting out some decent quality sound. It's nothing to brag about yet, but I'm planning on running that and a mini condenser mic to a Rane AP-13 acustic preamp...then it's gonna sound awesome.
The more I look at the case the more I like it and dislike it. It's the perfect shape, amount of protection, and style, but my lid didn't stay open? I'm sure thats a booboo so I'm gonna take it back and see if all of them are like that. They'll give me a new one so it's not really that big of a deal.
Otherwise, I'm sticking to my earliest submission in that its just a great guitar for me.

Like I said eariler, this guitar suits my music style and sound preference. It may not be for everyone, but please give it a try. I would like to change a few of my comments. It's not the loudest guitar I've played. It is loud, but not ultra loud...but that's not a big deal with my pickup. The new words here are Glassy, resonating, and shimmering. This is exactly what I wanted so I couldn't be more happy with it. I think bluegrass people would find this guitar more than adequate for their stuff. The more I play it the more I like it. It grows on me everyday.

Same. The action is nice and low the way I like it. This causes some string buzzing when you really pound it, but all guitars do. It's a good buzz though, real artistic sounding.

Haven't had it long enough to have anything happen to it yet.

I'll probably write another review after I've had it for a while but as of right now, I love it. I think you'd like it too. Oh well, until next time....Zach

This is my first of 2 or 3 submissions. There aren't any others for the Taylor 510 so I'll write a few. This first one is being made the day I bought the guitar. I don't even have it yet...its in having a pickup put in (more later). But this is my first guitar over a grand and I'm really pumped at finaly having some good stuff. While reading, keep in mind that I tried out nearly EVERY acustic guitar at all prices...from cheap fenders to Gibson, Larivee, Martin, Bourgeis, and better. I played old guitars and new guitars. I spent a whole weekend looking for the perfect acustic guitar.
But as far as features...it has mahogony (not rosewood - more on that in the sound section) sides...solid engleman spruce top, ebony bridge and fretboard. Bolt on neck...but not like the strat or ovation style. Look at them for yourself...they don't hamper the guitar in any way. Tortise shell body binding, abolone soundhole binding, snowflake fretboard inlays of mother of pearl. Grover (I think) tuners. Otherwise its a standard dreadnut guitar...big and beautiful. The only mods I had done to it was to add another end pin near the neck and install a fishman designed Martin Thinline plus pickup and preamp.
The only other thing was the case. Taylor offers the deluxe luggage case standard now...but they also offer a molded plastic SKB case. When I bought it the SKB was standard but I could have gotten the luggage case for $85 more. However, after looking at both of them, the SKB was sooooo much nicer. It fit the guitar better, was made sturdier, would take so much more abuse, and was cheaper. The luggage case would (in my opinion) be for those people who want something to display the guitar in...for collectors etc. I would take the SKB case many times over the Taylor luggage case...the SKB even comes with the Taylor insignia in it so you know its made for that specific guitar.

The best way to describe the sound is that it's clear, loud, even, and it sustains. This beat Martins in sound (even d-42s and up) by far. I didn't care for that Martin bassy sound. The mahagony sides had a little less bass than the rosewood. If I could have afforded it, I would've gotten the 810 (with rosewood)...the only other guitar I would've even thought about. But this guitar is so clear sounding it's unbelievable. I had my father in to look with me so I could have another set of ears. He had me try everything in the store and said it was no contest against the Martins he USED to like. It was so full compared to anything in the store. If your looking for a great dreadnut, please, don't buy without trying this or the 810 out. The only reason I'm giving this guitar a 9 is because I liked the 810 better...but it was 500 more! and I couldn't make myself spend that much. Sustain is usually only discussed when talking about electrics, but this guitar sustains exceptionally well. There's not really any guitars that sound much better than this...they just cost more.

I find it hard to give anything a 10, but Taylors in general usually come out that way. Taylor (as opposed to the hundreds of other guitars I recently played) consistently had the best action and playability of anything. This was the main reason I began looking at Taylors. They play so well. Everything was perfect on the guitar...no flaws of any kind.

Check back with me later.

The people at Sioux Falls music were great in answering questions...as were the other Taylor dealers I spoke with. I haven't talked directly with Taylor, and except for an A+ comment card I don't think I'll need to.

Check back later.