Pretty much the Babe Ruth of guitars

So this is a bit overdue (in my opinion - and in Dan's opinion, too.), but I just have to share some exciting news. Our family has a new baby!

No, not Noah (who, by the way, is beginning to creep closer and closer to sleeping through the night!). I'd like to introduce you to my new Taylor 714ce.



It's pretty much the Babe Ruth of guitars. (ht Luke).

I've been saving for quite a while; honestly, since our house fire two years ago. Three weeks ago, I went to Atlanta to help my brother move and decided that was my opportunity - right here at the end of the summer, just as I head back into the new school year. (I'm 27 and my life still revolves around the school-year calendar.)

I went to Maple Street Guitars, where I had visited before and received tremendous customer service, which is why I went back. Now, I didn't set out for this particular guitar. I had looked around and played around some and had decided it was going to be a Taylor. I liked the way the 400's looked but actually liked the way the 300's sounded better. I also wanted to look at a 500, just so I could say I had considered it. But thought I was settled on a 310ce. One of the salespeople mentioned this 700 they'd had in the store for two weeks or so... "Sure, I'll look at it," thinking to myself, "I'm wasting my time and his time with this thing. It's out of my league. But at least it'll be fun to play for a few minutes." We carried on a bit of conversation about it, and it turns out it was a total Bob Barker moment - the price was right!

Short story is I got a great deal on this guitar. I was able to get much more guitar for little more money. And I couldn't be happier with it right now. The guitar sounds so good. Great balance; it's got a nice bright sound, the mid-ranges sing out on picking up and down the neck, and the bottom end really comes through with overpowering the whole sound. The Taylor ES doesn't dominate the look, but does tremendous things for preserving the acoustic tone when the guitar is plugged in. Notice the wood inlay around the sound hole (which I think gives a certain elegance and calm to the instrument), as opposed to the abalone inlay in the model shown on the Taylor website. It plays so easy and ... well, at this point I'm just gushing, so I'll stop this and just go play it for a while. Bye...

Technorati tags: Taylor, 714ce, Babe Ruth, Maple Street Guitars