| It is amazing what you can offer in a guitar
line with just one body size. With different tonewoods, neck
profiles, strutting patterns, top radiuses, nut widths,
tuners, binding packages and electronics ... you can create countless
different instruments!!! They feel different ... they have
their own signature sound properties ... they have their own unique
look!
With larger manufacturers, even ones with
seemingly COUNTLESS numbers of models, it is still sometimes difficult
to get exactly the guitar you want ... the wood combinations are right
but the neck width is not offered on that body size ... the sound is there
but the aesthetics are too garish. I find it refreshing to have an
easy system to get the EXACT guitar that you want!
The instruments from R. Taylor that I am
ordering for store stock are a case in point. Our first was a non-cut
Engelmann / Cocobolo with the RT Standard scale, Modified X and 65'
top radius ... super percussive tight bass register with excellent note
separation and silvery overtones.
The second was a cutaway cedar / Indian rosewood
Style 1 with the Asymmetrical top bracing & slim carve neck ... buttery
smooth playability with very lush mids and super immediacy of response
... a really "golden" overall tonality.
This new Custom Koa is once again an entirely
different beast! When choosing the options for this instrument
I was targeting a player looking for exceptional sonic detail,
lots of complexity in overtones and most of all, an instrument that
would develop enough midrange to give a good meaty note fundamental without
making a very dark overall tonality.
In my experience, the Engelmann spruce
top adds to the overall clarity as well as generating a superb overtone
series. The Modified X and radiused top really tightens up the bass
and gives a nice edge to the attack transient. The Hawaiian koa,
apart from looking absolutely STUNNING, really imparts a midrange
quality that is very appealing to me ... not so much midrange that the
guitar is muddy and indistinct ... not so little the the instrument sounds
sterile ... just the right amount. I'm not fussy am I !?!?
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