Taylor Custom | Custom #12442: Grand Concert 12-Fret

We are all familiar with the reputation of Taylor guitars, renowned for their exceptional craftsmanship, playability, and tone. Now, envision the prospect of owning a Taylor guitar that is uniquely yours. This exquisite, one-of-a-kind Taylor instrument came to fruition when our Peach Director, John, and Sales Manager, James, ventured to El Cajon, California, to pay a visit to our friends at Taylor. Together with Taylor's Master Guitar Designer, Andy Powers, they meticulously handpicked the most stunning wood sets, creating truly special, one-of-a-kind models, and this guitar is a testament to their collaborative effort. What makes this even more captivating is that this creative process can soon be witnessed in one of our feature videos on our YouTube channel, if not already available at the time of your reading. Showcasing the expertise of Peach and Andy, the Taylor Custom program is masterfully designed to bring forth a truly unique, heirloom-quality instrument.

The captivating top of this guitar boasts stripy sinker redwood, a beloved choice for its origins. Sinker redwood soundboards are meticulously crafted from enormous old-growth redwood logs, recovered from the depths of Northern California rivers, some of which had been submerged for over a century. These soundboards exhibit a rich spectrum of colours, uniquely influenced by the silt and mineral-rich water. The age and size of these trees result in a tight grain with excellent cross-grain stiffness, yielding a bold, brilliant response complemented by warm overtones, akin to cedar but with an added brightness and headroom, often affectionately described around the Taylor community as "cedar on steroids." It's a perfect match with Honduran rosewood, prized for its resonant low-end and clear trebles, producing lush overtones that bloom as notes resonate. The redwood top, sourced from sunken California riverbeds, adds a touch of cedar-like warmth and sensitivity to touch, along with a substantial volume capacity that's perfect for dynamic playing. This guitar also features a beveled-style armrest for enhanced playability, along with exquisite appointments like a Simons back wedge, figured Hawaiian koa binding, and precision-engineered Gotoh 510 Antique Gold tuners.

The body shape chosen for this guitar is the Grand Concert, known for its emphasis on clarity and balance. This smaller body with a tapered waist is the ultimate choice for studio and stage performance. Its short scale and lighter string tension make it exceptionally playable. The Grand Concert body style was first introduced in 1984 to cater to the needs of acoustic fingerstyle players seeking a brighter, more focused sound compared to larger body styles like dreadnoughts and jumbos. The GC's compact size and tapered waist ensure that overtones are well-controlled, making it comfortable to play while sitting and providing a wider neck for complex fingerings. The Grand Concert's smaller sonic footprint blends seamlessly in ensemble settings, making it a valuable tool for professional session and live musicians. Taylor's current generation of GC models retains finger-friendly features like a shorter 24 7/8-inch scale length, making fretting easier and delivering a slinkier feel due to the lighter string tension. Whether you prefer a smaller body or controlled overtones, the Grand Concert is an excellent choice, offering Taylor's Sitka V-Class bracing for an expressive sound.

The guitar also features a cutaway, which allows access to the upper frets and is especially favoured by electric players who appreciate its familiar feel. The impact on tonal output is minimal, as the cutaway's portion of the soundboard doesn't significantly affect the guitar's overall sound. The benefit of gaining access to the upper register notes outweighs any minor reduction in tonal output. This guitar sports a Venetian cutaway, known for its soft, rounded lines, perfectly complementing the Grand Concert body shape.

A distinctive feature of this model is the four-piece back configuration with a Simons wedge, named after its creator, Spanish luthier Jorge Simons. Both Andy and Bob Taylor prefer the symmetrical look of the four-piece bookmatched configuration, featuring a two-piece bookmatched wedge, which also provides structural advantages.

Incorporating a neck-to-body connection at the 12th fret and repositioning the bridge, Taylor's 12-Fret design offers a "modern vintage" sound that sets it apart from other Taylor guitars. Players are increasingly enthralled by the unique feel and sound of Taylor's 12-fret Grand Concert guitars. This design results in a slinkier handfeel and a surprisingly warm and powerful voice for a small-body guitar. The repositioned bridge location, away from the soundhole and closer to the centre of the lower bout, imparts a distinctive musical character. With a slightly shorter 24-7/8-inch scale length and the bridge positioned more flexibly on the soundboard, the handfeel is softer and more flexible, making it easier to form chords and bend strings. This shift in bridge position also alters the way the soundboard moves, producing a remarkable amount of power, warmth, and sustain for a smaller body style. Ultimately, the 12-Fret Grand Concert offers an extraordinary playing experience for those who appreciate a more vintage-inspired sound.

For those who desire the versatility of plugging in, Taylor's Expression System 2 is at your service. The Expression System 2, an innovation in acoustic guitar amplification, captures a wider range of a guitar's dynamic characteristics using a breakthrough design behind the saddle. This system incorporates Taylor's patented behind-the-saddle pickup with three strategically positioned and individually calibrated sensors, allowing for a more expansive range of acoustic sound to be faithfully reproduced. Coupled with Taylor's custom-designed "professional audio"-grade preamp, the ES2 delivers exceptional amplified tone and responsiveness whether you're performing live, recording, or using your favorite acoustic amplifier. This system faithfully conveys the distinctive voice of your Taylor guitar, whether it's on stage through a PA or direct into recording software.

For many years, piezo-electric transducers were positioned under the saddle with the belief that the string and top vibrations caused the saddle to move up and down. However, Taylor's electronics team, led by developer David Hosler, discovered that the vertical movement was quite limited and the saddle remained firmly locked down due to the downward pressure of the strings. This traditional under-saddle pickup with piezo-electric crystals often yielded a sound described as thin, brittle, or synthetic, particularly during aggressive playing. Recognizing that the saddle's natural movement was more of a back-and-forth pendulum motion while the guitar was played, Taylor's design team relocated the crystals from beneath the saddle to a position behind it. This new placement allowed the crystals to respond more naturally to the guitar's energy as it transferred through the saddle. Three pickup sensors, installed behind the saddle through the bridge, are calibrated with precision using three small Allen screws to ensure their accurate positioning relative to the saddle. The ES2 system retains the familiar volume and tone control knobs, making it user-friendly for both artists and live sound engineers.

In conclusion, this one-of-a-kind guitar represents a unique masterpiece that will never be replicated.