Taylor American Dream Series.

[Embenny]

They're slow to get the message, but the fact remains that they made that guitar with it, and someone will buy it, even if that particular person returns it.

They're putting a ton of thoze guitars out there, and over time and through exposure, it will become normalized.

[Larry Mal]

Right. I think it looks better with the streaks, and when I first found out about it, I was happy to say good-bye to boring black. No idea why people were wasting beautiful wood like that when the normal way ebony grows is fantastic looking.

[Embenny]

It's quite maddening, especially since Macassar Ebony is often used as an upgrade on high-end instruments, and is prized for its highly figured grain.



So, streaky Macassar ebony is "good, desirable" ebony but streaky regular ebony is "bad, undesirable" ebony. Completely asinine.

[Larry Mal]

Yeah. All these years I thought that ebony was black. I think most people did. We didn't know about it because they were just throwing it away. Crazy to think of decades of such waste. Guitar makers are getting a little stronger about using alternate and more sustainable woods now, though. They have to. They fucked it all up over the years.

I guess that Taylor uses ovangkol and sapele as the entry level woods over there. My GA3-12, uh, 12 string has sapele. It's a fine wood. Not too sure about ovangkol.

Gibson is really making the most out of walnut, which I would probably prefer to sapele or ovangkol all things considered. It's a tremendous body wood- I'd follow it anywhere.

Martin had this America 1 guitar, which was made with all North American woods, and the body and sides of it are sycamore.

I could probably go on, but we are seeing a lot of guitar makers using different woods than they typically had been. Even on the electric side with Pau Ferro and some other things I forget.

I think it's all very wonderful, actually, even though the reason they are doing this is because they chewed through almost all the other stuff already or have been forced off it.

Regardless, Gibson was somewhat tepid with the walnut, which is why the J-15 was such a tremendous deal (it's now gone up in price). Apparently the reception of that was very good since they spun up whole lines around it.

Hopefully Taylor and the rest are finding open minds about other more sustainable woods also.

[Telliot]

I’m sorry, I wish I knew more about Taylors so I could give you better specifics. I’ll admit I’m not into cutaway acoustics, and I really don’t like onboard electronics (Gibson’s autotuners trigger my OCD something furious). The guitars I played had a lot of inlays and ornamentation that felt overdone to me, but I couldn’t tell you which years or models I played. These all belonged to acquaintances over the years, and those people usually didn’t really play guitar. You know the type.

[kamillebidan]

Just want to say thanks to Larry and wproffitt for answering my questions as an acoustic noob. I think I'll be saving up to get one of these now that I've done some more research. I think they are a great step up for someone in my position.

Edit: I am a bit torn between Mahogany (since that's what I'm used to) and the Blacktop (cause it looks really nice).

[Telliot]

Just want to say thanks to Larry and wproffitt for answering my questions as an acoustic noob. I think I'll be saving up to get one of these now that I've done some more research. I think they are a great step up for someone in my position.

Edit: I am a bit torn between Mahogany (since that's what I'm used to) and the Blacktop (cause it looks really nice).

Regardless of what you decide, play as many as you can — even if they’re the same model. Eventually you’ll find the one that just feels right in your hands, and checks the sonic boxes you’re looking to check. Good luck and let us know where you land!

[shadowplay]

It's quite maddening, especially since Macassar Ebony is often used as an upgrade on high-end instruments, and is prized for its highly figured grain.



So, streaky Macassar ebony is "good, desirable" ebony but streaky regular ebony is "bad, undesirable" ebony. Completely asinine.

Macassar can get quite crazy lion fish. My old Mercedes W111 280SE 3.5 coupe has solid (not veneered like most cars) Macassar ebony trim. This is part of the section that runs along the scuttle, up the ‘A’ post And then along the rod in a hoop like a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses.



D