[wisedyes]

Hey everybody,

I just successfully sold off two of my guitars that weren't really being used a whole lot, with the intention of parlaying the money made nto a more upscale acoustic for myself. I was originally going to go with a Taylor 210CE, but then backed up and started looking around a bit. Now I'm thinking a pre-Fender Tacoma, probably an EM9C or C1C Chief.

Anybody have any experience with Tacomas? I've only heard good things about them, but have only played one in my life (a Roadking - liked it a lot!), and no one around here sells them. This would be an ebay purchase all the way. They do seem to have universally excellent reviews, though, and you can't beat the price for an all solid wood, American made guitar.

[alcorelectric]

I just purchased a tacoma dr14
excellent guitar
caompareable in sound to my martin d28
solid rosewood sides and back
solid spruce top
ebony FB
lr baggs electronics
and a great price $600/with case
The only negative Ive heard is of finish problems
HTH
T

[jackr]

I have had a lot of Tacomas come through here. I have sold many. I have never really been disappointed with one. The quality has been nearly perfect as far as fit and finish go. I say "nearly" because one or two had some finish issues but nothing to do with playability. They all played really nice and had great tone. I had a couple that had some minor electrical problems (pick up) but that was easily fixed. I dont get them in too often but when I do they sell fast.

Little self promo here - Dont rule out the breedloves before looking into it. I have sold a couple to some forum members including a custom built one. They are very happy with them! And I can give a "Rukind" family discount!

[tcsned]

I'd agree with Jackr that Breedlove is one to check out. When I was running the music store here we sold a bunch of Tacomas and for the money, they were great guitars. Certainly comparable to a 200 series Taylor. If price is not a factor I'd go with a Bourgeois or a John Kinnard - but they're pricey.

[wisedyes]

Well, I have to say that after a trip to the local Sam Ash ang Guitar Center, I am kind of sold on a Tacoma. They had one ( a PK30? Parlor body model) at the GC, and it absolutley, imho, blew away each and every comparably priced guitar in either store. It also blew away many that were much more expensive, and more than held it's own against every guitar I could reasonably try, considering pricing.

The runners-up were a couple of Larrivee LM03's at Sam Ash that were greatly marked down due to repaired serious cracks on the tops. I would tend to shy away form a guitar that has already had a major repair done to it before it's even sold, but they did play and sound very nice.

Lower end Taylors (300 series and below) weren't that great, I thought. Played well enough, but the tone was thin and high pitched, not very full sounding. I've never been overly fond of Martins (although there was a Martin jazz archtop in there that was suh-WEET!), so honestly only tried a few.

[tcsned]

Lower end Taylors (300 series and below) weren't that great, I thought. Played well enough, but the tone was thin and high pitched, not very full sounding. I've never been overly fond of Martins (although there was a Martin jazz archtop in there that was suh-WEET!), so honestly only tried a few.

Yeah, I'd agree that the lower end Taylors aren't the greatest sounding guitars out there. My old music store was a Taylor dealer and I played, set up, and sold a bunch of 300 series (the 200's weren't out then). All played pretty consistently but tone was hit or miss. The upper end ones were great, that was right about the time they radically changed the neck joint - I haven't played many with the new joint so I don't know what that did to their tone. Martins seem to have even a bigger quality gap than Taylor between their lower-end models and the D-28s and above - though I suspect the same hit or miss tonal qualities that the Taylor's have. About the sweetest sounding guitar I've ever played was an old Martin 000 rosewood - that was a hard guitar to put down.

My wife has a $150 Takamine that sounds better than some Martin's and Taylor's

Are you in NYC? if you are check out Umanov's a buddy of mine from Blacskburg is a manager there - they might have something used and cool. Though they tend to be on the high end, high $$$ side of things.