I posted this over on the AGF but thought it would be interesting for you guys as well.
A friend just bought a Taylor 314ce and had it professionally set up. He was trying to figure out whether or not he liked his setup choices so he asked me to bring mine in to compare. Yesterday we got together in the control room at the studio and played and listened to the guitars. First off, we both use the same luthier to setup our guitars, Kenny Marshall at DND Music in Chesapeake, VA. The guitars were my friend's 2012 Taylor 314ce (sapelle/sitka spruce with ES) and my 2001 Taylor Legends of the Fall Limited edition 314kce (koa/sitka with Fishman Prefix). Of course, his was a brand new guitar and mine had had twelve years to open up and figure out it is a guitar. Another major difference between the two that my friend was trying to decide on was chosen string gauge. He has .013 medium Elixer Phosphor Bronze nanoweb strings, I had .012 Elixer Phosphor Bronze nanoweb strings. He was concerned about damaging his guitar with the mediums so to reassure him I passed on Bob Taylor's comments on the subject right on this forum - that mediums won't damage a GA but that they can pull the top a wee too tight reducing its responsiveness a little and causing a bit more bulge behind the treble side of the bridge. He was also interested to experience the differences in the feel of the action.
My friend wanted to compare the guitars from both the player's and listener's perspective and he wanted to hear specific pieces that he'd written played on the guitars so he would play a piece on both to show it to me and hear it from the player's side and then I'd play it on the guitars for him. He had a pretty comprehensive approach. What did we find? Firstly, the new sapelle 314ce had more sustain and more bottom end than the koa 314kce. Secondly, by way of trade-off, the 314kce had a certain, pleasant "sparkle" to the upper end that wasn't present in the 314ce. To us, a couple of guitarists who play both electric and acoustic guitars and share some techniques between them, the medium strings were a bit uncomfortable and inhibited us from playing some material on that guitar. Predictably, the difference showed up in ability to bend and in comfort, specifically in how long we could play without fatigue.
We also compared the two pickup systems on the studio monitors. We plugged in and independently EQ'd to each to sound its best with the onboard controls and then set the guitars to the same levels. We are both pretty gently strummers and I play fingerstyle. Between us, we heard just about no piezo quack from the Fishman, probably due to our gentle styles. I'd be it would change if you dug in a little more. My friend liked my Fishman best I liked his ES but the sound was remarkably similar between them. I put all the factors out there, wood, age, strings, pickups, so that you could draw your own conclusions. What was amazing to me was how similar they sounded, rather than how dissimilar.
As we were finishing up my friend asked me to measure the actions of the two guitars for reference. Interestingly, with twelve years having elapsed, our mutual lutheir had set up the actions the two actions with identical height and relief. On the basis of what we learned, my friend has decided to go back to lights as suggested by Taylor.
So there you go, an interesting and fun hour and a half of comparison.
Bob
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