Taylor 416ce-LDT Spring 2009

I believe it's entirely made of Madagascar blackwood. I'm told this is a lot like Koa tonewise. I would have to say that's a pretty accurate description from my ears point of view. USA made of course. GS body shape. What more do you need to know? It's basically a 400 series GS with an exotic wood.

UTILIZATION

I'm not a really big guy. So the huge body shape can be a bit much for me sometimes. It's rarely an issue though. If you look dumb with big body acoustics, this might not be for you. I'm just tall enough to where I don't look goofy. But it is a bit bigger than I honestly would like, aesthetically. For playability, no problem. Who cares about looks anyway? It's about the tone. Electronics are good. I've never had any real trouble except the sometimes did battery syndrome. Sounds amazing through a system.

SOUNDS

Let me go ahead and tell the story of how I bought this axe. I was browsing a mom and pop store that had a lot of Taylors. Most of them that I liked were out of my price range. However this one was on sale, so I picked it up and played it. Now I had played GS models before. The typical GS has a very bold bass with scooped mids and brisk highs. Not my cup of tea really. This guitar has a very piano and bold bass with woody mids and a sort of crisp crunchy high end. The mids are not relaxed really. They are just there are fairly balanced. The bass is boomy but not muddy. Overall though, I would say the tone is very balanced, and leaning very slightly towards the bassy side. It's quite bold.

I've had it for 2 or 3 years now and it's changed in tone I think. Much more woody now...I'm not sure how to describe it. But it always seems to fall into that balanced, and bold sound.

OVERALL OPINION

I will probably be buried with this axe. It's seen a ton of solo shows with me. It has accompanied my voice many times. I have a pretty high range so the low piano bass accents my tone nicely. I'm not sure what kind of music this was intended for but I'm doing the singer songwriter stuff. Take it and play crash by DMB and you will hear the glory. It's such a balanced sound. I love it. Wish they made more.