Taylor 420ce (SL 2007)

ID card:
- Origin: USA (Provided only for export / 216 copies - original info: Taylor replied by mail)
- Amplified by the Taylor Expression System (9V)
- Top, Back, Sides: Solid Koa
- Ebony fingerboard and bridge
- Grover
- Mahogany
- Shiny satin finish except table
- Very simple, no frills - inlays minimum

I am not a luthier, just a manual passionate, and I find the work of violin quite remarkable, a real respect for the instrument emerges from the whole. In addition, the Koa wood is a deep shade that gives guitars a unique personality, each piece is noticeably different. This difference is perhaps not as visually elsewhere, but that's another matter ...

UTILIZATION

The handle is very nice, accessible, its width at nut head tends toward the low end of the standard kind.
No need to push like a brute to make it sound, the sound is clear without too much effort and the guitar sounds quite fair all over the neck.
I could not give an opinion on access to acute because I do not go often but a priori the cutaway should make things easier.
The guitar is light, we feel that it's solid without being a ball either. What reasonable ... I know it's not very objective but I can not weigh it yet.
The guitar is well balanced, her outfit is nice and without constraints.

SOUNDS

And the sound ... Ah the sound ... Soft and radiant at once, a good sustain.
Well balanced with:
- Powerful bass and "race" (ie typical of "Bad Timing" by Jim O'Rourke),
- Mediums are still present,
- Treble to be slightly increasing pressure to show their true character.

Now on to highlight for my taste, sensitivity, dynamics.
This guitar has a palette of shades of the color palette worthy of a sunrise.
We can go from dark to go very slowly suffocated to the bright and shiny although still warm. The guitar is there and responds to your slightest stress, lower your mood swings. I want to say that this is the first instrument that teaches me to play ...

Its sensitivity multiplies the opportunities for games and a "scent of freedom" emerges from the instrument as we got acquainted. Unlike what I can sometimes read the forums, that Taylor has a real personality and I do not see her as a "perfect but without soul."

I've never tried high-end guitar, I'm not a great guitarist and it's been 10 years since I played a "good" guitar to 300 € even if I want to relativize my connection I wish to emphasize real expressiveness, liberating and certainly upscale. This guitar bewitched me for my greatest pleasure.

For sound unplugged is seen talking about his electro now.
Know that this guitar has a balanced output (TRS as a stereo jack), which makes it quieter than single connection. Cool!

We start with a good foundation and yet ... that is, for me (but I may be an isolated case), there is a snag. Or rather as a "chhhhhhhhhhhh.
The Taylor Expression System generates enough wind this when you push the treble equalizer.
Breath is truly present when we want to compress a little.
I have a preamp FAT2 (TLAudio home) and it is not all that very very own children.
I just tickle the knobs for hours, hard to find a balance between his flesh and breath, and now with a more flat, but without breath.
Should I try again ...

On the Taylor Expression System there are three pots - Treble - Bass - Gain. But I feel like + to gain a volume knob than anything else. This has the effect of raising the level of the breath with the volume. Too bad!
Aside from the breath of amplification still manageable expectations for home studio like mine, the quality of the sound is really the RDV. Both kinds of sensors are doing their job very very well. A PE without blowing it should almost have a little taste of paradise.

OVERALL OPINION

It's been six months that I have the guitar and I like more the vibration of the instrument, affected the sober and elegant.
The black dot is the "small" breath of the Taylor Expression System.
It was almost perfect.
When we talk about feelings we are not talking money ... And yet is in. Free. Until now I sound like a lotto winner, but it's not my case. Long long time to save the 1600 € to collect necessary for the import of U.S. (plus VAT + customs included). But to import a guitar that is not trying is a gamble.

Hopefully this review will illuminate the darkness that bathes the info on this guitar. An instrument that deserves even if the light is not on the catalogs (420ce never seen even a catalog of 2007, its year of release!) And is not identified on the site of Taylor.