New Guitar- It Is Not Red !!!

I picked up my new Taylor SB2 today and I had done a lot of research and it was selected from a group of three, the other two being EB Music Man. In the end , the playability and workmanship was the deciding factor. I have not given it a lot of play time but I checked out the build quality, the set up and fit and finish in general. It is flawless in finish and build quality and the wiring and control setup is impeccable. All solid state and plug in. The frets looked glued on and I have never seen a neck finished better than this one. It has an ebony fretboard. I did a setup and it is the first guitar that I have owned that I didn'y have to lower the action on. It required a truss rod adjustment ( too much relief) and I have never had a truss rod that adjusted as smoothly as this. Most of them require a lot of force to tighten. thus one was easy and smooth. It is not Red!!!! Here are some pictures of a Pacific Blue color which is not quite as blue as in the Pics, but a bit more Green. It has a nice flame.



It has a beautiful binding as shown in this picture.


The control knobs are chrome with ridges so you can install rubber O rings to make them easier to grip if you wish. The rubber O rings are included.






Schaller locking tuners.


This shows the binding on the headstock


Neck binding

I played it through a Mesa and it has a great humbucker sound, a strat like sound in position 2 and I will let you know as I play it more.

Ginny thinks it is beautiful. My next one will be a G&L but this is my first Taylor.-- Darwin

Nice one Darwin, very interesting binding on that one. That quilted blue looks good enough to swim in! The hardware on those Taylors is very impressive. Watch those rubber o-rings, they'll wear out on you and break off eventually but like you say they're great for gripping.

Darwin - That's a real beauty... My kind of thing as well. Is it a 12-in radius board?
Very schweet.
BW

Hey Darwin,

Congrats on your purchase I'm particularly curious how you like Taylor's bridge construction in terms of adjustability and stability.

- Jos

Looks very nice Darwin, can't say I would mind having that around, even though it is a quilt top.

Nice one Darwin, very interesting binding on that one. That quilted blue looks good enough to swim in! The hardware on those Taylors is very impressive. Watch those rubber o-rings, they'll wear out on you and break off eventually but like you say they're great for gripping.

That is typically called pulfling not binding, binding goes on the edges, purfling is in a channel.

Nice guitar and not red... Ebony board? Glued? I know companies don't like to machine or PLEK ebony due to cracking. I guess it happens a lot... Unless of course it's straight grain Gaboon/Macassar...

How is the neck finished? I wish they would do like G&L used to back in the early days. Was it "gunstock finish"? Basically, it's 1500 grit sandpaper and a controlled oil treatment of the raw wood. I guess all of this will disappear as guitars are becoming completely machine-made. BTW, does Taylor do direct coupling? By that I mean full contact with the wood, No glues, No dampeners, No springs or other fillers? Man, I hope so.

In a nutshell; robots hate ebony... That is a nice blue, though.


Cheers,

Will

Answers to some of the questions.

The rubber O rings are easily bought at a local hardware store in the US. I have not installed them and may not.

It is an Ebony neck with a 12 inch radius. The frets are pressed in before finishing the neck.

I have used it very little but the feel of the trem is very good and it seems to return to tune perfectly from either upward or push down. More time will tell. It is sensitive but also stiffer than a Fender trem. The trem is mounted level and the saddle construction is beautiful. Adjusting will be a new experience as the saddles are adjusted for height from the back under the trem cover. It appears that the saddles are also locked individually after adjusting. The saddle height is perfect for my action (light) so I have not had to adjust. It is a variation of a two point trem like G&L and Fender.

The neck fit is so well that unless you looked closely at the neck seam, it could almost appear as a set neck. It is a different type neck joint that I have never seen and is wood to wood contact with a one bolt system. The Taylor site explains it well. The neck is pacific blue gloss as is the back of the guitar and the headstock. There is no black on guitar although it appears dark in some of the pictures. It is a chambered body, fairly light and is very resonant unplugged. I will report on the tone more after I experiment with it a bit.

There is a lot of purfling on the body and neck instead of binding. It is all set in from the edge and in a groove.It is flawless.

The down side is that it came with a very deluxe gig bag from Taylor, made in Canada. It is very deluxe inside. I would have preferred a G&C type case. Surprising to get a gig bag with a guitar at this price.

I know nothing of Taylor service and it does not come with a truss rod tool, which is very similar to a Gibson type, just smaller in size. I have a tool to adjust it.

Thanks for your comments and questions and I will report more on the tone. All I can say at this point is that is has a much wider range of tone than the MM Axis sport that I was comparing it against. -- Darwin

Thank you for your comments.

Last edited by darwinohm on Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Nice guitar and not red... Ebony board? Glued? I know companies don't like to machine or PLEK ebony due to cracking. I guess it happens a lot... Unless of course it's straight grain Gaboon/Macassar...

In a nutshell; robots hate ebony...

Do you know what kind of ebony G&L uses for their boards? My new ASAT has an ebony board. I assume it is PLEKd like any other G&L. The action is perfect.
One cool thing about it is since I got the gloss finish neck, the edges of the fingerboard as well as the section behind the nut also got the gloss finish --almost looks like a bound neck.
Would you recommend oiling the fingerboard the first time I change strings?
I've been playing a maple board for so long I never had to think about oiling it. The only other non-finished neck I own (also ebony) is my Guild acoustic which I just recently oiled for the first time.

By the way Darwin--that is one nice looking finish--Did my recent blueburst push you away from another red guitar?

Eddie, your Blueburst is a beauty. I have been short on blues and this was an interesting pattern. Thanks.-- Darwin

Will, a light just went on and I think I understand your question. Yes, I believe the frets are pressed in to the Ebony without glue. The frets are right next to the wood and appear to be pressed very tightly. Is that what you were asking Will?-- Darwin

I have heard several people say that the MFG.'s are discontinuing the practice of including a truss rod wrench because so many people mis-adjust the rod, causing warranty claims.

Beautiful guitar--you did good!

Bill

Absolutely beautiful!! The quilted top is gorgeous! Enjoy..

Darwin,

That is one beautiful guitar. Post some sound clips when you get a chance.

Nice guitar and not red... Ebony board? Glued? I know companies don't like to machine or PLEK ebony due to cracking. I guess it happens a lot... Unless of course it's straight grain Gaboon/Macassar...

Funny you mention that , my current build had a piece of macassar split in the early stages of fretting (was streaky too... boo hiss)

How is the neck finished? I wish they would do like G&L used to back in the early days. Was it "gunstock finish"? Basically, it's 1500 grit sandpaper and a controlled oil treatment of the raw wood. I guess all of this will disappear as guitars are becoming completely machine-made. BTW, does Taylor do direct coupling? By that I mean full contact with the wood, No glues, No dampeners, No springs or other fillers? Man, I hope so.

I love oil finishes too, Music Man still does them, as does carvin, and my incoming is a light touch of true-oil (gunstock oil, just enough to seal it, not to build a surface). Nothing beats that feeling.

Very nice, I don't think I've seen that double cutaway Taylor electric before. Love the finish !

Are the pickup cavities shielded with copper? In the pictures there is brown showing behind the black. Personally, I think that would look better if black. But I would accept it if it were shielding.

That guitar is fine jewelry.

Michael, you are very observant. That is not noticeable unless you catch it with a camera or in direct sunlight. I had not noticed until you mentioned it and I looked at the picture again. Upon inspection with a light it appears that the cavities are shielded as the material is a light copper color and at the top of the cavity you can see a strip of lighter wood. I could only tell for sure if I removed a pickup. There is definitely a lining in there but I cannot prove if it is shielding, but I suspect it is. Maybe someone else knows for sure. Thanks for noticing. -- Darwin