Gee whiz, I'm all excited having two REAL ABG guys to talk to at the same time
Yeah there aren't many good ones to choose from. The people who design them just don't get it.
A few years back I took my Earthwood in to a place that handles a lot of Taylors and there were a couple of Taylor techs on hand, who had never seen an Earthwood and were dying to get their hands on one.
They were both guitar players and when they picked up my Earthwood they played it very soft, like a guitar. They both commented on how they thought it had nice tone but they thought it would have much more volume. They told me the action was way too high and they could set it up "the right way".
I explained to them that the volume was there they just weren't getting to it , and that the action was high so you could use your right hand to get at the volume. They handed it back to me to give them a demonstration and then the lights went on for them when they saw me digging in with the right hand. They were suprised at the volume I was able to get and they tried it again themselves using a more agressive right hand (which they were not at all comfortable with). But they got the point, and although they weren't yet comfortable with playing that way, they thought the Earthwood was pretty special , the action was perfect and they admitted that Taylor missed the boat on their atttempt at building the best ABG ever. And yes indeed they questioned what the reasoning was on Taylors decision to put the sound hole where they did.
I have never played or even seen a Taylor so I can't get too critical but here is an example of a very fine Acoustic builder ,and Martin is another one, who makes a very expensive and nice sounding ABG with absolutely no consideration to how it projects
. WTF good is an expensive acoustic instrument if you can't hear it. If you have to amplify it to get it to be heard over a guitar or two , then you can sure as hell spend a whole lot less on the instrument and make up for it with the same amplification.
Rick
