Taylor K20C Reviews 5

I bought this guitar (in 1998) after playing many different "high end" guitars, such as Santa Cruz, Martin, some old Gibsons, etc.... It was a bit pathetic of me to buy this guitar after playing it for five minutes. But it *looked* so damn good I just had to have it! I guess I'm a visual sort of guy. I paid 1900 dollars out the door at a place called WildWood Music in a little town outside of Denver. Louisville, I think it was.

Well, as I said the looks drew me in. I've still never seen anything quite as beautiful as high-quality full-koa construction. To me, it's all about the quality of the Koa, as well as the grain patterns. Okay, I'll shut up about the looks now. This guitar has a playability that hooked me quickly. Hard to describe, but it's almost as if the guitar is intuitive, and knows what you're trying to accomplish. Good action, not too low, not too high. Just right. In general, easy playing, quality construction, killer looks.

When I first bought the guitar, several people told me about the maturing of Koa, and how it would be very bright for quite some time. They were right on. I really didn't like the sound for about a year. Very bright, sort of thin, not much bass presence at all. Also, the K20C has been replaced by the K20CE, which has a pickup. Mine does not. An internal pickup would have been nice, but isn't a huge deal to me.

I have no complaints about the construction at all. I'm a big fan of the modern techniques that Taylor uses, and really can't find any flaws at all. Good solid scalloped x-brace construction, nice inlays. Beautiful, but not too busy.

Bottom line... I was not happy with the sound of this guitar for the first year, as I've said before. Luckily, I'm a patient man, as the sound is now very deep and rich. This is still the guitar I pick up when I do any serious acoustic work. I would definitely recommend this guitar.

Mike Mccall rated this unit 5 on 2001-12-06.

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