Finally I pulled the trigger on a small body acoustic. I’ve been talking myself out of it for a year, telling myself I didn’t really need it and I don’t have any room to store it. Plus I’ve been so overwhelmed with options in the acoustic space. But I went in to play some, the GS Mini was a pretty perfect size. It’s a cool carbon burst color. I figure if I don’t bond with it, I can sell it. And there’s a return period so I can always change my mind before then.
I didn’t bring it home because, get this - when I was about to pay, I asked the tech if it included a set up and he said no, they’re set up from the Taylor factory but I asked if he’d please play it well for a few mins to test it and he heard a buzz in the middle frets. He took it back to the back room and came back a few mins later saying he wouldn’t sell me that one because it had unfortunately dried out a little bit in the acoustic room, and felt it was too far gone to rehumidify, so he suggested I order one from the factory. So I’ll get one in a box in a few days. I’ll post pics when that happens if I’m happy with it when it arrives. Fingers crossed!
It’s the GS Mini E in Carbon Burst, a limited edition color run at Guitar Center. Soooo stoked. It’s going to relieve this dreadnought dissatisfaction I’ve had for awhile now. I love my Takamine Jasmine and it’s not going anywhere, but this Taylor will be perfect sized for me.
We asked the same question. The guy said they do humidify their acoustic room but sometimes they don’t when they should, and there’s times when the room dries out their guitars and some they can rehumidify and save, but they lose a lot that they can’t save.
So, everyone, beware of buying an acoustic hanging in a guitar shop in a dedicated room. Hopefully, you can test it yourself, or someone working there is trustworthy to be honest about whether a guitar is compromised. Or take it to a luthier that you trust. I’ll be taking the one I recieve to an independent luthier to play for me because I can’t play well enough yet to find buzzy spots.
It wasn’t the first instrument that caught my eye because I normally don’t like bursts either. But this one is pretty nice looking. Looks better in person. After I looked at several different colors on different models I knew I didn’t want plain spruce, or a solid color either, and I’ve got a mahogany colored acoustic already and a Koa uke, so a burst is the only thing I don’t currently have yet.
Of course! I had said in my post that the color was limited to GC. But I was wrong because I’m seeing it listed on many shop sites across the country.
Wow, nice work, and nice looking guitar. I must say that your story of a dried out guitar worries me as I am looking at guitars (Taylor) at the moment and the guitar store has a really large selection of guitars hanging on walls in mutiple rooms (though not closed rooms). I too would not be able to play it well enough to be able to tell if it wasn’t quite right. I may have to take someone with me
Thanks! Yes I hear you. I’ve been thinking about it all evening how it could be that guitar stores could possibly keep a dedicated room properly humidified all the time. Think of all the opening and closing of the doors and some stores may not even have doors on their acoustic rooms. I really can’t guarantee that I will get a sealed, boxed instrument when mine arrives unless they wait for me to show up and open it in front of me. I am prepared to ask for a refund if everything isn’t on the up and up. I see that the model sells from other shops online, and I am aware that in my state we are getting ready to get a few days of extreme cold weather, so shipping cross country in the dead of winter is probably a bad idea. Lots of things swirling in my mind right now.
I can only suggest taking someone with you or taking an instrument to an independent luthier, or waiting until better humidity weather to buy. Honestly we can’t know all the circumstances an instrument experiences, but it sure did open my eyes learning what I learned today, and frankly, makes me quite nervous to think about buying a guitar from anywhere, ever and even more nervous to think about buying second hand. And I’m certainly buying humidifying devices for my cases tomorrow.
Congratulations. This guitar with the carbon burst is on my shortlist at the moment.
I have a Taylor Academy 10 (non electro) and am thinking I might get an electro acoustic next. I can’t decide whether I go GS Mini or maybe push the boat out a little on something fancier within the Taylor catalog. To be decided!
That sounds great! Glad you found a guitar that you like and you do deserve it! This is all about fun and learning and how can you do that if your guitar isn’t comfortable for you to play! I look forward to pictures when the guitar actually arrives!
Smart move having him check the guitar, bring your new one somewhere for a check as well.
I suppose cudos to the guitar store for not letting you buy a defective instrument, but I am with Kieth. I can’t imagine how a guitar in a shop would suffer dehydration to the point it couldn’t be fixed. That takes a while at pretty drastic conditions. I have a guitar that was stored in an unconditioned attack in colorado for 20 years (likely years with summer attic temps 120 F and winter RH in the single digits). It has cracks, but was easily repaired and plays great.
It also makes no sense that they would be willing to suffer periodic losses from guitars damaged by their own pure negligence. Bad business.
Continuing this theme, what about million dollar violins that have been carted around for centuries across multiple continents and never placed in a special room. They didn’t deteriorate, they just kept getting more expensive. Having played violin for some time, it was recommended by players in the Atlanta Symphony to put the instrument in your bathroom once a month when taking a hot shower to give it a dose of moisture. Wouldn’t think this would be optimal if you have electronics in your guitar. (And those moistures packs and snakes to insert in the sound hole likely have little or no benefit except for the seller)
