Any love for the Taylor T5?

WindmillGuitars · June 2017

Had a T5 for a while and wish I'd hung on to it now. A/B switch running one signal to a tube amp and the other DI'd direct to PA provided a great versatile set-up

Andy_Strings · February 2018

Anchorboy said:

Had a T5 for a while and wish I'd hung on to it now. A/B switch running one signal to a tube amp and the other DI'd direct to PA provided a great versatile set-up

There you go, that's exactly what I do. I actually prefer that to the dual (triple) outputs on my Godin LGX. I'm an acoustic player (Collings, Eggle and a Huss) but the Taylor still finds favour at some loud gigs and sounds great through a Red-Eye Fire-Eye preamp.

Rabs · February 2018

I have a question...

How do you guys think a hybrid guitar like this would sound with the piezo system not through an amp, but instead if it goes through a PA system like you would find at your average open mic night?

richardhomer · February 2018

Worth mentioning for anyone looking to buy one of these - there is an absolutely mint maple top version in sunburst in Gibson’s Music in Ashton-under-Lyne for £900 at the moment. Comes with original case, etc. No affiliation but I played it last Friday and thought it was a really good price.

Fuengi · February 2018

Somebody was playing one unplugged in Guitar Sound on Saturday, it didn't sound like an acoustic.

Teyeplayer · February 2018

richardhomer said:

Worth mentioning for anyone looking to buy one of these - there is an absolutely mint maple top version in sunburst in Gibson’s Music in Ashton-under-Lyne for £900 at the moment. Comes with original case, etc. No affiliation but I played it last Friday and thought it was a really good price.

Maple top version, sure that wasn’t the t3 -which is a very different beast to the t5, although they do look quite similiar?

ICBM · February 2018

Rabs said:

I have a question...
How do you guys think a hybrid guitar like this would sound with the piezo system not through an amp, but instead if it goes through a PA system like you would find at your average open mic night?

It’s probably worth mentioning that the ‘acoustic’ pickups aren’t piezos - they’re also magnetic, based on the original version of the Expesssion System.

Whether that also makes them unreliable like the Expression System, I don’t know - I haven’t seen a dead one, but on the other hand they’re quite rare compared to ES acoustics.

It will definitely be fine plugged straight into a PA. At the average open-mic night a standard electric guitar plugged into the PA sounds acceptable

. The Taylor will sound a lot better than that, even if it doesn’t sound like a mic’ed acoustic.

Fuengi said:

Somebody was playing one unplugged in Guitar Sound on Saturday, it didn't sound like an acoustic.

Why would it? It’s a semi-hollow electric guitar.

guitars4you · February 2018

Rabs said:

I have a question...
How do you guys think a hybrid guitar like this would sound with the piezo system not through an amp, but instead if it goes through a PA system like you would find at your average open mic night?

they tend to sound like any/many electro acoustic based guitars like an APX Yamaha to a large degree - more 'processed' or 'artificial' than 'organic' like a genuine mic'd up Martin - Will work better through a wide response flat EQ system like a PA, home studio monitors, keyboard amp and/or electro acoustic amp, as against an electric guitar amp - so split the acoustic and electric pick-ups through different amps for the best results - They do a job, like an APX but it isn't the real thing either - For an electric guitar based player wanting an acoustic voice, then I'm not so sure they sound that much better than an electric guitar via a BOSS AC2 acoustic simulator for a fraction of the cost

To me a bit of a Holiday Inn cocktail jazz bar guitar - They are certainly not crap - but IMO they are not one thing or another - buy used if you go down this root as depreciation is big on them

ICBM · February 2018

I really wanted to like it because I like using ‘wrong’ electric and acoustic sounds - clean electric guitars DI’d through the PA and distorted acoustics through guitar amps for example - so I wasn’t really looking for an accurate ‘acoustic’ sound. But it just didn’t really sound good to me - the sound had a sort of metallic artificiality to it, no matter what it was put through.

I also hated the feel of it - both the neck and the body were too wide and too thin. I actually preferred the cheap Korean ‘nearly’ copies which mostly came with the Crafter name on, and looked similar but used a standard piezo bridge pickup and a lipstick-tube magnetic.

Andyjr1515 · February 2018

I think it's all about what you are after.

I had the Crafter for a while. One of the nicest looking and very pleasant playing guitars I've had in a long time. And, like many of you say about the Taylor, I desperately wanted to love the breadth of sounds on tap.

And they're OK. But not excellent.

I agonised for months before I sold it and tried to rationalise why it never quite did it for me. My conclusion was that, if I was going to use this for real, the sound was more important than the looks. And here's the rub. Most piezo or acoustic emulation systems do an OK job. None are going to sound like a mic'd up real acoustic. On the other hand, hybrids struggle to get the full breadth of solid body double pickup sound potential. And, being piezo or acoustic emulation, are no better than other similar systems for their acoustic options.

So, Crafter / Taylor T5 hybrids - OK electric, OK acoustic emulation, OK mixed

Double pickup electric with on board piezo acoustic emulation - Full electric breadth, OK acoustic emulation, Good mixed

And, albeit with a Crafter not a Taylor, I had both so played them side by side in all sorts of situations and it was proven every time. My wrench at the final decision to sell was the Crafter's looks and feel. But I knew, because of the above, I'd always take the Indie to gig.

richardhomer · February 2018

Teyeplayer said:
Maple top version, sure that wasn’t the t3 -which is a very different beast to the t5, although they do look quite similiar?

Maple tops are an option on T5s - I can assure you I know a T5 when I see/play one!

Axe2Grind · February 2018

I didn't like the T5 but I thought the T5z was a lot better and nearly bought one back in 2014 when I got made redundant and had money to buy a quality guitar. The T5z had a more compact body and tailored toward the electric player.

JayGee · February 2018

An acquaintance has one of these and uses it quite a lot in situations which are mostly electric but call for a bit of acoustic now and again (or vice versa).

Useful rather than inspiring...

Dominic · February 2018

The Crafter is an excellent alternative .........had both and can honestly say the Crafter was £1500 cheaper and no less a guitar in any way ............secondhand Crafter is great VFM

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Any love for the Taylor T5?

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