PSA - Taylor AD27e Flametop plus free Taylor Baby - £1199 on My GuitarGuitar

Tannin

^ Actually, those buy one get one free deals Taylor does never strike me as particularly good. You basically pay full price for the guitar you (presumably) want, and then they give you a guitar you don't want.

Where is the sense in that?

And no, I don't want a Baby Taylor, or indeed any of their other undersize short-scale models. Or, for that matter, a 1 Series or 2 Series thing. In my book Taylors start with the 314 and go up from there.

None of which is to deny that Taylor do a great job of making some of their low-end models play better than you would expect, and better than most direct equivalents (albeit at a much higher price). Nevertheless, none of them is an actual silk purse, they remain nicely finished pig's ears.

So why not just sell the Baby Taylor and pocket the cash? Ummm .why would I want to go through all that mucking about with selling stuff instead of simply having a discount on the guitar I actually wanted in the first place?

TTony

Tannin said:

^ Actually, those buy one get one free deals Taylor does never strike me as particularly good. You basically pay full price for the guitar you (presumably) want, and then they give you a guitar you don't want.

Where is the sense in that?

The free Baby didn't remove the opportunity for discount on the other guitar - but discount comes out of retailer margin (wihtin whatever constraints Taylor put on discounting!) whereas the free Baby was a Taylor contribution

The AD27 was a particular sell-off deal. on top of which the free Baby bonus was still available.

From a manufacturer perspective, it's arguably better from the perspective of maintaining perceived brand value to add something "free" on top rather than cutting the RRP of the main item. 

The free Baby "worth £299" probably costs Taylor ~£100.  Offering customers a free thing "worth £299" is probably going to work better as a deal attractor than "£100 off" discounts.


I predict a few "new, unplayed, mint" Baby Taylors appearing in the Classifieds over the next few months

DrJazzTap

The annoying thing is I've already asked if I can Px it in the store. Yes of course.
Okay so can we agree on a px price now? No...

So it needs to be shipped to me and then i have to go back to a store? 

TTony

Looks like the BTs are getting sent out now.


Just had a call from GG asking when would be good for me for delivery, so tomorrow it is!


Small caveat - as BT stock comes in, they're sending it out in the order in which they received the orders (fair enough), so depending on how many they've received vs how many they sold, there might not be enough stock immediately to satisfy the later orders.  I ordered my AD27 pretty quickly after the deal went live, hence getting it as soon as stock came in.

DrJazzTap

Same here! Woo hoo. I'm most likely going to donate mine to a charity so they can raffle it off.

TTony

Put me down as pretty impressed.

UPD delivered (bang on time) a bag in a bag in a box in a box.  And a guitar underneath all the packaging.  Looks like it's as it came out of the factory as the inner Taylor box was still stapled closed.  

Guitar itself was ridiculously close to being in tune.  Action is very comfortable, and lower than many I've played/tried.  Looks like spruce over walnut back and sides (laminated obviously).  No obviously defects from a quick look over, fretwork all nice and tidy and feel is as you'd expect from Taylor.

No, it's not going to replace any of my "proper" Taylors, nor the GS Mini, but for anyone who does a bit of travelling and wants to take a guitar along with them, this is conveniently light and small.  The neck feels full width, but obviously shorter scale length.  Might also work as a starter guitar for someone with slightly smaller hands.   I'll not be keeping it (have no need) so it'll be moved on somewhere, somehow, sometime, but definitely not because I don't like it or there's anything wrong with it!

Comes in a proper Taylor gig bag - which are quality in themselves.  

GuitarGuitar were pretty good - I received (unprompted) some status updates from them, and they replied immediately when I chased them.  They also called yesterday before dispatching to make sure that today was convenient for delivery.

So, in all respects, "pretty impressed".

DrJazzTap

Mine has been delivered. Haven't opened as I'm in the office today

Dave_Mc

That's great news @TTony and @DrJazzTap Glad they finally arrived.

Teyeplayer

Interesting, not heard a jot from guitarguitar…despite what was shared above about being inline to be in the first batch. However, I notice the status of my order has changed on their website, so hopefully that just means that they are working through them and I’ll get a call today. 

DrJazzTap

@Dave_Mc it's a lovely little thing, but i've decided to shift it on. 

Teyeplayer

Had the call half hour ago, should be with me Monday. 

DrJazzTap

@Teyeplayer that's good to hear. I was going to donate to my singers kid, but seeing as he has more than one child I didn't want to cause an upset. 

Teyeplayer

DrJazzTap said:

@Teyeplayer that's good to hear. I was going to donate to my singers kid, but seeing as he has more than one child I didn't want to cause an upset. 

Yes, they can take these things personally. My two end up sharing most stuff so I’m not too fussed. Will confess there was a bit of me that thought flog it on and I’ve had a 1k AD27, which really is a rather good deal.

TTony

Teyeplayer said:

Will confess there was a bit of me that thought flog it on and I’ve had a 1k AD27, which really is a rather good deal.

All of me had that thought!  At £1199 it was a good deal, but at around £1k it was a no brainer and prompted me to press the BiN button double-quick.

Helixir

Tannin said:

In my book Taylors start with the 314 and go up from there.

None of which is to deny that Taylor do a great job of making some of their low-end models play better than you would expect, and better than most direct equivalents (albeit at a much higher price). Nevertheless, none of them is an actual silk purse, they remain nicely finished pig's ears.

Some see the new-fangled v-class bracing as the "nicely finished pig's ears".

Others prefer laminated rosewood to solid sapele and not only for its superior durability and resistance to cracking due to high/low humidity.

Teyeplayer

Well that little freebie ain’t half cool; what a cracking little sound box. Very impressed and spot on straight out of the box. Taught my daughter her first chord tonight and she’s asked if she can have the baby Taylor on her wall so she can practice -you bet girl, of course you can! 

BigPaulie

Teyeplayer said:

Well that little freebie ain’t half cool; what a cracking little sound box. Very impressed and spot on straight out of the box. Taught my daughter her first chord tonight and she’s asked if she can have the baby Taylor on her wall so she can practice -you bet girl, of course you can! 

That's what's known as a "win/win" situation...

Awesome!