A Worthy Contender to the Dreadnaught Crown

Having played acoustic guitar for over 40 years, and having owned numerous Martin and Taylor guitars, I must say this one surprised me. I had a Taylor 810, Martin D35, HD28, D1220, D1228, as well as a Taylor 855 12 string. The 855 was an amazing instrument over all of them for it's power and balance. The 410ce I decided upon had that character. Not only does it have superb output both on its own, but plugged in becomes another animal. The Expression pickup system allows for so many quality sounds through both a PA as well as a direct recording secenario, that there really is NO comparison to the others. What did take me by surprise was the sound of the 410ce in front of a competent mic into a recording setup. It actually blew my previous favorite right out of the water (a custom dialed in Martin). It had a superior tonal balance and required virtually NO Eq where the Martin required considerable Eq. The action (as is usually the case with Taylor) was perfect with NO fret buzz and a nice straight neck with no rises or irregular frets. The overall workmanship was flawless..and I'm fussy and was looking for some flaw somewhere....there was none to be found. The guitar holds tune perfectly with no slippage. The wood character (African Ovankol) was highly figured, much like some maple guitars I've seen. It is not only beautiful to look at by to listen to. I have a hard time putting it down once I've started to play. Anyone looking in this price range simply MUST give one a try. This particular instrument actually was superior in sound to models over a thousand dollars more expensive (as will often be the case with wood, they can vary).

Very nice Dread

This is a very easy playing acoustic, nice sound and good workmanship. I would have preferred gloss back and sides, but you can't have everything and the Ovangkol is beautiful even in satin finish. The ES system is not bad, not as good as a good microphone, but will do when you don't want to mic your guitar. Action, intonation, fretboard, neck, all spot-on. I have a friend with a Martin HD-28 and we have compared them. Hard to pick the better sound, but they are very different sounding. The 410ce was a bit on the bright and over-brittle sounding at first, mellowed out in a couple of months, and then I took of the Elixers and put on D'Addario 80/20s and the sound blossomed into a very well-rounded axe. Overall, a good axe to have, you'll have to struggle with the question of whether you need the ES or save a few hundred with the DN4 model.