A Striking Sweetwater Exclusive Taylor 12-string
Available only at Sweetwater, the Taylor Custom Grand Concert 12-string acoustic-electric guitar is a visual stunner and sonic knockout! It features a torrefied solid Sitka spruce top, Indian rosewood back and sides, and V-Class bracing for a projective acoustic sound with a focused low end and detailed highs. For onstage amplification, the Custom Grand Concert 12-string comes equipped with Taylor’s highly regarded Expression System 2 (ES2) electronics. The grand concert body and 12-fret neck joint promote exceptional comfort and playability, perfect for fingerstyle players. Premium appointments — including Gotoh 510 tuning machines, mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays, a black TUSQ nut, and a Micarta saddle — round out this spectacular instrument.
Related Videos: Custom Grand Concert 12-string Acoustic-electric Guitar - Charcoal, Sweetwater Exclusive
Ideal for fingerstyle and tracking
For fingerstyle and tracking, Sweetwater's guitar gurus favor Taylor's Grand Concert body style, which yields a clear, balanced tone that lends itself to layering with other instruments in thicker arrangements where a larger-bodied acoustic would take up too much sonic real estate. The 12-fret neck joint gives this instrument an easy, relaxed hand feel, while the shifted bridge location dials up midrange assertiveness. This guitar's more petite Grand Concert body and tapered waist make it a great studio and stage guitar. Its short scale and lighter string tension make it easier to play — perfect for electric guitarists or younger players with smaller hands. It also makes for a more efficient design; the more petite body is inherently stronger, which enables it to be more lightly braced, making it easier to set the strings in motion.
V-Class bracing: a sonic revelation
Bracing is the internal framework of an acoustic guitar that helps shape its sound. Although X-bracing has been standard in acoustic guitars for over a century, it creates an innate conflict between two key elements of a guitar’s sound: volume and sustain. The guitar’s top (its soundboard) contributes to both. The flexibility of the top generates volume (projection), while its stiffness generates sustain. And with X-braced guitar tops, here’s where the tradeoff comes in: when something is made stiffer, its flexibility is reduced (and vice versa).
V-Class bracing changes all that. With Taylor’s V-Class bracing, an acoustic guitar top can be both stiff and flexible — for more volume and sustain. V-Class bracing provides stiffness parallel to the strings for more rigidity and, hence, sustain. Flexibility on either side generates the air movement necessary for robust projection. It’s the best of both worlds. This groundbreaking innovation also improves intonation — not only producing notes that are louder and with longer sustain but are also more in tune with each other.
Cutting-edge Taylor Expression System 2 electronics
If you play plugged in, you’ll love the Taylor Expression System 2 (ES2) electronics built into your Taylor Grand Concert 12-string guitar. The key to this fantastic system is the 3-section proprietary pickup located behind the saddle. Because of where it’s positioned and how it’s integrated into the guitar’s saddle, the ES2 pickup provides you with remarkably clear and accurate sound. In addition to a master volume control, a pair of tone controls let you tweak your highs and lows to get the sound you need, and a discreet polarity switch offers vital onboard feedback suppression.
Taylor Custom Grand Concert 12-string Acoustic-electric Guitar Features:
- Torrefied solid Sitka spruce top, Indian rosewood back and sides; gloss finish
- V-Class top bracing; standard-grained ivoroid binding, ebony rosette
- Tropical mahogany neck, Standard profile, satin finish
- Ebony fingerboard, mother-of-pearl and abalone xydeous diamond inlays
- Ebony bridge and pins; Micarta saddle
- 1.875-inch TUSQ nut; Gotoh 510 tuning machines
- 24.875-inch scale length; 18 frets
- Taylor ES2 electronics
