Taylor T5z-12 Classic 12-String Hollowbody Electric Guitar - Tropical Mahogany Sweetwater Exclusive Reviews

Outstanding go-to guitar, I pick this one up & play it a lot! . Extremely easy to play, great tones, stays in tune and intimated, excellent build & craftsmanship. Made in America!

The Taylor T5z twelve has to be one of the easiest twelve string guitars to play that I've had my hands on. The mahogany gives it a rich tone, it has great twelve string sound. The guitar is light, and a joy to play. If you are looking for a twelve string guitar, the Taylor T5z is a great choice, and the people at Sweetwater, are great to work with to make sure your purchase is what you are looking for. My sales engineer, Kevin Samuel does a great job to make my purchase is easy and quick, and that I have the things that I need. Even get some candy in the box, what more could you want?

I have been playing an acoustic guitar for many years. I wanted a 12-string hollow body electric that gave me great sound in a smaller footprint. This was a key factor when playing gigs in limited space. The Taylor T5z-12 came through. It has great sound, it is light, and its smaller body (compared to the acoustic) works perfectly.

I really like the pickup arrangement and selector switch that gives a great range of sounding options.

The neck could have been slightly wider to accommodate 12 strings, so it does require a bit more finger precision to form tight chords. I would have been nice to have a built-in tuner as part of the electronics, but no big deal.

Overall, this is a great guitar and I really look forward to years of enjoyment playing it with the guys in the band.

I've only had this beautiful guitar for a few months and it is an amazing sounding versatile guitar, the electronics i.e. the 5-way switch and the pickups give me a huge range of tones to experiment with. It sounds great in the 'acoustic' mode using the Dynamic Body Sensor through my clean channel on my Vibrolux Reverb, and it has a good bite to it when using the humbuckers and applying a little dirt with my pedalboard. You gotta watch the feedback, but that is expected with a hollowbody. It compliments the lead guitar player's Les Paul very nicely. The action is low and quite fast and the neck is so comfortable to play. The T5z is a lot thinner than I had expected and it is hands down the easiest 12 string I've ever played. It looks fantastic and oh yeah, it is very light. As always, the support from the Sweetwater team is second to none. Ben Rys was super helpful and the guitar came perfectly set-up right out of the box.

Feels and looks a little like my old 1979 Gibson "The Paul" but much lighter (Hollow Body) sounds sweeter, and the action is smooooooth.

The Acoustic Pickup Selector all the way toward the neck, is rich and warm. People are suprised as they expect a more "Electric Sound"

Exceeded my hopes for a novel, electric 12-string. The body is beautiful, and the design is sleek. The acoustic tone is clean and it just sings when plugged in. I like having the five pickup adjustments, though I'm still figuring out which ones sound best with which kinds of songs. I'm treasuring this guitar!

This guitar is simply fabulous. I have owned 4 electric 12s in the past including 2 Ricks and this one outshines them all. You can certainly get the Byrds/Beatles sounds in spades, but everything you play on this guitar has a beautiful acoustic-type shimmery sustain to it. It's just gorgeous. If you want to take your 12 string sound in different directions there's a huge range of opportunity here. All with that dreamy "glow." And the feel of the neck is incredible. I always had finger-cramming issues on the Ricks near the nut. No problem here. The acoustic sound using the exp system into a PA is not quite the real thing, but I didn't expect it to be. It's more than serviceable for gigging and recording where it is not alone in front. The Classic doesn't have the shine and binding, but I actually like it better. For me, a 12 didn't warrant the extra expense. But you never know. The way I've been playing this guitar, a 12 main become my main squeeze. Came absolutely perfectly set up from Sweetwater. Highly recommended.

Great gear and great service. Both keep me coming back to Sweetwater time after time.

I bought this guitar because I am beginning to have problems with my hands (I'm 63). My other 12-string requires so much left-hand strength that it makes my hand hurt the rest of the day when I play.

Every Taylor guitar I've played, both 6 and 12-string, has been SWEET. The action and intonation are very nice and the amount of pressure needed for Barre chords is maybe half of my old instrument.

This one has just enough acoustic sound to make basic practice fine without an amp. With an amp it is great! The dual Humbuckings make tweaking the sound very easy. I like it!

This is the first Taylor I've owned and it definitely lives up to the Taylor reputation.

Thanks!

This guitar fit perfectly in the space between my Taylor acoustic 12 and my Taylor T5 Koa. Just a great full sound, feather light, nice low action, and no issues when using with pedals. Only wish it came with a hard case, but the soft case is adequate.

This is such a great guitar, I am having so much fun playing it and find it hard to put it down. I should have bought this a long time ago. Such a sweet playing piece of equipment.

Well built guitar and a "pretty good" over-all sound. (I don't know, but I was expecting a little more diversity in the tones) Action was good however my only real disipointment was it isn't balenced very well. With the extra tuners and longer headstock it is a little "neck heavy" so I experience "neck dive" while playing it. Make sure you get a good strap that helps hold it up.

Do I need 6 Taylors? No. But I am a Taylor fan and retired former pro/collector. This Z 12 surprised me
in a few ways. Don't do many reviews but this might help some players.
1. Taylor seems to be changing its frets. I have a Z 6 string and a T3B and the frets I would call jumbo
but they are more rounded and not as 'tall' (pointy) as the Z 12 frets. You may like them, but too much
pressure on the Z 12 can skew the tune. It is a fret made for a big bender or shredder which I am not.
Taylor calls them 'jumbo/fat.' I would call them jumbo/tall. You can get used to them. Although I don't
think they belong on a 12 string.
2. My Z 12 came with high action above the 5th fret. It was corrected. But it's the first one I received with
that kind of action out of box. All the others were perfect.
3. I never needed a truss wrench for my Taylors so only opened one up when the 12 came. They don't come with the instrument so my advice would be to order one from Sweetwater with your guitar.
4. Last point: The neck on this 12 appears to be the same width as the standard 6 string. I would prefer a slightly wider neck for the 12. Again, it takes a getting used to.

I've been frustrated with this guitar since the day I bought it some time ago.. It will not hold tune.. I can't play through a whole tune before I start hearing it go out of tune.. Stings certainly haven't been the answer.. The machine heads on this thing stink as far as I can tell.. always the same strings.. One of these days I'll try replacing some tuners and see if it helps.. It is a beautiful guitar.. but hasn't served me well..