c.2006 Taylor 110E Dreadnought Guitar

A buddy of mine picked this up used over at Blue Mountain Guitar in New Hampshire and brought it to me for a setup. It needed a bit more than that: the frets also frets got leveled and the bridge and saddle got a light shave and new string ramps, too. I then strung it up with 11s (my friend is an electric guy, mostly), tweaked the truss, and out popped a nice player with... dreadnought sound.

It's pretty hard to knock a 110. At about $600 new they're a heck of a guitar and confirm my general opinion that decent tone is generally supplied by a solid top and good build on a light bracing pattern. Who cares that the back and sides are laminate sapele? It sounds... just fine! ...though I'm spoiled by the more individual sound of older, stranger guitars so it's not a tone that I appreciate as much as I used to.

Solid spruce top... apparently ebony bridge and board... lam sapele back and sides... and a mahogany neck with finger-jointed headstock attachment (good idea).

This particular 110E has a bit of use-wear but it shaped up alright. Both the nut and saddle have aged-in to a medium mustard color.

The neck is pretty typical Taylor... skinny and fast with a 1 11/16" nut width. This thing gives the D-18P I reviewed just recently a good run for its money playability-wise but lacks the clarity, drive, and punch of that guitar (it also costs less than half as much). I'd say this Taylor is definitely more suited to a thumpy chordal style of play... but that's something I generally think Taylor dreads are suited to, anyhow.

If you look closely you'll notice how I rounded-off the front of the bridge and then polished it back up. This was to give a little bit more adjustable room on saddle height for the future.

I'm assuming the slightly arched back is press-arched like on Guilds.

The neck is secured by two big bolts and a bit of glue. If the plan is to do a neck set on this the repairman will also need to unscrew a small bolt in the fretboard extension which is hidden by one of the pearl dots.

Two strap buttons installed electric-style are just fine with me. I actually prefer them to an "endpin" style button down here.