1985 Taylor A-15 Artist Jumbo Flattop Guitar

A top-spec maple jumbo Taylor from the '80s in barely-used condition? Those don't come-up too much. This one basically sounds like a very good Gibson J-200 (admit it: we've all played some stinkers) with a bit more definition in the upper-mids and highs. It's loud, full, and clean.

This was built as part of Taylor's "Artist" series, and as-such has an interesting finish (this is black but it's translucent-enough to see some of the maple figuring on the back and a bit of charcoal-colored grain on the top) with hand-painted flame-like motifs around the soundhole. The fretboard inlay is similar to the newer Taylor T guitars and it has a bold, stylized Taylor banner at the headstock.

It's a full, 17" jumbo and is x-braced, of course, and has quality materials: very flamed solid maple for the back and sides and solid spruce for the top. The neck is thin, fast, and electric-ish-playable as you'd expect from a Taylor. The neck is bolted in the over/under style of Lemon Grove guitars with a glued-down fretboard extension.

Basically: this is a nice rig.

Work included: a very mild fret level/dress and a setup. I also removed the rattling-around remains of the original undersaddle pickup system (it was missing its preamp and battery box) but left the endpin jack in place. It'd be easy-enough for me to drop-in whatever sort of acoustic pickup one might want (I suggest K&K Pure Mini, and I'd do it on the house), however. Action is bang-on at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret, strung with 54w-12 gauges. The truss works and the neck is straight. I did tighten the neck-bolts and move the Taylor serial/info paper to the back of the guitar and off the neck block for easier access to said bolts.

Scale length: 25 7/16"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 7/16"

String spacing at bridge: 2 3/16"

Body length: 20 3/4"

Lower bout width: 17"

Waist width: 9 7/8"

Upper bout width: 12"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid flamed maple

Bracing type: x-braced

Fretboard: ebony

Bridge: ebony

Neck feel: slim C, ~14-16" board radius

Condition notes: it's like it was hung on the wall in a music shop for 6 months but otherwise unplayed. There's very, very light pickwear around the soundhole and only light scratches or marks throughout the rest of the body. There's nothing distracting -- it looks like a guitar bought last year.

It comes with: its original, brown, hard case.