Taylor ES System

[12barBill]

Can anyone tell me some of the pros and cons of the Taylor ES system? I seem to hear only negative comments and I'm not personally familiar with it. I know they are doing an "upgrade" re-vamp. I have a chance to buy a LMT. ED. 414CE (rosewood back and sides) at a very good price, however I'm concerned about the ES system. It is probably the old, original ES.

[FNG]

I probably would have concerns about buying a Taylor with an older ES.  If you plan on using it alot, then if you go into the deal understanding that it might fail, then you won't be upset when it does.  Not saying it will fail, but there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest a higher than normal failure rate.  I had a beautiful 815 that I sold due to a move and guitar downsizing, but never used the ES much.  Sold it to a fella, and the ES failed on him.  And he didn't have the warranty to get it fixed.

[12barBill]

Thanks FNG... besides the failure rate, what's the sound quality like, feedback characteristics, cut in a band mix, etc.?   

[sdelsolray]

Your best bet is to head over to the Acoustic Guitar Forum, which is the old Taylor Guiar Forum.  There are many many folks over there with tons of theoretical, practical and actual experience with the ES, and all of it's versions.

I do know that you can get that Taylor upgraded to the surrent ES system for $250 plus shipping to and from Taylor.

[norcal99]

The ES can be a bit finicky. I've got 2 Taylors, one with the old ES, and one with the new ES. I can't say I've ever had one fail on me, but then again I've never used my new ES so I can't comment on that yet. My old one had this midrange frequency that sounded awful to me. Your best bet is just to dial down the mids on your amp or go through a parametric EQ of some sort (baggs padi, acoustimax, etc.). I hated it so much I ended up ripping out the entire ES system and retrofitting in a baggs iMix. In terms of failure though, I wouldn't be too worried. The amount of good outnumbers the amount of bad. This is all from my personal experience.

[dberch]

There are a lot of ES fans out there.  Personally, I don't like the sound.  To me, they all sound the same.  I hear more humbucker than acoustic guitar. 

[Mr Diddywahdiddy]

My advice to anyone contemplating buying a Taylor with any expression system is DO NOT! I have had vast experience with this system and believe me, none of it has been pleasant. I became so frustrated with mine that I eventually ripped it out and installed a Takamine cool tube pre amp - cost me a fortune but the results were incredible! The expression system is a pile of poo ( in my humble opinion )

[mikey007]

I don't own a taylor with an ES, but i have played many of them, i can't say enough good things about them, but then alot of people don't like it.  so i think you would have to try it out yourself.

Mike