Taylor 310
submitted 3/25/2010
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Submitter |
Christopher K. |
Where Purchased |
Mars |
Year Purchased |
2000 |
Price Paid |
Don't Remember
historic exchange rates / currency converter
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Sound
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This guitar is an excellent guitar, but its excellence has limits. It is good for some applications, and not for others (like every other instrument).
Very silky and balanced when played by itself or with other instruments in a quiet setting, and it had excellent projection -- very loud. Nice and tight shimmering overtones, sustain, and harmonics, very bright but full and deep bass response.
Sounded poor in drop key tunings, very dull and hollow, even with heavier strings it just needed to be at concert pitch or higher to shine.
Playing bluegrass with it was its downfall. It sounded terrific when miked and mixed, and was good for rock or pop, but it was a total dog when it came to naturally cutting through a bluegrass band or a noisy jam session. Individually picked notes were very mushy. It had none of the forthright and cutting appeal of a Martin dreadnought, for instance. It just got washed out in front of the area mike with everyone playing around it. In jams it only added to the volume while being strummed, and I'd go to take my break and pick my lead and the volume would disappear Strumming or picking harder overdrove it very easily, and it sounded lousy at that point. |
Sound Rating |
8 |
Setup
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Only guitar I ever owned where I never changed the setup, and the neck was extremely fast - with a satin finish, even faster. A pleasure to play. Taylor does a factory setup better than anyone, I think. |
Setup Rating |
10 |
Appearance
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Nice little flame along the book match of the sitka spruce top. Varigated figure in the sapele was actually run of the mill, I've seen some much nicer figures in sapele before. Satin finish. Clean design lines, nothing tacky, very elegant - this is important to me, when the design is clean and simple then the woods natural beauty can be seen even more. |
Appearance Rating |
9 |
Reliability
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Took 4 years to need a total fret job. Fret work after 2. Pretty typical for me. Grover tuners were nice. Ebony bridge pins had to be replaced, too buttery and they ruined any cut it may of had. The usual assortment of bone and Tusq replacements didn't help its cut, though, so I sold it. Personally, I liked bone the best and I don't think they should have put ebony pins in it at all. I never replaced the nut or saddle but should have (it;s something I usually do anyway). Poly-U finish, again, not my favorite, on the top. But the sides were a satin finish, which was at least nice because it wouldn't squeak on my jeans during a recording session. It eventually ran afoul of a belt buckle around Christmastime and the result was much more manageable than what you'd expect from a high gloss finish! |
Reliability Rating |
8 |
Customer Service
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Never dealt with them, but I have only heard good things, and the warranty was reassuring that they stand by their product. |
Customer Service |
10 |
Components
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Ebony pins, Tusq nut and saddle (Tusq lends clarity and silkiness, but may be unnaturally bright), and hi-gloss poly-U finish on the top were not my ideal choices. Grover tuners functioned very well, as expected. |
Components Rating |
8 |
Overall Comments
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Great guitar, which at the time (2000) I think was about 800 bucks. It was a steal, and was good for recording and live rock performances, but failed as a flatpicking guitar, or a fingerpicking guitar in open tunings below concert pitch. Intonated very well, and sounded terrific even with a capo.
If you are a bluegrass picker, you may have a different experience! If you buy this guitar then I recommend switching out the nut, saddle, and pins to see what it does to the tone. FWIW, I tried Martin Marquis PB mediums, Martin SP 80/20 mediums, D'Addarrio PB and 80/20 mediums,.and GHS Infiniti Bronze mediums.... depending on the situation I was playing in. Out of all, the 80/20 strings of any brand had the most cut, while PB strings seemed to jangle and float the tone more. |
Overall Rating |
8 |
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