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I've been playing guitar for about 37 years, and I remember every acoustic guitar I've ever owned. My first guitar was a little nylon-string cheapie my Mom got me for Christmas. My second guitar was another cheapie, a Martin knockoff that I got from a local music store for about $80. Not long after I got my first part-time job, I got a tax refund and used it to buy my first "real" guitar ... an Ovation "deep body" model that I got for about $700, cash, and man, I was in heaven. It came with a tan-colored, custom-fitted Samsonite case, and the action on it played "like buttah."
Not long after I acquired that Ovation, a close friend started writing and performing contemporary Christian music. We toured the US and Canada off and on for about 3 years, and I played rhythm on the Ovation ... really for the first time in a live band setting, at full stage volume. It was great, but I frequently had trouble with resonant feedback ... a common problem with all full-bodied acoustic electric guitars.
After grappling with these problems for years, I stumbled upon a new variety of Ovation at my local guitar shop ... an acoustic electric hybrid, called a Viper. Ovation totally eliminated the problem of resonant feedback by combining acoustic and solid body elements into one guitar ... literally hollowing out enough open space in a solid mahogany body to generate a true acoustic waveform, then using a specialized pickup to capture the sound and transmit it through the guitar's preamp. I plugged that thing into a Trace Acoustic amp at my local guitar shop, and I was hooked. The Viper was literally made to be played through an amp, using an amp like a regular acoustic uses tonewoods. I bought the Viper and the amp; it became my six-string workhorse; I played the beejeezus out of it for 15 years (primarily in house of worship and solo guitarist/singer settings, but also in occasional live band settings), and have been completely happy with every aspect of its performance ... "hot" gain and the most precise intonation, clarity and definition, all with ZERO resonant feedback. The only downside of the Viper is that it can't really be played without an amp. (I later added a Guild Jumbo F-30 to the acoustic "quiver," but if I start talking about the Guild, this could turn into a novel.)
Over the past year, after having put the Viper into the shop several times to have the frets leveled and dressed, I finally started getting tired of the sound of it, and started craving an acoustic electric with a truer acoustic sound, that I could play with or without an amp. I also decided that after playing guitar more or less continuously for nearly 40 years, it was finally time that I got myself a premium, solid wood guitar. Taylor vs. Martin
Anyone who knows anything about acoustic guitars knows that Martin has dominated the U.S. "premium" market for decades, and for good reason. I've never owned a Martin, but I've sampled many of their premium guitars over the years, and noted two things about the various models I've tried: 1) they always sound fantastic, but 2) the "action" on them is typically very stiff and difficult to play. (There's a reason for that by the way ... when the action is stiff, it typically means heavier gauge strings and/or higher lift off the saddle and frets. It takes more strength to play, but also permits the player to hit the strings harder with no fret "buzz" or degradation of the individual strings' integrity. Louder acoustic volume ... clean sound ... a classic characteristic of Martin guitars.) Over the same period, however, I've noted the rise of Taylor's reputation as a maker of premium acoustics, and have seen many professional musicians that I like and respect using them, to great effect. Already pretty familiar with Martin's reputation and basic product line, the first place I looked was the Taylor website, and I liked everything I saw. I quickly figured out that the line I was most interested in was the 800 series, and more particularly, the 816ce.
In terms of materials, design, craftsmanship, cost and performance, the 816ce is nearly identical to Martin's GPCPA1, and probably several other Martin "cutaway" acoustic-electric models. The only meaningful difference between the two (other than the action) is the electronics. The Martin model uses a system developed by Fishman, the "F1 Aura" system. Up until a few years ago, Taylor also used pickup/preamp systems developed by Fishman, until Taylor developed their own, proprietary "Expression" pickup/preamp system. More about that in a minute. Acoustic Electric Pickup Systems in General
Any honest discussion about acoustic electric technology has to start with a fundamental question: Is it possible to generate a "natural" sound from electronic pickup elements placed inside the body of an acoustic guitar? For example, when an acoustic guitar is played without amplification, what we all hear through our ears (and feel as a player) is a complex mix: the sound of vibrating strings, blending together inside a box made of resonant woods, and then projected outward from a hole cut in the top of the box. Is what a pickup element "hears" inside the box, or in direct contact with one of its surfaces, ever going to sound like what we hear outside the box? The honest answer to that question is "probably not," and that auditory conundrum is exactly what separates the Fishman F1 Aura from the Taylor "Expression" System.
The Fishman F1 Aura system is more digital signal processor than a simple pickup and pre-amp combo. It's a mini-computer that actually modifies the signal received from the guitar's pickups, in ways more complex and diverse than Taylor's "Expression" system. The F1 Aura gives the player the option of just using a "dry" signal from the guitar's pickups, or applying digital processing to that signal to make it sound more "natural." Among other features, the F1 Aura system is outfitted, for example, with a number of preset digital waveforms that mimic those created by certain types of microphones, commonly applied to acoustic guitars in professional studio settings. You access the effects, and adjust the amount of effect being applied to the guitar's signal output, by pushing two button/knobs on the "upper" side of the guitar in a particular sequence, and then turning them to adjust levels. The irony of the F1 Aura system, however, is that the more of its admittedly remarkable technology you apply to the guitar's signal output, the less the result sounds like the "native" sound of the guitar, and more like Fishman's programmed effects.
Taylor's "Expression" system, on the other hand, has no such user-accessible digital processing features. The backbone of the system is a newly-designed pickup element developed by Taylor that they call a "dynamic body sensor." Taylor developed the dynamic body sensor for the specific purpose of making the signal output of its acoustic electric guitars sound more "natural," without the necessity for added processing. These sensors are basically a hybrid, combining piezoelectric technology that has been around for decades with diaphragm technology previously used only in microphones. The idea with the Expression system was to mount two of these little hybrid pickup "mics" at strategic spots on the underside of the guitar's soundboard, and combine the signal received from them with the signal received from a more traditional, piezo-based "dynamic string sensor," implanted in the guitar under the base of the fretboard. All three signals are then routed into a state-of-the-art pre-amp designed by legendary audio engineer Rupert Neve. The pre-amp is reputedly as good as or better than the pre-amps found in most current studio mixing consoles. Nice. Particulars of the Expression System
I have to confess that after 20-plus years of working with more traditional, piezo-based acoustic electric pickup systems, at first, I didn't quite know what to make of Taylor's Expression system. It's very different from systems I've used in the past. Plugging in a Taylor guitar equipped with the Expression system is not like plugging in a guitar with a pickup. It's more like plugging in a multi-source microphone that's specifically designed for one kind of "singer" ... the guitar it's attached to. As a result, the player's whole approach to amplified acoustic guitar has to be tweaked a bit, to enjoy the full benefit of the technology. For example, conventional wisdom dictates that a guitar is never supposed to be plugged directly into a mixer. Not so with the Expression system. It sends a "balanced" line feed, which can be plugged directly into a mixer or PA, and then simply reflected back at the player from a monitor. Of course, it can also be plugged into an amp, but the tricks to using an amp with Taylor's Expression system are: 1) getting an amp that's capable of faithfully reproducing what's coming out of the Taylor, and 2) getting used to the idea that you don't need to do much for the signal output to sound "natural." You basically start with "natural" (all three knobs at center, or "detent" position) and then make minor adjustments to compensate for your amp, personal taste and playing conditions, e.g., bringing out a bit more of the highs, beefing up the bass, pulling a little of either or both out, or beefing up both to boost the overall dynamics. The system is ingenious, simple and effective.
The design and placement of the system components is also pretty clever. The "dynamic string sensor," for example, is not placed under the saddle or bridge of the guitar, as is the case with most other factory-installed acoustic electric systems (like my Viper). Rather,...Read more›
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