Taylor's GS Mini provides big sound in a small package
(Dave Molter | Posted 2010-06-28)
Taylor Guitars had an outstanding array of guitars at the Summer NAMM show in Nashville in June 2010, none more interesting that the new
GS Mini,
the next generation in the company's line of ultra-portable and
playable guitars.
Featuring a scaled-down version of Taylor's popular Grand Symphony
body shape, the
GS Mini boasts a bold voice and impressive tonal depth that belie its
compact size,
and comes ready to amplify with new, Taylor-designed pickup accessories, making
it the "play anywhere" guitar for life on the go.
The GS Mini is the latest brainchild of Taylor's product development team. After
15 years of success with the company's iconic travel guitar, the Baby Taylor®,
Bob Taylor wanted to "up the ante." "I know there are a lot of people
like me who
wanted a little bit larger guitar and a way larger sound, plus the
ability to amplify
it," Bob shares. The product development team set out to design a
guitar that was
small, portable, lightweight and affordable, with all of Taylor's
signature tone.
The company applied its latest design ideas and developed new tooling to produce
the scaled-down size, which features a scale length of 23˝ inches and a deeper
body depth than the Baby Taylor. Compared to the Baby, the Mini is
clearly a larger
guitar, especially in the lower bout, yet the differential doesn't
seem huge until
you strum it. "In terms of its ability to put out sound, it's twice what a Baby
is," Bob says. "And it's not just the volume but the depth and
richness of the tone.
It sounds like a full-size guitar, except that it's ultra-portable."
Bob can attest
to Mini's mobility and performance from personal experience: He took
one with him
on a recent USO tour to Iraq with the Zac Brown Band. "It was my
constant companion.
It was easy to take along, and nice to have when I wanted it."
To add to the guitar's "pick up and perform" appeal, Taylor also wanted to offer
an acoustic pickup for the Mini, but one that could be purchased
after-market and
easily installed by anyone. Designed exclusively for the Mini, the ES-Go(TM) is
a proprietary magnetic soundhole pickup inspired by Taylor's
award-winning Expression
System®. Part of the ES-Go's design simplicity is that each Mini is
pre-fitted for
easy installation of the pickup, and can be plugged in with the
guitar's discrete,
snap-in interior clip. Another accessory that was designed to make it
easy to plug
in and play is the Taylor V-Cable(TM): a quarter-inch cable with a
built-in master
volume control. Because the Mini was designed without tone or volume knobs, The
V-Cable gives players a volume control where it plugs into the guitar,
putting volume
control at every player's fingertips any time they plug in.
"It's brilliant and
simple," shares Bob. "It allows anyone with a guitar but no volume
knob to add volume
control. You can find it in the dark, you can turn your cable off to
unplug noiselessly,
and you can use it on any guitar you have."
The GS Mini features a solid Sitka top, a back and sides of sapele laminate, an
ebony fretboard and bridge, and a tortoise shell pickguard.
The Mini comes ready
to go anywhere in a specially engineered Taylor GS Mini Hardbag and
will be available
at domestic Taylor dealers starting in late July at a suggested MSRP
of $678. The
ES-Go and V-Cable will also be available in late July through Taylor's
online merchandise
and accessories store, TaylorWare. Players can also purchase the Taylor V-Cable
through RapcoHorizon, the manufacturer of the V-Cable.
.
For additional news from Taylor Guitars, please visit www.taylorguitars.com/news
The Taylor GS Mini has a retail price of $678, including bag, and a street price of $499 USD.
Information drawn from a Taylor press release as well as a visit to the Taylor booth at NAMM.
