Big Baby Review

The Baby Taylor's big sibling, a 15/16-scale Dreadnought with a solid Sitka spruce top and sapele-laminate back and sides, boasts a surprisingly full voice, comes with a lightweight gig bag for easy portability, and makes a trusty companion wherever you go, even if it's just to the couch.

Features:	9
Sound:	9.4
Action:	8.6
Reliability:	8.6
Impression:	9.4
Overall rating:	9
Users rating:	9.2
Comments:	5

Featured review by: unregistered, on october 11, 2005

Price paid: $ 400

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: This is an '05 model. Made in the good old USA, 20 frets bolt on neck, spruce top. 15/16 the size of a normal dreadnought. Non-locking turners and no electronics. You're basic acoustic guitar. Really light and a bit smaller then the normal acoustic. // 9

Sound: This is where this thing shines. This is probably the best Taylor I have played. I compared it to other Martins and Taylors in the store and it simply had sound that was a lot better in clarity tone and richness. The Big Baby doesnt even get noisy at all. This Taylor is really cool for my style (I play modern rock, classic rock, jazz and a bit of screamo/emo). For the sound you get out of this thing it should cost 4 times as much. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The finish was one of the best looking spruce tops I had ever seen in my life. The action was not bad either its really low and not way in the air like some acoustics I've had the dishonor of playing. No flaws as far as the eyes can see. So it basically came set up fine right out of the store. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar seems like it can take a beating and then some. I use this as my main acoustic now. I would depend on it I had no other guitar in the world to use for a up-coming gig. The finish looks like it will last if you take care of it. The strap buttons seem to be good the only thing I dont like is its a bit big for some straps to fit. // 9

Impression: I have always wanted a Taylor but I could never justify forking out 1500 grand to get one. The Big Baby is a fraction of that and I get a the sound I want and then some from this. I have played everything but different forms of metal and country on this thing and it seems like it fit any style. I compared this to some of the 1500 hundred Taylors in the store and honestly it sounds alot better then them. I've been playing for 5 years and I have an ear for good tone and this thing has good tone. If you're looking for a nice acoustic that can be taken to the beach or be your main axe for those tender acoustic moments then this is it. The only thing I dont like are the strap buttons because they're a bit big for normal straps. If this where stolen then I would hunt down whoever stole it and force them to listen to Britney Spears and Good Charlotte and then proceed to beating him over the head with one of my effect pedals and take the guitar back from his cold lifeless hands. // 10

overall: 9.4

Reviewed by: KC_Volcom, on april 17, 2006

Price paid: $ 420.9

Purchased from: ebay

Features: The guitar is a 6 steel string Taylor Big Baby 15/16 scale dreadnought. I'm not sure of the date of manufacture, but the previous owner had had this guitar for about half a year before I bought it (14/04/06). It was made in the good ol' US of A in Taylor's factory in El Cajon, California. The guitar has 20 frets. The top is made of sitka spruce, and the soundhole rosette is laser-cut. The sides and back are manufactured of sapele laminate, the neck of tropical american mahogany and the fretboard and bridge of ebony. The guitar has a varnish finish. The bridge is in the classic 'peghead' acoustic style. No pickups or electronics are included, but a pickup can be easily installed by fitting a new pickup's jack into the endpin. The tuners are unbranded, enclosed, die-cast and chrome plated. The guitar is includewith a gig bag, truss rod adjustment tool, Taylor's 'tech sheets' on the symptoms of a dry guitar, a wet guitar, using a guitar humidifier, or dampit, and truss rodadjustments. Additional tech sheets (in the filetype.PDF) are availiable at www.taylorguitars.com along with video clips showing different guitar maintenance tips. The guitar is fitted with 'NANOWEB' coated light gauge strings. This 'NANOWEB' polymer is used to prolong the life and tone of the strings. Bob Taylor himself has said that he has not changed the strings on his personal Taylor in his ofice for 7 months! The guitar is built using good materials and is definitely not a cheap copy of the more expensive taylors. As I am a slightly smaller player so the 15/16 scale is perfect for me. A hard case would have been nice but I'm not complaining. // 8

Sound: Well, what a noise! Considering that it is smaller than its larger Taylor dreadnought counterparts, and it comes with quite thin strings, the level of sound is more than acceptable. Its dreadnought body and the fact that the strings are phosphor-bronze produces Taylor's authentic bright tone. And, this tone lasts, thanks to the 'NANOWEB' coating. I'm sure that this guitar could produce a wide variety of sounds depending on the positioning of the listener and type/positioning of the mic. I think that the guitar could be easily suitable for picking, fingerpicking, hybrid or flatpicking, even though I'm really a plectrum/fingerpicking only player. It is suitable to my rocky chordy style! This is my first acoustic guitar, so to be honest I don't have that much to compare it to, but all other guitars I have hears, this comes up trumps. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: I can't say how well the setup was at the factory, but when it came to me it appeared to be in perfect condition and well setup. The action was low, as most Taylor guitars are. There appeared to be no signs of warpage, dryness or wetness. The bridge was perfect, not bent forward but not back bowed. No truss adjustment was needed. The tuners were smooth moving and nottoo sensitive. All materials and hardware were in perfect condition. At a closer look I did see that there was a small nick at the edge of the guitar betwwen the top and side. Also, the polymer of the strings had begun to fray a bit over the soundhole, where strumming has occured (bearing in mind however that these strings are 6 months old). I'm going togive it a 10 because these were flaws which occured after Taylor had sent the guitar off, when the previous owner had been using the guitar. // 10

Reliability & Durability: The guitar could easily withstand live playing of any sort, I believe. All wood and hardware seems very durable and that it will last may 5 houred playing sessions! The strap buttons are fairly large and solid. I think that a lot of people believe that Taylors are less durable and more flimsy than other guitars because of their stress on guitar care and correct humidification. This is definitely not the case. The simple fact is that Taylor acknowledge that acoustic gutars have certain requirements in terms of humidification and mainteneance, when other guitar companies do not. // 10

Impression: I play general rock, blues and some jazz. I really don't think that guitars are particularly tied to any kind of music or genre. It's all about the playing man! I have been playing for about two years and I also own a Fender telecaster custom electric guitar, which is my pride and joy. I have bugger all amplification (apart from a Yamaha GA-10 which I bought for about a tenner, I hope to get a nice old valve amp sometime). The only effect I have is a modded Boss DS-1 Distortion. If this was lost or if some punk nabbed iot then I'd probably get it again, or perhaps a higher level Taylor with a pickup. I really like its pick-it-up-and-play-with-it-on-the-couch-ness. The strings last a lifetime and sound good. It's just a sweet sounding simple guitar. Like I say, I would prefer it with a hard case and pickup, but I knew when I bought it what it would consist of, and anyway it is easy to install a pickup/buy a hard case. Overall, a really nice playing and sounding acoustic guitar for the money, brilliant! // 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on january 05, 2009

Price paid: $ 420.00

Purchased from: music unlimited

Features: Spruce top, no electronics (thankfully) not much of a finish. very stark in appearence. thin but efficient pickguard, etching around sound hole. 14 frets to body. not pretty, not ugly. Big ole moustache bridge with the insert made with special attention to the 2nd string. came with gig bag.. nice one. // 8

Sound: My style is finger picking early american country/blues. only pick is a sometimes thumb. The sound is very even... perfect for finger picking. The strings I left on for now are Elixer 11's. Never was a big fan, couldn't understand the big deal, so far have kept them on, so have nothing to compare to, but it sounds so good for my purpose I don't want to mess with the mojo. I went into the store loaded for bear cash wise, went to the top shelf right away. beautiful guitars and sound but not right for the early blues.. too pretty. I didn't even try the acoustic/electrics then frankly only out of curiousity, I gave the Big Baby a try. The whole exsperience was a shock, from the ease of playing to the even perfect sound I was looking for. I did a couple of tunes and was sold. The person at the counter wanted to get me a new one in the box, but I insisted on this demo because I was afraid any other one wouldn't have the same feel and sound/tone. I'm not sure if it would be a good strummer, but it sure is a picker. Great for different tunings. Medium tension tunings are real sweet. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Action is is perfect for my medium sized hand.. neck medium feel, the frets are dressed perfectly and although it's not a cut away, get above the 12th fret is no problem and the intonation remains. The finish, as I wrote above is very stark.. I like it, in fact I use twine as did Blind Lemon Jefferson as a "strap". There is nothing wrong with the finsish, but the again there is not much of a finsish, seems almost like just buffed spruce. No flaws in the construction. Perfect looking for me. // 10

Reliability & Durability: The body of this guitar would not take much I believe to damage it. Its a light guitar, but I treat it as I do my others and I depend on it enough for buskin. I would like to re-string with 12's but I am a little leary although I've been told most players use twelves. As it is the intonation is spot on up and down and across, wouldn't ant any caving in, but might go with twelves and lighten up the fat one. // 7

Impression: Perfect guitar for picking/slide and different tunings. although if the tunings are low tension you have to be especially ligt with the slide naturally. Been playing since 63'. At this time I own 1 electric jazz box with 2 57 Gibson pups. 1 semi hollow. 2 Vintage regal acousticsa. a 30's parlor and and arctop. one stell body and the Taylor. My over all impression is, if I had to give up all my guitars but one, I would keep the Taylor. it's not a high end Gibson acoustic or any other high end but it's perefect for what I do. // 10

overall: 7.8

Reviewed by: catmat12345, on february 20, 2007

Price paid: $ 3

Features: This guitar deserves grosses bises, as it is one of my all time favorites after playing for awhile. It's got a super-thin neck with 27 frets. I found this configuration odd, as it often cramped my hands if I played for long hours. It's a solid body acoustic with a solid, laminated top. I think the body is some sort of composite of many deciduous types of trees, it is not one piece or type of wood. I bought it unfinished and did a few touch ups with some basic acrylic paints. It is a combination floyd rose and Tele-style bridge which is very efficient. It has three tone controls which also determine volume of each range. There is a switch that switches between a 3-way and a 5-way switch which maximizes options. It came with locking and non-locking tuners, so I installed both. There are three single pickups on board, and 2 humbuckers. It also came with a humidifier and a plectrum. // 10

Sound: It is tolerable for basically all music styles, but it accels at hard, driving, blues. I plugged it into my 1000 watt Sony Woofer amplifier that I use in my car. With this configuration, I just couldn't seem to get much treble. Absolutely no noise when playing. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: I must admit that factory settings were pretty lousy. I had my car mechanic take a look at it, and he suggested that I take it to the place of purchase. The fact that this guitar did not come finished really ended up being the worst part of the experience. // 5

Reliability & Durability: I found durability to be a strong argument for this guitar. It is meant for the road, with very high quality hardware that I had custom installed after I bought it. The strap that came with it seemed thick enough, but I decided against it in the end. The tuning is very dependable, only once or twice every hour does it need to be tuned. // 9

Impression: Overall, I was happy with my purchase of this guitar. It seemed like the price I paid for it really represented the quality of the experience and the instrument itself. Blues really stood out on this guitar and I would recommend it to any blues player. The only thing that really turned me away was the lack of finish and poor quality wood used in construction of this piece. // 8

overall: 9.4

Reviewed by: Katfury, on august 06, 2007

Price paid: $ 366

Purchased from: Local guitar shop

Features: I'm not sure how old this guitar was. I brought it as a second-hand guitar in 2005. So it will be a bit older than 2005. Made it the USA with the serial number at the hole, spruce top, mahogany neck, 15/16 size dreadnought. It has 20 frets, non-cutaway and just like an old fashion acoustic no pickups. It's including an original gig bag with the Taylor name on it and tools which is very nice indeed considering I was buying a second-hand guitar. // 10

Sound: I play all kinds of style of music from metal SOAD to pop like the Beatles also things like Blues and Jazz. I'm normally playing acoustic songs on this guitar and the tones are very rich and it sounds so beautiful that you can use it for Live gigs and recordings. It definably worth a lot more than the price I paid for. This guitar has it's most potential when you play chords or rhythm parts. Many people complain that Taylor has a bright tone but I do think the bright tone helps that richness especialy playing chords and rhythum. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: I used to electric guitar before I brought this guitar so at start I thought the action in this guitar was a bit too high. However, as I play more over the years. Especially after experiencing few more guitars. So this guitar's action does not that feel high anymore. It has a narrow neck so perfect for small hands like me. Don't know if the strings are original but it seems it lasted forever. I never change these strings and since these strings are perfectly in working order there are no need to do that... yet. The only thing I will like to change is it will be nicer if the guitar is a cutaway because the access to the frets are not very good since the neck joins the body at the 14th frets and almost impossible to play any notes after the 15th frets. Luckly, not many acoustics song plays that higher frets. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I think this will withstand playing Live. Despite it has a few marks at the top. (little accidents done by me). This guitar needs little very maintence. The strap buttons are really solid. Nothing has come off neither from the straps or from the buttons since I had it. But I have to say it's neck heavy but many acoustic are neck heavy due to the way it built. It's something I personal don't really like tho but it's somthing that I have it used to it. // 8

Impression: This guitar it's value for money. Something, which don't associate with Taylor guitars. But this one is very much worth more than it's value. It seems Taylor done a very good job at the lower end of the acoustic market. I'm recommended this guitar to anyone either as their first acoustic guitar or as a cheap reliable guitar for first gigs or first recordings. Overall I'm very satisfy with this guitar and not wish to buy any Acoustic in the next few years. Well if the guitar is broken or stolen I will buy the same guitar so maybe if I have a more money to spend I will buy a high end Taylor. // 10

Comments

[UmeshBhalsod]

I also have this guitar as my main acoustic and agree completely with the review. For it's price tag, you really cannot get a better buy.

[pirate telecast]

I just tried this guitar today and it beat any other guitar in it's price range. I completely agree with the reviews, but what I don't understand is why do people mention an acoustic guitar not coming with pickups?... Anyways I'm gonna get one of these soon hopefully.

[$lick]

I have one of these also and its the first guitar I have ever owned. I tried every guitar in the store without having any knowledge on guitars and this one sounded the best to me and had the easiest action. After a year or so I still have the same strings on it, it stays in tune easily and its simplicity has helped me learn quicker than I thought possible. I'm ready for a freakin electric now! Anyone have any ideas???

[eitanash1]

Soo Fucking Special Acoustic guitar !!!!@#!!

[JGar644]

played it once fell in love!!!!!