BTO 12-Fret

So my last post was about the night I got my 12-Fret, which was the Taylor Road Show, at World Music Nashville. Now I thought I would go into more of the story about the guitar itself.

Taylor’s 12-fret model has only been around a few years, but it’s based on their very popular Grand Concert model. It has the same body, headstock and everything else, it’s just that the neck joins the body at the 12th fret instead of the usual 14th fret. What this does is push the sound hole farther into the body of the guitar and adjusts the positioning of the internal bracing as well, and those changes produce a really HUGE sound for such a small bodied guitar.

Since playing one for the first time in 2009 at either a Road Show or Summer NAMM, I have wanted one, and I remember Kristi saying to me “if you want to get one of those, I am all for it.” She loves all things tiny. Even guitars. I liked everything about it right off, but I didn’t want a standard model, because it has the same woods as another acoustic of mine, and I wanted different woods on this one, so it would give me yet another sound guitar wise. Since 2009 I have been on a quest. It’s been an ongoing education about tone woods, especially on small bodied grand concert model guitars, and back in the late spring of 2011 I finally started getting some quotes on a BTO 12-fret. I spec’d out three different builds on the 8 page PDF form from World Music Nashville, where they have multiple options available for every part of the guitar. You literally go down the list and check off the things you want, like types of wood for the top, back and sides, as well as all the appointments like fretboard inlays, binding, rosettes, finish, headstock, body shape and then turn it into a dealer to get pricing.

Sometimes it’s fun living in a fantasy world, and apparently that is what I was in on those first 3 builds I spec’d out. They were WAY too expensive. In a month though, Summer NAMM was rolling around and once it did, I saw and played a Grand Concert with a Sinker Redwood top and Grafted Walnut back and sides. Those were two of the woods I had spec’d on those first PDF forms, and I stayed in the Taylor room for a long time playing that guitar, and a standard 12-Fret model. That day solidified two things. I for sure wanted the 12-Fret version of a Grand Concert, and I for sure wanted Sinker Redwood for my top. But I didn’t want a walnut back and sides, so I went back to the drawing board so to speak (PDF form) and took one of my builds and swapped out Macassar Ebony for AA grade Indian Rosewood. That one switch dramatically reduced the price, to the point where I could afford it.

We turned in the order on August 28 and I emailed my friend Barney at Taylor to let him know it was done. He kindly said he would pick out my woods for me, and I sent him some photos of other BTO guitars with Sinker Redwood tops I liked a lot so he could try to find me one with similar characteristics. I then emailed another friend at Taylor who is the Sr. Art Director there and told him about it and like Barney, he did something amazing for me too. He said that he would make sure some photos were taken along the build process for me and that he would send them to me once they were done. WOW!! It pays to have friends in the right places!!

Fast forward to the day of the Road Show, and my guitar arrives, at the perfect time. When I got to the store, the whole staff was super pumped for me and the owner took it out of the box that afternoon and gave it a quick glance to make sure all was well. Larry the owner of the store brought it out and it was love at first sight when I opened the case. The woods were perfect aesthetically and all the details I had spec’d out were there. It sounded amazing too and played like a Taylor plays—so smooth and easy. I was thrilled with the results and could not be happier with the whole BTO process. The marketing director there at the store took some photos of me with my guitar and everyone kept going on about how beautiful it was and how excited they were for me. They just went all out for me, and really made that a special event, and a special evening for me.

So there you have it. The story of the 12-fret. Here are the specs on the guitar.

Body: 12-Fret Grand Concert with slotted headstock, no cutaway

Top Wood: Sinker Redwood

Back & Sides Wood: AA Indian Rosewood

Neck Wood: Mahogany

Fretboard and bridge Wood: Ebony

Perfling: White fiber B/W/B, W/W/B

Binding (everywhere on body edge and sound hole)—headstock, backstrap and heelcap: AA Indian Rosewood

Rosette: Single Ring Abalone

Fretboard Inlay: Large engraved diamonds

Electronics: Taylor Expression System

Tuners: Taylor slot head tuners

If you want to see photos of the build process, go here and check them out. Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned . . .