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For those interested, here are some general photos of the V Class with some measurements. Some observations of my own as well. This guitar was spruce topped with Koa back and sides.

The bridge plate is two pieces. It resembles a maple overlay on top of a spruce reinforcement. Both pieces run horizontal to the top grain. The braces go over the spruce plate but the maple is flush to the braces.









The cutaway was a solid piece of mahogany, the back and sides of this one were koa. It was stained a bit darker than the koa to blend it in with the color and grain. The line is visible on the front but stupid hard to photograph.



Something interesting to note as well, is that the area directly below the fingerboard extension was reinforced with a sizable (at least 3/16"s thick) piece of mahogany. On older models this was not present.





A look at the bevel insert in the body.



Back braces are all angled like the new 800 series



On the top (deflection?) There was hardly any arch to the top on this example. I had to use a feeler gauge to show the space at the edges of the top.







The area in front of the bridge was even flatter. Likely because it's a brand new guitar but the top was VERY flat compared to the other models in the shop.



One last detail, the nut seems to have been polished/finished while on the neck. There's almost no seam whatsoever



Some thoughts on the tone.

It does not generate overtones in the same manner as guitars that we would call traditional. For an overtone test I simply played each string one at a time while leaving the others open. The overtones generated were significantly less (different) than other x braced guitars. For reference I compared the overtone generation to a Breedlove King Koa exotic, Martin D18 Authentic, Collings OM1, Kalamazoo WL12.

The overtones generated in a different fashion as well to my ears. 5ths and 4ths don't generate overtones in the same manner as 3rds (obviously) but the big difference to my ears is that on certain chords it amplifies given intervals (3rds and such) much more pronounced than it does 5ths and 4ths. When tuning by intervals it was way easier to hear the beat between the different strings such as A and D on open strings. This is different, not bad. I'm not overly techie when it comes to tone and sound. But suffice it to say that it does not sound like a typical Taylor to my ears.

Anyway, YMMV

Thanks for that!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Dan thanks for taking the time. I find it interesting. Good job with the pics.

Thanks for the post and all the great photos. It's interesting to me that the braces are all rectangular in cross section. When I first saw a photo of a v-braced top in the hands of Andy Powers, I figured that it was in an uncompleted state because of the lack of profiling of the braces. I guess it's actually a feature. Isn't the point of profiling the cross section of braces (triangular or so-called parabolic) to reduce the weight of the top/brace system because you can do that without compromising its strength? Is the rectangular cross section here a mass production compromise?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Taylor has used rectangular bracing on a number of models - particularly low and mid-range products. We do a fairly brisk business in removing Expressions Systems preamp & pickup systems in favor of other systems, so see a range of their instruments.

Also interesting to note that the only profiling on the top bracing appears to be the braces that bracket the soundhole...and only the edges visible to a player, so I assume purely cosmetic.

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

Great pix, Dan. Good prep for the eventual day I have to work on one.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Not sure I'm liking some of the new design... like the dyed mahogany cutaway and bevel. What about the back braces not being tucked?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Is the back actually laminated. Hard to tell in the photos if the back is solid Koa. It doesn't look like it. If it's plywood you'd likely not need to tuck the back braces.

It sure seems like Ta*lor is continuing down the path creating an even more soulless instrument. I've only played one Ta*lor that was worth a da*m and it was built in 1993 if I'm remembering correctly.

M

To me it looks like several ways of cheapening production costs, lessening the amount of steps it takes to produce, while trying to market it as "improvements". looks cheap

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Guitar Maker and Purveyor of the World's Finest Tonewoods
http://www.aaronhixguitars.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/A-Hix-Tonewood-a ... r-Supplies

Thank you for all the pictures of the construction details.
Nice to see the bar is reasonably low for high end production guitars.

Wow, that neck looks awful. Could have at least filled the grain...before dying.
Looks like HYPE to me.
Larson Bros. used rectangular tone bars and so did I at the end, but Larson's were highly regarded. Can't say Taylor ever did much for me...this looks like the bottom of the line.
Anybody got a price on one of these?

Haans, this one is one of the "builder's reserve" priced out around 2700 if I recall correctly. I'll ask my rep tomorrow

Dan,
I’d be shocked if that git is 2700.

Haans, I just talked with my rep. If you were to order theguitar as you see it here it would run you 4549$

Thanks Dan, but I think I will pass. Tell your rep he can get one of mine as you see it here with "Larson Laminated X Class Bracing" for $28,001.

That's real guitar territory!

That's a beautiful one. Always wanted to try one of your instruments, just never been around one. Maybe someday.

Not tucking the back braces was a feature of the new bracing they came up with for the 600 series when they switched to maple backs and sides a couple years ago as part of their move to using more sustainable woods. Their rationale/claim for not tucking the braces was that it made the back more responsive and provided more bass to compensate for the stereotype of maple back and sides imparting a bright tone lacking in bass and thereby make it tonally acceptable to the rosewood only crowd. I haven't played one so I don't know how effective it is.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter