I only ask because I saw one yesterday that I absolutely loved, but could come nowhere near affording. I'd definitely try to replicate it, though. :p
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I only ask because I saw one yesterday that I absolutely loved, but could come nowhere near affording. I'd definitely try to replicate it, though. :p
It's a plastic moulding with a top stuck on it and a neck bolted on. It's one of the most unfriendly guitars I've ever seen to work on - all the controls are stuck up in a corner where there's no access, so if it goes wrong it's a huge cost to get it fixed - as it's top-off time (unless Taylor dealers have a miracle tool designed to grab the circuit boards and pull them out sideways. They could have made it easier by simply moving the access hole - but for some unknown reason they didn't. I just about managed to get the selector switch off to spray some switch-cleaner in it to get it working again - and even that was a fine balancing act to get it back in and 'secure'.
Personally I think they are pretty poor. Not a great acoustic sound, not a great electric sound, but very expensive.
There are simpler copies out there - piezo bridge and a lipstick pickup rather than buried magnetic pickups all over the place, so it could be possible to do something like that. However the tooling costs to press the plastic back are considerable - it's not simply reprogramming some CNC machines , though it might be possible if the factory was already making that style of guitar and had a suitable back to use.
Even with a suitable back available, it would still require acoustic guitar making skills and you'd need an awful lot of clamps or go-bars to glue the top on to the body - a body that would have a sloping uneven back that would make it very hard to clamp to without some custom jigs.
Yikes! OK, that answers that question. :)
Glad I didn't have the money to buy the one I looked at, too. Maybe I'll try the finish on something else.
I'll give the counterpoint to Simon! I've had a T5 for a long while and I love it. A great recording guitar and very comfortable to play IMHO. Now I haven't worked on mine, nor would I think it be an easy one to make, but still a very versatile instrument. I agree it's not a perfect acoustic or electric sound but it does provide its own version on each.