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The boys and girls over at Taylor really have been busy for their 35th Anniversary.  Hot on the heels of their XXXV Parlor, they’re telling us about this:  The XXXV 12-Fret.
12-fret guitars are  considered by many to possess a ‘better’ tone than their 14-fret equivalents.  Only having 12 frets to the body allows the soundhole and the bridge be located closer to the ‘sweet-spots’.  Their drawback is, obviously enough, higher fret access.  Let’s face it though, for many people, the area beyond the 12th fret on an acoustic guitar is …

Acoustic, Featured, News »

Here at Guitarless, we like parlour guitars.  We like them a lot.
And this one looks like a beaut.  This is the latest in Taylor’s 35th Anniversary series of special editions and it really does look special.  This is the XXXV Parlor
What Taylor have given us is a Sitka spruce top and a rosewood back and sides.  They tell us that the sides and back are Madagascar rosewood which is denser than Indian rosewood and can therefore be milled thinner.  The Sitka top is specially selected from a slow-growing stock which …

The Month In Guitar »

A couple of notable anniversaries for October.
The Big Two of guitar makers both have something worth celebrating this month:

Although officially announced in April (and included on the cover of Fender’s April price list), full-scale production of the Fender Stratocaster really only began in October 1954.  Initial production – from April until October – was really quite slow, consisting mainly of marketing models.  These were used to demonstrate the radically new instrument to dealers and players (and at that summer’s NAMM).  Only after the dealers had gotten sufficiently used to …