Taylor Big Baby Acoustic Guitar
(Cost me – £420)
I have a habit of stumbling over instruments in shops, giving them a quick play, then falling in love with them and not being able to put them down. This is exactly what happened in Manchester with my Taylor Big Baby. Going to Forsyths in Manchester just to accompany someone to look at violin bows and I came away with this beauty. I do not regret it for a second! I previously had a Baby Taylor but sold it because I rarely used it and had a Yamaha CPX5 but sold this as well. This guitar does what the other two could do and more (with a little help from my Seymour Duncan XL Woody pickup).
The action is nice and low and the neck isn’t too thick the whole way up to the 14 th fret making it very easy to play. The sound is sparkly and bright especially with finger picking making it great for folky, acoustic finger style. It is a very loud guitar without sounding too boxy, and soloing is quite effective on it also. It holds its tuning very well and works very well with alternate tunings and capos. It isn’t great for slide because of the low action but it can be achieved if you are gentle!
The matt finish make the guitar look gorgeous and not to flashy. The simple headstock adds to the simple professional look with the Taylor logo at the top. I find few things on an acoustic more irritating than there only being one strap lock (why do people think one is enough?) but fortunately the Big Baby has one on the bottom of the guitar and one just behind the 14th fret on the other side of the body.