I bought the Taylor 414CE today! I love it. The dealer gave a reasonable trade allowance for the Gibson — a little more than what I was prepared to settle for. I figure that I would have had to adjust the neck and lower the bridge in order to sell it (not something I am prepared to do my self). So I probably lost $100 to $200 US by trading it in. That may sound like a lot but I am so busy and selling is such a hassle (I’ve done it before) that it seems like a good deal to me.

I am about to exercise just about as much self control as I have ever exercised in my life by going to my corporations class instead of going home to play.

The Larrivees were beatiful and sounded great but the Taylors were just perfectly suited to my hand. I could just feel my way around the fretboard so much better. The Taylor’s sound was also slightly brighter and just as rich.

No Ebay for me. I’m just not up for the hassle.

I went out to try the Larivees this weekend. They were very nice but the dealer did not have the grand auditorium accoustic/electric cutaway model and the prices were not impressively lower than the Taylor. Also, the dealer did not want to trade for my Gibson (he just thought he could not sell it quickly). I don’t want to sell it myself either. At any rate, I did not play anything I liked better than the Taylor (other than the $5,000 Huss & Dalton that the salesman showed me when he realized that I knew how to play and that he might have pegged me into the wrong price range) .

So tomorrow I am going to take the Gibson in town with me and see if I can make a deal for the Taylor. Daddy’s has a wider distribution than the shop I was at over the weekend and they specialize in used gear. So I have hopes that I can get a decent deal there.

The J-45 was used. I think it was probably a 60s model. It needed a lot of work when I traded it in because the previous owner had been a very heavy strummer and the bridge was coming up.

I will check out a Larrivee. I might be able to bargain at the suburban stores. And the comparable model to the Taylor lists for considerably lower than the Taylor.

Wow. Thanks all. Unfortunately for me, the bargain dealers around here (Guitar Center and Daddy’s) don’t seem to deal in Larivees or Seagulls. In fact, I can’t find a place in Boston or Cambridge that carries either line. That means I’ll have to travel to the Suburbs (and not the really close ones either) to check them out. I’ll try to do that within the next couple weeks or so.

BTW, I have been playing for about 35 years myself. In all that time I have owned 5 steel string accoustics (never 2 at once). In chronological order:
Fender (I forget) — 1970-72 Beginner Instrument
Gibson J45 — 1972 – 75
Guild D25 — 1975 – 77
Martin D18 — 1977 – 1984
Gibson J30 — 1984 – present

All but the Fender were (are?) very nice guitars but they lacked the sweet tone that I am looking for. The Guild was bright sounding but with no subtlety. The Martin was mellow but dark sounding. The Gibsons boomed the way Gibsons do.

I owned a Martin D-18 for several years. It was a nice instrument but not bright sounding enough. I will check out some of their Grand Auditorium instruments, although I think they are among Martin’s pricier offerings.

Thanks for the Larivee suggestion, Lee. I have never known anybody who played one and I have never seen one on sale around here. I’ll have to look for a dealer. Resale is not really a concern — in fact, I’d rather not be tempted to sell it. However I really do want something I can hang on to, that is versatile and that will amplify well, should I need to play out or record with it.