Used 2020 Taylor 412ce-R

Love is a Rose...Wood

Wildwoodians, we are proud to present you with a guitar that exemplifies the sonic virtues of both the Grand Concert body and rosewood and spruce: the 412ce-R. Spruce and rosewood are a classic combo, and it works wonders in a small-bodied guitar like this. It sounds rich and full, but it remains exceptionally articulate and well-sculpted. And, because it's a Taylor, it is as reliable and playable as can be. Let's take a closer look at the different factors that make it such a delightful instrument.

Grand Concert Greatness

Taylor's Grand Concert body shape offers a host of strengths to both fingerstyle players and strummers. Guitars with this shape produce punchy midrange response, well-defined low-end, and plenty of that classic Taylor sparkle and chime. Their articulation is incredible, and their woody attack captures every detail and nuance of your right-hand dynamics. When you dig into them, more and more overtones pop out of the top as the sound becomes more piano-like and full, like a box full of lush resonance. This is because the Grand Concert's smaller body has less headroom, which makes it easier to get the top moving and get some natural-sounding compression.

Righteous Rosewood Tones

In the context of a Grand Concert body shape, rosewood and spruce make magic together. Rosewood produces beefy, piano-like bass response and sweet, glassy chiming highs. The spruce top produces strong midrange, and it has an excellent balance between the fundamental and harmonic overtones. In a large-bodied guitar, this combo produces rich, room-filling resonance. However, the smaller body gives the sound more shape and definition. The guitar still sounds full-bodied and robust, but it has excellent clarity and balance. And, its articulate voice captures the details of your attack with exceptional fidelity. For players seeking a well-mannered strummer, the 412ce-R is a great choice, but it really shines as a fingerstyle guitar because it has the perfect balance of gristle and muscle.

A V-Classic

Speaking of sweet Taylor sounds, let's talk about Taylor's new V-Class bracing, which is now available on Grand Concerts! It's an elegant solution to a problem that has plagued luthiers for decades. For years, acoustic guitar builders had to compromise between volume and sustain. Flexibility equals volume, and stiffness equals sustain. Obviously, a piece of wood cannot be rigid and flexible at the same time, so builders had to go for one or the other.

Andy Powers wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. After much tinkering, V-Class bracing was his elegant solution to the problem that has plagued luthiers for centuries. As the name implies, V-Class bracing features two long pieces of wood that make a "V" shape together. The bracing is quite thin and flexible near the rear bout, but it becomes thicker as you get closer to the soundhole.

So, you get volume from the flexible parts of the bracing, and sustain from the rigid parts! Many areas of the guitar neck that typically sound weak (ninth fret on the G string, for instance) have just as much presence, resonance, and sustain as the low E. As a result, the 412ce sounds supremely balanced and sculpted. When you hear one played live in the room, you'd swear a mix engineer had already done a bunch of post-production work on it. And, it gives the guitar piano-like note separation and crystalline clarity even when you play fancy jazz chords!

Intonation Station

V-Class bracing also does wonders for the guitar's intonation. Are you ready to have your mind blown? When I visited the Taylor headquarters El Cajon, Andy Powers explained that an acoustic guitar's intonation is not necessarily just the sum of the typical adjustments like saddle height, nut slots, and neck angle (though they do a play a part). The way that the actual guitar itself vibrates also has a lot to do with how in-tune it sounds.

Andy told me to picture it like this: when you take close-up slow-motion footage of a guitar's top with a high-speed camera as someone plays it, you can see the top move vividly. On a traditional X-braced guitar, the top vibrates in a disorderly, disjointed manner. This can cause a guitar with the perfect saddle height and neck angle to sound out of tune when you play a big open chord.

By contrast, guitars with V-Class bracing vibrate in a much more orderly manner. The graduated braces compel the energy from the player's attack to move from the thin outer part of the bracing to the thicker inner part in an efficient manner. If you were to take a high-speed shot of a V-Class top, you would see it rock back and forth evenly in a pleasing pattern. Because of that V-Class magic, the 412ce-R sounds so in-tune that it's scary.

A Rosewood By Any Other Name

Few guitars sound as sweet as the 412ce-R. It is a true small-bodied powerhouse, and we have no doubt that its articulate yet rich voice and supreme playability will inspire you to reach new heights on your fretboard journey. We invite you to take one for a spin and experience the myriad sonic delights it has to offer. Once you do, we're confident it will inspire you to make lots of joyous noise.

Condition Report

This 412e-R is in fantastic shape with no cosmetic flaws to report, and it comes with its original hardshell case.