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Acoustics

Baby Taylor BT 2

The old adage small is beautiful often has good grounds. Is it the case here with the baby of the bunch?

Purveyors of some of the most popular guitar instruments on the planet, Taylor are no strangers to knowing how to hit on a winning formula for what makes a great guitar. The challenge comes in trying to make this perform in a way that does not either come across as or feel like a formulaic thing. Have they succeeded with the Baby?

Build Quality

From many standpoints the Baby Taylor has adopted well considered design principles, some of which can be seen throughout the Taylor range of instruments and others which have been specifically employed with this model. It features an advanced X brace for tonal enhancement and structural integrity as you would expect but more besides. This particular model is made of solid mahogany with laminated sapele, (mahogany by another name), backs and sides all of which combine beautifully in accord with that tonewood theme. There is also a solid spruce top model/version also available. The mahogany grain is rich and detailed with a satin type feel to the finish of the lacquer and is immediately tactile. At just 36 inches in length this guitar is one cute baby, not the kind you look at and think to yourself, ‘I’m glad that kid’s mother loves him, because no one likely would.’ Everyone I have ever introduce the Baby Taylor guitar to has reacted to it with a high degree of natural affinity and appreciation of its intimate nature, ease of manoeuvrability and general comfort. It’s not just playable because of the lack of cumbersome lower and upper bouts and large body depth but also because the neck profile is so slick, cleanly executed, perfectly fretted and clinically finished while remaining natural to the touch at the same time. The string tension is also very playable and not overly taught as you may experience on some shorter scale instruments so as to get up to concert pitch. Just because it is small does not mean that excuses have been made in the use of materials as we are furnished here with an ebony fingerboard and this is why the touch is so exceptionally smooth.

Interestingly, the heel block at the body join is somewhat diminished compared to more traditional proportions. Likely this has been done for a few reasons. It allows great access to the upper frets but it also does not add much more physical mass to the join of the two sides of the instrument and dampen or deaden of much sought after vibration and signal transfer.

Some may criticise the neck join being a screw bolt design approach because you can still see the screw heads on the top of the finger board tongue. This is their point of entry into the guitar neck block. They sit very flush to the fingerboard itself and do not impair the guitar in any way and make for a very stable and no-nonsense joint.

Sound Quality

If anything, they contribute to an observable, (and audible), ethos of not using anything more than is required to produce as much volume and integrity to a good transfer of energy as possible. This is obviously all the more important when endeavouring to get a big sound from a small body guitar.

The back of the guitar features a well curved contour which helps to maximise the volume of air the guitar shifts forward and also broaden out the bottom end frequencies, more so than if we had just a flat backed instrument.

The mahogany option is a fantastic choice for this small body format because it lends itself so well to a tight and focused punch which is linear and forthright. The presence has a great projection which is noticeable for chords and strumming. More than this though, when combined with short the scale length, you discover a great ease in playing longer stretches on your chord extensions and altered notes and the mahogany suits these mid range rich tones superbly well. For a small guitar there is a surprising lack of boxiness and welcome palette of warm, rounded and yet harder edged characteristics should you want that from your fingerpicking. The solid spruce top version adds more definition and top end, but for me the mahogany is king.

Conclusion

The Baby Taylor is an instrument which falls into the best in its class category. It’s naturally compelling, rewarding to play for beginners and professionals alike. If there was ever a guitar made to encourage someone to play for the first time and from any age, this surely must be it. You could argue it’s also the best value for money guitar in their range as you, the customer, benefit from all of Taylor’s high end technology, experience and production volumes which make this affordable Baby one you will be glad never grows up; meanwhile your playing surely will.