1998 Taylor 414-K (koa)

[Charlie Jones]

For reasons I do not want to dive into, I had to return my Larrivee L-05
to Elderly's. I replaced it with a Taylor 414-K. The K is for koa. This
guitar has a brighter, louding tone that the standard 414. What does
anyone know about this guitar. I was surprised to find it seeing how, it
is not a standard wood for the 400 series. Does Taylor even have a
standard model that uses koa for the body? If anyone has some info on
this model I would love to hear more about it.

By the way I simply love this guitar to death. If it were at Elderly's
when I bought the Larrivee the first time, I most likely would have gone
home with the Taylor. Any and all comments are welcome.

Charlie Jones

[robohop]

Hey Charlie,

I have the same guitar, except mine is a 414kce ... it's a wonderful
guitar, and yes, the sound is a real stand-out. I don't pay much
attention to production history and wood mixes from Taylor and all
that, maybe you can get more info from their web site.

Maybe we could form a support group, eh?

rob

On Mon, 23 Aug 1999 08:55:55 -0500, Charlie Jones <cjo...@Mcs.Net>
wrote:

[john bj]

Charlie Jones <cjo...@Mcs.Net> wrote:
> For reasons I do not want to dive into, I had to return my Larrivee
L-05 to Elderly's. I replaced it with a Taylor 414-K. The K is for
koa. This guitar has a brighter, louding tone that the standard 414.
What does anyone know about this guitar. I was surprised to find it
seeing how, it is not a standard wood for the 400 series. Does Taylor
even have a standard model that uses koa for the body? If anyone has
some info on this model I would love to hear more about it.
>
> By the way I simply love this guitar to death. If it were at
Elderly's when I bought the Larrivee the first time, I most likely would
have gone home with the Taylor. Any and all comments are welcome.
>
> Charlie Jones
>
>

Charlie,

Taylor has a Koa series (K-xxx), plus their Presentation series (PS-xxx)
has koa back/sides. Some series have multiple wood choices, but I think
Taylor is trying to standardize the woods within each series (700s now
all have cedar tops, for instance). Check out their web page for lots
of details (www.taylorguitars.com).

peace and joy,
jbj
--
(e-mails should be sent to desert2000 @ NOSPAM yahoo.com)

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

[Jeff Sherman]

Koa's one of my favorite woods. I really like my Tacoma jumbo even
though the koa's laminated. Is yours all solid? Bet its great either
way.

Enjoy.

Jeff

In article <Pine.BSF.4.10.990823...@Mercury.mcs.net>,

Charlie Jones <cjo...@Mcs.Net> wrote:
> For reasons I do not want to dive into, I had to return my Larrivee
L-05
> to Elderly's. I replaced it with a Taylor 414-K. The K is for koa.
This
> guitar has a brighter, louding tone that the standard 414. What does
> anyone know about this guitar. I was surprised to find it seeing how,
it
> is not a standard wood for the 400 series. Does Taylor even have a
> standard model that uses koa for the body? If anyone has some info on
> this model I would love to hear more about it.
>
> By the way I simply love this guitar to death. If it were at
Elderly's
> when I bought the Larrivee the first time, I most likely would have
gone
> home with the Taylor. Any and all comments are welcome.
>
> Charlie Jones
>
>

[scottm...@wwdb.org]

Taylor makes two Koa lines: the K series and the presentation series.
The Presentation guitars have pretty nice stuff. But pricey. Retail...
around $9000...at a discount...somewhere around $5500.
Charlie Jones wrote:
>
> Message from the Deja.com forum:
> rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic
> Your subscription is set to individual email delivery

> >
> For reasons I do not want to dive into, I had to return my Larrivee L-05
> to Elderly's. I replaced it with a Taylor 414-K. The K is for koa. This
> guitar has a brighter, louding tone that the standard 414. What does
> anyone know about this guitar. I was surprised to find it seeing how, it
> is not a standard wood for the 400 series. Does Taylor even have a
> standard model that uses koa for the body? If anyone has some info on
> this model I would love to hear more about it.
>
> By the way I simply love this guitar to death. If it were at Elderly's
> when I bought the Larrivee the first time, I most likely would have gone
> home with the Taylor. Any and all comments are welcome.
>
> Charlie Jones
>

> _____________________________________________________________
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> http://www.deja.com/thread/%3CPine.BSF.4.10.9908230851400.40643-100000%40Mercury.mcs.net%3E

[JD BLACKWELL]

Apparently Taylor builds what their wood supply allows them to. I remember a
batch of koa 312's with 3 piece backs that were incredible. Great way to
use up good wood that isn't big enough for a 2 piece dred.

JD

Charlie Jones wrote in message ...

[Michael A. Wong]

Hi Charlie,

Taylor has been making 'Special Edition" 400 series in
Koa on and off depending on availability.
They do this when they come across a cache of
"B" grade koa and run it until they run out of wood.
Usually a few hundred guitars. They just did another run last month
and I know that Elderly's has some of the new production K414's on
order. I have a special order 412KC from this run on order due to
arrive next week sometime. I'll post a report on it when I recieve it.
They also have a high-end Koa line called the "K" series. Usually A and AA
grade and they're AAA grade koa they use on the Presentation series.

-Michael-

Charlie Jones <cjo...@Mcs.Net> wrote in message
news:Pine.BSF.4.10.990823...@Mercury.mcs.net...

[bud...@san.rr.com]

Nice guitar. I have 2 Taylor all koas (a 1996 420K and a 1998 K-22).
Although the 400 series koas use the "lower grade" koa, in some ways I
prefer it over the K-22 since the satin finish seems to allow the
wonderfully sweet koa smell to rub off onto my clothes so that even after
I've put the instrument down, I can still smell the koa. The same thing
does not happen with the gloss finish, though you can smell it while
you're playing. Since I really love the koa smell, I think it's a plus
for the 400 series. (I'd love to get a Presentation Koa, but I'm not up
to spending quite that much on another guitar)

I'm a little surprised that it's a 1998 koa. From the information I've
gotten from Taylor, they did not have a run of 400 series koas in 1998,
only in 1996 and 1999. Does your serial number start with 98 or 99?

In article <Pine.BSF.4.10.990823...@Mercury.mcs.net>,
Charlie Jones <cjo...@Mcs.Net> wrote:

> For reasons I do not want to dive into, I had to return my Larrivee L-05
> to Elderly's. I replaced it with a Taylor 414-K. The K is for koa. This
> guitar has a brighter, louding tone that the standard 414. What does
> anyone know about this guitar. I was surprised to find it seeing how, it
> is not a standard wood for the 400 series. Does Taylor even have a
> standard model that uses koa for the body? If anyone has some info on
> this model I would love to hear more about it.
>
> By the way I simply love this guitar to death. If it were at Elderly's
> when I bought the Larrivee the first time, I most likely would have gone
> home with the Taylor. Any and all comments are welcome.
>
> Charlie Jones

--
http://buddies.org/

[Charlie Jones]

After further investigation the guitar I purchased is a 1999 414-K. As a
matter of fact, it is barely a month old. I contacted Taylor by email to
get more information on this guitar. They responded in 10 minutes. Some
PR dept. huh! You are correct on the grade of Koa used. It is a lesser
grade from a cosmetic standpoint. Taylor say that from time to time they
make limited runs of certain instruments. For example, 82 414-Ks were
made this summer.

I guess I am one of the lucky 82 people in the world that our this
particular model of guitar :)

Charlie Jones

[Dale Gardner]

"Buddies" wrote (in reply to Charlie Jones):

>> I'm a little surprised that it's a 1998 koa. From the information I've
>> gotten from Taylor, they did not have a run of 400 series koas in 1998,
>> only in 1996 and 1999. Does your serial number start with 98 or 99?

>> [snipped]

I have a 97 414k. Love it. Mine is a pre-300 series with pinless bridge, dull
finish and wonderful tone. Was told by Taylor rep that (at the time) they would
probably not be making any more K guitars in the 400 series. I guess it all
depends on the availability of the wood. The koa on mine is definitely a lesser
grade, but I love it anyway. I do prefer the look of koa under a glossy finish.
Gloss really brings out the beauty of koa.

If anyone's interested, I know of a used one identical to mine for sale at a
local guitar shop. It's on consignment for $1035.

Dale Gardner

[turboman]

I have a 422K Grand Concert Koa body/Spruce top that I will not part with
for the world.

Charlie Jones <cjo...@Mcs.Net> wrote in message
news:Pine.BSF.4.10.990823...@Mercury.mcs.net...