Taylor-Talk.com

Product: Taylor Guitars 812-CE
Price Paid: 2800 (Canadian)

Features : 10
Features are pretty much the same as the other 800 series. Rosewood back and sides, sitka spruce top, ebony fingerboard etc. Has a Fishman Prefix onboard blender and a cutaway. Gold grovers and nice sound hole and fretmarker inlays. Deluxe Taylor hardshell case (excellent case).I can’t think of any features that I would want that this guitar doesn’t have.

Sound : 9
The guitar has excellent clarity and definition. I like bright guitar sounds. This guitar does sound bright, but not in an unbalanced way. Excellent volume, especially given that this is a smaller bodied guitar. The preamp is excellent but I won’t go into detail as there are stand-alone reviews for it. I bought this guitar primarily for playing live and recording. The smaller body is good for this because it is inherently less prone to feedback when playing with a loud band and is also easier to mic. The guitar already sounds very “open” and it is brand new so no complaints. The only fault I can find is that when strumming quite hard with a pick it is possible to “overdrive” the top. However, this is a smaller guitar and as such is not designed with townsend strumming in mind. This is more a design characteristic than a flaw.For lead the smaller body helps the upper registers to retain their clarity. It’s lead sounds are great.
I’ll give this guitar a 9 because there are some tones that one can’t get from this guitar (such as the cliched but beautiful pre-war Martin tones). Again I didn’t buy this guitar for those tones but I will detract a point anyways because I’m trying to be as critical as possible

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
Beautiful light Taylor finish. Excellent satin finish on neck, although I’m sure this will wear to a gloss. Excellent action, very capable of agile lead playing.

Reliability/Durability : 10
It’s a little early to tell, but Taylor does give a lifetime warranty (which now extends to Canada, woo-hoo!) I would definitely use it on a gig without a backup because I always have at least one electic with me which I could use as a backup in a pinch.

Customer Support : 10
Haven’t had to deal with Taylor yet. I did order a catalog and their VHS on their new neck designs and they came within a week (and this is to Canada). They give a lifetime warranty.

Overall Rating : 9
I love this guitar. I really don’t wish it had anything else. I’ll be stingy and give the guitar a nine due to its top overdriving with hard strumming. However I also know that the lead sound on this guitar is excellent and would certainly suffer IMO with a larger body and/or a different bracing pattern. Taylor has the tone and features I want. Very satisfied.