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Introduced in 2006, the Grand Symphony body is an original design from top to bottom–and the first new Taylor shape in over a decade. It was a hit right out of the gate. Expect acoustic power in every note, with deep piano-like bass, rich mids, clear and balanced highs, and plenty of volume. The maple and spruce wood pairing in combination with a GS body shape add up to a truly exceptional tone. If you thought you knew the maple sound, this is one acoustic guitar that just might surprise you.
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- Left-handed body
- 6-string Grand Symphony
- Sitka spruce top
- Big leaf maple back, sides
- Abalone inlays on fretboard and soundhole rosette
- Ebony fretboard and bridge
- Tusq nut and saddle
- Gold-plated Taylor Tuners
- Adjustable truss rode
- Strung with Elixir Medium Gauge Strings with NANOWEB Coating
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Taylor’s Grand Symphony Shape
The Grand Symphony (GS) is the first original shape from Bob Taylor since he unveiled the Grand Auditorium (GA) in 1995. Though you might see similarities to a GA, the GS is unique in both sound and design. Significant changes in its geometry yield a deeper, more piano-like bass. The waist is moved a bit higher, and is 3/8 of an inch wider. The result is a reduction in the “pinching” of the waist, which releases more tonal output from the guitar. Finally, the lower bout is expanded, making it feel slightly rounder. They’re subtle changes that yield a far-from-subtle change in tone. Complementing the robust bass from the GS body, volume and low-end sustain are full, rich mids and clear, balanced highs. The GS is a unique sound and a new dimension in Taylor tone.
 Features Taylor’s original Grand Symphony body shape. |
 Sitka spruce top is joined with big leaf maple back and sides for a wide dynamic range and mellow, warm tone. |
Strong Projection and Warm Overtones
The top is made from Sitka Spruce, a dense, straight-grained wood that has the highest strength and elasticity-to-weight ratio among available tonewoods. It’s these attributes that make Sitka Spruce an ideal material not only for soundboards, but also for internal bracing. The Sitka top will produce a tone slightly brighter tone than Engelmann Spruce.
The back and sides are made from big leaf maple, a wood with high-performance properties that have made it a favorite on stages and in recording studios. Its stiff, tight grain produces a clear, bright, compressed, balanced tone capable of cutting through an ensemble mix, and its relatively quick note “decay” gives maple a hedge against feedback. Maples range of tan coloration and widely varying grain figure–fiddleback, quilted, or highly flamed–make it one of the more beautiful tonewoods.
In short, the distinctive blend of big leaf maple and sitka spruce gives the GS6 a bright, crystaline timbre with strong projection and warm overtones. It’s a combination that truly “cuts through.”
Construction
Taylor takes pride in using the finest quality woods for their guitars, like ebony for every fretboard they make. The tone woods for the GS6 were quartersawn and carefully book-matched before being sorted, dried, and prepared by Bob Taylor and his experienced team of luthiers. The abalone inlay and binding work was also done by hand, providing care and “touch” that no machine can give. Taylor believes that precision matters, which is why they rely on laser cutters and computer-aided milling machines to consistently hit minute tolerances that were impossible a decade ago.
Balance and Bracing
A balanced tone is critical to a quality recorded sound. Guitars that are too heavily weighted towards a particular end of the tonal spectrum (too “bassy,” for example) tend to be tougher to record. While the Dreadnought shape has more volume or bass than other shapes, the overall balance on the GS6 is not compromised.
 Features abalone dot inlays on the fretboard. |
Straight Necks Matter
Don’t all guitars have straight necks? The answer is usually yes, but the real question is will they stay that way? Since its inception, the acoustic guitar had a major design flaw. The fretboard lacked sufficient support to remain truly straight because of top movement caused by changes in humidity. All guitars experience this phenomenon–often resulting in a slight bump at the 14th fret–but not all guitars respond to it in the same way.
Introduced in 1999 and a standard feature since 2001, the patented New Technology (NT) neck was designed by Bob Taylor and his team to accomplish the primary goal of building a straighter, more stable guitar neck. While some necks may bend in the face of humidity and other factors, the NT Neck stays stable and straight.
Adjustability is another major NT advantage. Since the NT Neck angle is created by spacers and requires no glue, adjustment simply requires a repair person with a new set of spacers and about five spare minutes. Altering the neck angle of a traditional neck assembly could require invasive surgery to remove wood and relocate the bridge.
The bottom line: The NT Neck on the GS6 means a stable, easy-to-adjust neck that stands up to the pressures all acoustic guitars face.
Tuners
Precise, gleaming tuners add appealing form to an important function, while the type of strings used can alter the feel and the tone of your guitar. Taylor pays careful attention to both, using tuners and strings that are optimized for the GS6 guitar. Together, they are among the keys to an easy-playing, incredible-sounding Taylor.
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