An Unexpected Baby - The Baby Taylor

I went out last week to a Taylor Roadshow at my local guitar store, The Arts Music Store in Newmarket Ontario.  Ryan and Kenny from Taylor Guitars were at the store to talk about the advent of V-bracing in their guitars, and to discuss why buyers might choose a specific body shape and tonewoods.It was packed house and very well received.  Kenny did a great job demoing a variety of body shapes and woods.  They even had a couple of very limited release pseudo-prototype guitars including an E14ce, which is Ebony back and sides with a spruce top.  Ryan noted that these were not production instruments.  I already own a number of Taylor guitars and while the presentation sounded good, nothing really caught my ear until the E14ce.  Oh dear, this is going to cost me serious money.As happens at these events, attendees have the option to complete a ballot to win prizes, like T-Shirts, Elixir strings, drink coasters made from sound hole cutouts, picks and similar niceties.  After the drawings were complete, all the entries went back in the box to draw for a free guitar.  I had already turned to speak with one of the staff, when the store manager called to me to say that I had won the guitar.  I hadn't paid any attention to the drawing as I understand probability pretty well.The prize was/is a Baby Taylor.  I had heard of these but cannot recall ever seeing one live.  Retail price was marked at $449 CAD, which is either a bargain, or rather expensive depending on your personal perspective.  Since I am foolish enough to pay more than that for a signal pedal, it sounded very inexpensive to me for a Taylor branded instrument.The Baby Taylor is a ¾ size guitar and comes with a nice gig bag.  The back and sides are "layered" Sapele, which to me and most anyone else means laminated.  The top is solid spruce.  The smaller size means a shorter scale length.  I'm not sure of the reason for the genesis of the Baby Taylor and the later released Big Baby and the GS-Mini, but I am sure that there is a reason.I confess that while I was pleased to have one this guitar, I wondered what use that I would have for it.  After playing and collecting for as long as I have, I'm not lacking in variants to play.  I noted that the neck is screwed on, with what look like drywall screws right through the fretboard.  Ok, I thought, this is probably some kind of gimmick and not serious.  I sat down in a chair in my room and tuned it up to standard tuning.I was surprised.  Having just done a deep dive on Fender's Acoustasonic Telecaster. I found that the Baby Taylor sounded a lot like the Acoustasonic unplugged.  Bright, average midrange and bass not really present.  Given the $2000 price difference, the Baby sounds pretty good.  In fairness, you can get a much fuller tonal range out of a variety of acoustics selling for about half of what the Baby Taylor sells for and in full size.  I am far from a small fellow so I look a bit silly holding the Baby, like a movie prop to make the actor seem huge.Nonetheless I started playing it.  And did so for a three hour stretch.  The short scale means that there is no tiring of the fingers, and while the scale is short, the string spacing is correct, and as a practice instrument, particularly if you are working on finger style, the little guitar is surprisingly suitable.  The laminated sides and back mean that the guitar is going to handle humidity changes pretty well and you could use it as a travel guitar although you would be playing a bit of roulette with it if your airline would not let you carry it on.  Most airlines are jerks about musical instruments these days.When I started reading up on the guitar after being surprised by it, I noted that Taylor states that many well known musicians like the Baby Taylor for use as a songwriting tool.  The compact size and friendliness of it make sense for this.  You are not likely to record with it, play it live for a gig, but I've come to conclude that it's pretty cool.Listen, I know that I won it, so I'm not out of pocket for it, unlike the aforementioned E14ce.  Would I buy one?  Probably not.  I already have a travel guitar, a very pleasant Steinberger that being a solid body and a bit smaller has never been a hassle on an airplane.  Plus I can plug it into my iPad with an IK adapter and with Amplitube, it sounds good enough for playing in a hotel room.  All that said, I was impressed by the Baby Taylor.  Who knows, it might be exactly what you need to address your use cases.