Taylor GS-Mini

Up until the development of this review, while I was aware of the Taylor GS-Mini, I had never touched one, let alone played one, But the recent impact of some Jungian synchronicity encouraged me to work with the fine people at The Arts Music Store to arrange one for review. A big thanks to Shane for making this happen.

Taylor GS-Mini

I know a great many guitarists and a substantial proportion of those own a GS-Mini even if acoustic guitar is not in their area of interest. It is cited as a great sounding instrument that is forgiving and easy to play. While I love parlour guitars, as I walked past these guitars I had rather arbitrarily determined without giving it a chance that it would frail sounding and too small. I have learned that some of these uninformed conclusions were wrong.

Overview

The version that was made available to me is the most popular version marketed as mahogany top, sides and back, priced at about $799 CAD MAP without a pickup. According to the Taylor website which is surprisingly skint on detailed specifications, the example guitar has a solid Neo-tropical mahogany (I do not know what that actually means as Neo-tropical simply translates as new tropical) top and what they call a layered mahogany back and sides, which for the rest of us means a laminate. I’m not one of those people who crap on laminates as a matter of course, I prefer to focus on the actual sound of the instrument.

The finish all over is matte, and while I personally don’t like matte on any guitar, it fits the targeted price point because a matte finish is considerably less demanding than a high gloss finish. There are statements made that matte finishes “breathe” better, but as all poly finishes seal the wood, this assertion is completely false. The scale length is 23.5 inches which puts the guitar between a ¾ size instrument and a full size instrument. I am told that this size is popular with people of smaller stature and with smaller hands than perhaps your average human male. My experiences confirm this to be a safe assertion. The neck is mahogany and has a downsized version of the well respected Taylor neck design. Fit of the neck is excellent. The fingerboard is ebony from Taylor’s own Crelicam Ebony plantation. The tuners are die cast chrome and very smooth. The nut is Nubone and the saddle is Micarta. Taylor switched from Elixir strings a while back and the guitar comes strung from the factory with the best in market D’Addario XS coated acoustic strings. When I am forced to buy readily available acoustic strings, the D’Addario XS acoustics are my preference. The gauges are .013 to .056 which might sound heavy, but are not brutal to fret because of the shorter scale. However, if the player is new to guitar or doesn’t have strong hands, I would recommend having your guitar shop restring it with XS strings in the 11 gauge set. Scientific analytic data shows no loss of tone in lighter strings, so the player should choose whatever is most comfortable.

The setup off the wall was excellent and the instrument ready to go. Tuning stability is excellent once the strings are properly stretched. Not every shop has the time to do this so be prepared to do it yourself. At least you don’t immediately have to restring it. Other vendors like Gibson and Fender could improve customer satisfaction a lot by shipping their guitars with quality strings instead of the fence wire they normally come with.

The model I received does not include a pickup, but there are variants that include Taylor’s ES-B pickup system. It is piezo based but includes a really good preamp so the amplified tone does not immediately assault you with an ice pick to your ears. Given the flexibility of the instrument, if the buyer can afford the price difference, I will recommend the version with the built in pickup which adds about $150 to the purchase price.

The GS-Mini has many versions including Mahogany over Sapele, Spruce over Rosewood, Spruce over Mahogany, Koa over Koa and Spruce over Sapele. As an admitted wood nerd, given the size of the soundbox, I would advocate the mahogany body which will sound warmer than rosewood. Sapele has been called a type of mahogany for years but is its own species, similar to mahogany but not mahogany. Play the different builds and determine for yourself which you like best.

The GS-Mini comes in a fitted gig bag of excellent quality and construction. PRS could learn from Taylor on this subject and ship quality gig bags with their uber expensive Silver Sky and Myles Kennedy models instead of the garbage they do include.

Playability

For me, the guitar is quite small and I find that the narrower than standard fingerboard made fretting complex chords a challenge. My fingers are not long but they are thick and the string spacing reminded me very much of my short scale Rickenbacker 325. I have to pay a lot of attention to proper finger placement. For a person with very slim fingers, this would not be an issue but an open C major chord often deadened the E on the D string because of string spacing and my finger size. The neck is very comfortable and the body is very lightweight. Getting used to the shorter scale length is no serious issue but I would not advocate switching back and forth between a GS-Mini and a Stratocaster or baritone guitar every other song. The build is excellent and the fretwork is superb. While inexpensive relative to other Taylor products, they have not skimped on the build quality here.

Once I reoriented myself to the short scale and small size, the guitar is very comfortable to play and while I would definitely go to lighter strings, there was no twinge of my arthritis after an extended playing session.

But this is where I have to ask the cost / value question. I make no argument that the GS-Mini is not a superb guitar. You could get a really good dreadnought sized guitar for a lot less, such as some from Yamaha. But that comparison is unfair. A dreadnought is a big guitar. Not bad, just big and that can be imposing on a newer or physically smaller player. If we focus on the idea of a small, lightweight guitar that still sounds and plays like a large body, the answer is the GS-Mini. No contest.

Example Sounds

I recorded the GS-Mini direct into a UA Apollo using UA’s own SP-1 Pencil microphones using the Hemisphere profile called the SD-54, which I belleve is based on the Neumann KM-54. a small diaphragm condenser ideal for acoustic guitars.. The DAW software used was Universal Audio LUNA and unlike how I would record in a real production, no plugins or processing was done. It’s as raw as it comes.

I was not surprised by how good the GS-Mini sounds considering its small size. The sound of the recorded instrument suggests a much larger guitar capable of moving a lot more air. This is why acoustic recordings using a GS-Mini work so well

Wrapping Up (UPDATED)

I am very impressed with the Taylor GS-Mini mahogany over mahogany. It sounds great, plays easily, narrow fretboard notwithstanding and is very much a take anywhere guitar. If I were buying one, I would seek the model with the EB-2 pickup/preamp system because it would cost a lot more to have a third party unit installed later. After publishing this article, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Billy and Aaron from Taylor at a local Taylor event. That conversation resulted in some changes to my thinking, specifically causing me to revise my comparative approach between the very compact and fits all GS-Mini and a full size dreadnought example that has a lower price tag. In this space of compact, shorter scale, easy to play, I now advocate a GS-Mini even over a less expensive and excellent dreadnought. Attendees at the session ran from brand new to long established players. What was striking is how much the GS-Mini makes players of all levels so very happy.

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