A small-body nylon string with a Sitka spruce top, maple back and sides, soft cutaway and Taylor ES-N electronics.
Visually and sonically, the Taylor 2012 612ce Maple/Spruce Nylon String Grand Concert Acoustic-Electric Guitar commands a striking stage presence. The bright, focused tone makes this guitar a favorite for performance, recording and any band setting. Other signature touches include crisp white binding and Taylor's Twisted Oval fretboard inlay motif.
Grand Concert (GC)
Body Width: 15" / Body Depth: 4-3/8" / Body Length: 19-1/2"
A smaller bodied guitar ideally suited for fingerstyle.
The small-body Grand Concert debuted in 1984 to meet the needs of a new wave of adventurous acoustic fingerstyle players. In contrast to the traditionally darker, boomier voices of bigger body styles like dreadnoughts and jumbos, the GC’s compact size and tapered waist kept the overtones in check. It was also more comfortable to play while sitting down, and the guitar’s slightly wider neck gave players more room for complex fingerings. The GC’s smaller sonic footprint also fit cleanly in a mix with other instruments when tracking in the studio and with a band on stage, making it a useful tool for professional session and side players. The current generation of GC models continues to accommodate fingerstylists with finger-friendly traits like a shorter 24-7/8-inch scale length, which makes fretting easier and adds a slightly slinkier feel on the strings due to the lighter string tension. If you feel more comfortable with a small body or favor controlled overtones, a Grand Concert is a great option.
Big Leaf Maple
Origin: Western North America
A dense hardwood, maple's tone is like a laser beam — very focused — and dominant on the fundamental. Often described as having a "bright" sound, maple has fewer overtones than other medium-density woods, resulting in quicker note decay. This makes it a preferred guitar wood for live performance settings with a band — especially with bass, drums and electric guitar — because it cuts through a mix well, allows the acoustic sound to be heard, and is less prone to feedback issues. It has some midrange, and a lot more treble sparkle than rosewood.
ES-N®
Like the the ES-T, The ES-N is a single-source, under-saddle transducer, but the preamp design and tone controls were customized to complement the nylon-string voice. Standard ES control knobs enable plenty of tone-shaping and preserve the natural design aesthetic.
