Living The Dream

Taylor describes its American Dream guitars as "spartan and minimalist" by design, but does this add up to any shortcomings in tone? Let's find out

- David Mead

TAYLOR AMERICAN DREAM AD12E-SB £2,159
CONTACT Taylor Guitars PHONE [phone] WEB www.taylorguitars.com

Taylor’s American Dream Series has been expanded with a trio of sunburst finished models, comprising the Grand Concert AD12e we have before us plus the small-bodied Grand Theater AD11e and the Grand Pacific AD17e. All three have the same basic spec with Sitka spruce tops and walnut backs and sides, and boast uncompromising solid wood quality and tone at a stripped-down price point. This means that any ornate trappings you may expect to find on upmarket acoustics have been put aside in favour of what Taylor describes as “all the projection, sustain and tonal depth a player would expect from a Taylor, presented in a thoughtfully distilled form that makes premium craftsmanship accessible to more players”.

We’ve been mightily impressed by other instruments from the American Dream Series in the past, the AD27 Flametop with solid maple top, back and sides in particular. Many of the models in the range now include chief designer and CEO Andy Powers’ revolutionary V-Class bracing system that promises increased volume, sustain and consistency of tone all over the fretboard. Whereas players may have been wary of any new bracing system that seems to overwrite the more established X-bracing as the optimum tone engine, our experience is that it definitely marks a step forward in acoustic guitar engineering.