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How is the Taylor nylon string guitar built? Is it a classical construction or built like a steel string? If classical, how does one do the cutaway since sides are usually let into the neck?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I saw one at a guitar show a couple of months ago. It was a dud, as classicals go. It had electronics on it, so could be plugged in for volume, but my friend played it for a few minutes, and I had to get on my hands and knees in front of it to hear the thing. No volume and little tone. Weighed a ton, for a classical.

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Waddy

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Sorry, I don't know how they make it.
In their defence, Taylor does not call it a classical guitar. They call it a nylon string guitar. They know the difference also.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

i imagine it would be made like a steel string, cause it has taylors nt neck on it.


however if made like a classical, for the cut away, the side of the block has to be square, not tapered the side of the bock would be pared down so that the side sits flush with the edge of the heel block,
read Alex Willis's book. it show how this is done, and he makes excellent guitars, (then again, so does everyone round here lol, apart from the uke makers, cause they make ukes)

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"Anything that happens, happens. Anything that in happening causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Anything that in happening happens again, happens again. Though not necessarily in that order." Douglas Adams

I own one. A few things I noticed about the construction:

Bolt on neck, like steel string Taylors.

I believe it has fan bracing.

It appears that the neck angle is set back like a steel string as opposed to a forward set like on a classical. I was actually going to post a question about the neck angle and why they did it that way. Maybe someone here knows the reason(s).

Sam, how does it sound compared to traditional classicals?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Acoustically it has a nice bass sound, but the trebles are a little weak. The intonation is not as good as I would like as you go up beyond the 8th fret or so. I didn't notice the intonation issue until after I bought it (or it got worse over time?). It's possible a new set of strings will fix that to a certain extent (I was surprised to learn some time ago that old strings can have an effect on intonation particularly on nylon strings.) The intonation on my steel string Taylor is very good.

I don't think it is meant to play or sound like a classical. It is meant primarily for steel string players that want a nylon sound and still be able to play it like a steel string. And it is meant to be plugged in to sound at it's best.

I think if Bob Taylor wanted to make a true classical, he could make a great one.

Old strings are terrible for setting intonation - why - because they have stretched unevenly, gone out of round, and have dirt in the winds - all of these things make strings non uniform - not what you want - you want the string to behave, and be the same in all repects, everywhere along its length. You are mathematically placing frets as close to theory as you can, so you need the best pure string you can get to set intonation. You can set it best you can with old strings, but as soon as you put on new ones, that setting is useless.

As for good classicals - try and define that ??? ... that is opening a bigger can of worms than with steel string players IMO. One mans perfect classical may be a Smallman, and that same guitar is a useless piece of firewood according to someone who considers the pinnacle a Ramirez ... two TOTALLY different animals.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Heavily.
I think a far better choice in a non typical nylon string guitar is the Martin 000C-16GTNE.
This is in Mahogany with a cedar top and has very light X-bracing, 26 1/8" scale and a 1 7/8" neck. Built in electronics too.
Martin nylon string guitars have varied in their success over the years but this one actually works.

David, do you think that a short scale (24.9") will work for a nylon string guitar?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

You could certainly do it on that scale. It would be about 633 mm, and should work just fine.

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Waddy

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Indeed, I agree with Waddy. Certainly the shorter scale will work.
You will want to guage the wood a bit thinner to get an optimal response with the lighter tension and avoid too large a body size. If you keep the lower bout around 34-35cm with a depth of 85-95 mm it should be well matched for the scale.