Re: Happy NGD to Mekidsdad!
Since UJB's recently been going back and forth between choosing a Martin or a Taylor ... and I own a Martin, Jim owns a Taylor... I thought I'd add a little input in this thread for anyone curious. My guitar is the Martin 000-15M for comparison. This Taylor frets nicer than my guitar, it's really smooth to fret and not too rounded on the back of the neck (exactly what I expect from Taylor). It of course doesn't sound as woody as the Mahogany, but no one should expect it to. It does sound nice, mellow, not tinny, smooth picker. When you bang on it, it's got a nice heavy sound. It's just as loud as mine if not louder (which is saying lot for both guitars being as small as they are - they've both got oomph). Nice sustain... really all around nice guitar. It's pretty, but not too "pretty for a guy" - some guitars just have too much bling, this one doesn't in my opinion. It's more expensive than mine - if I had to do it over again... I'd still buy the Martin because of the sound from the Mahogany - Otherwise, the Taylor wins. We both added K&K pur Mini's for the acoustic sound when we want to plug in.
What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.