Taylor's smaller-sized acoustics - several questions

Hi my friends.
I have some questions about Taylor's scaled-down acoustic guitars.
I am a 6-foot tall guy, but have relatively small hands, and due to
my age, my left hand has been giving me some discomfort after playing.
I love acoustic guitars, and have been playing off and on for 25 years now.
I had to abandon 12-string guitars, because my left hand could no longer
handle the wide necks. I then had to sell my Martin and buy a Taylor, because
the Taylor's neck is a little bit thinner/narrower, thus making my left hand work less.
My Taylor 110 is great, I love it, but if my left hand gets worse, I fear I may have to
abandon it for a yet-even smaller/thinner/narrower neck, with a smaller scale.
So, sorry for the long intro, now to my questions:
Would you recommend the Taylor Baby, Big Baby, or GS Mini?
Are these guitars too small for a grown man?
I assume the necks are thinner and narrower, but is the scale much smaller as well?
Based on reviews I have read, I think I would be leaning towards the GS Mini, for sound
quality mostly. Is the GS Mini so small that it is really meant for children, or a quick travel
guitar, and not the main guitar?
Thanks for your time.
-Arthur

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Permalink Reply by William F.Eden on January 20, 2014 at 11:52am

If I were you my friend I would go and try one .I have seen some good size men playing them.Good luck.Bill................

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Permalink Reply by Brian T. Williams on January 20, 2014 at 12:42pm

Hi Arthur,

I don't know if this is going to be any help to you but I hope so.

I recently had exactly the same issue after suffering an acute injury to my left wrist which I am sure was augmented by my age too.

As I play a 12 string guitar for a living, after recovering and performing a few shows, I soon realised I HAD to find a more comfortable instrument given that (as you quite rightly say) 12 string acoustics are generally much heavier going.

I decided,the only answer would be an electric 12 string and try and get that as close to an acoustic sound as possible (with the emphasis on "as close as possible"). After trying several semi hollowbody's, I bit the bullet and bought a Gibson 335/12. The neck feels super slim and combined with the much lighter strings it is truly a joy to play. I have now completed many nights playing without any pain or discomfort and this guitar is now my "go to" weapon of choice.

The biggest issue was the sound (tone) and after much experimentation and heartache, I have now found "my tone" (of course, sound is very subjective) that I think is as close to acoustic as possible and I also have the bonus of being able to pull out that lovely "jangly" Byrds / Beatles sound when required !

I DI the guitar directly into the PA through a Fishman "Pro Platinum" DI/EQ (voiced for acoustic guitar), and have the neck pickup (split coil) set to humbucker with volume & tone pots set around 8-10. The bridge pickup I have set to single coil with the volume & tone pots around the same, but of course I adjust these on the fly as required.

I realise the Gibson 335/12 is a very costly instrument but there are other options. The Ibanez (sorry can't remember the model No.) is absolutely excellent.

Well Arthur, that's about it; all I would say is, I was VERY dubious about going down the electric route, but now I've got it sorted, it's the best thing I could have done so all I would say is, give it a try!

As I said, I hope this helps as I can sympathise totally with your predicament.

Cheers................Brian

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Permalink Reply by Ned Knepp on January 20, 2014 at 7:22pm

Arthur, I don't know a lot about Taylor's lineup overall but I've spend some time with the Baby models and a couple of the other lower end models. I just looked it up and the nut width is the same on the baby's and your guitar and I don't think there is much if any difference in the profile or the thickness. I've never noticed any difference between them but then I think Taylor makes good guitars but I'm not too crazy about the feel of the neck on any of them that I've played.

Is the issue the size of the neck or the string tension? If it's the tension, have you tried tuning down 1/2 step to see how it feels?

If it's the size of the neck, you might think about a Tenor. Only four string but the neck is narrower.

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Permalink Reply by Hesh Breakstone on January 21, 2014 at 3:44pm

Hi Arthur!

I did a neck reset on a hog GS Mini yesterday that belonged to an adult male. He loves it and IMHO it is a very nice little guitar that I would not mind having in my collection.