Taylor T5 help please.

[Brian T. Williams]

Hi, I have a Taylor T5z-12string "classic", 10 months old and would really appreciate some help please. Although this in still under warranty, I fear that may have been voided by having had the "earth protection" fuse hard wired, after forum advice following their much publicised tendency  to blowing on a regular basis.

The problem is regarding an overdriven / distorted sound that I seem to have narrowed down to the neck pickup (situated under the fingerboard)

I have been through all the obvious............ battery, guitar cable, switches, input levels etc., etc. and after trying the various pickups individually I am certain it is neck pickup issue. 

The body sensor pickup is active together with the neck pickup at selector switch position number 1. (pos.2-neck pu. only / pos.3- bridge pu. only / pos. 4 & 5 neck & bridge pu's. series/parallell).

The bridge humbucker on it's own is clean, but as soon as the neck pickup is bought into play, (switch pos. 5/6), or on it's own (pos.2) or with the body sensor (pos.1) the guitar sounds overdriven & distorted. I have also tried disconnecting the body sensor, and the issue persists, so that seems to eliminate that from the equation and all the evidence still seems to point to the neck pickup.

Just before posting this, I remembered that whilst performing at an open mic recently, there was  quite a noticeable drop in my guitars volume as I was performing, but as I was using the venues cables, sound system etc., I didn't really think much about it at the time and put it down to their gear, and hadn't noticed anything amiss until this distorted sound I have noticed lately.

Is there a clue there?

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Brian.
I predict that your best path to resolving this problem is to contact Taylor.
They know their PROPRIETARY system better than anyone else.

As a new instrument, take advantage of their warranty. You paid for it in your purchase price. They'll also appreciate your feedback.

Alternatively, contact a Taylor warranty provider.

Good luck in resolving this issue.

[Brian T. Williams]

Cheers Paul, I guess I knew this would be the only answer really, BUT the certified Taylor dealer who imported this guitar for me (these are rare and not much in demand here in the UK) is over 100 miles away.

We now have a Taylor dealer a little nearer so I guess I'll just drop in there, but as this is my regular gigging guitar now, I was hoping I might find a "quick fix" on this tremendous, helpful forum and not have a possible lengthy "return" issue; hopefully though, it MIGHT be something simple. 

Aah well!!