TAYLOR GS MINI-E BASS

£827

It’s impressive how committed Taylor is to moving guitar design forward. With innovative master luthier Andy Powers at the helm, recent years have seen the San Diego company embark on a triumphant re-evaluation of 12-string acoustic guitar design and champion the use of sustainable maple in mainstream acoustic guitars. The GS Mini-E Bass is one of the more left field ideas to emerge from Powers’ workshop but, typically, it is thoughtfully and boldly executed. He has a genius for spotting a niche in the musical spectrum and then rigorously thinking through the best way to create an effective guitar to fill it.

In the case of this addictively playable little number, Taylor got round the problem of creating a very short-scale acoustic bass by devising special nylon-core strings that sound surprisingly authoritative and give a very natural voice in play. Thanks to the diminutive size of the guitar, playability is falling-off-a-log easy. The whole experience is so unexpected and pleasant that we had a wholly unanticipated musical epiphany, when we found ourselves thinking “acoustic bass – why haven’t I got into this before?” That’s the perception-changing power of good, progressive design and why we’ve awarded the Mini-E Bass a Gear of the Year Innovation Award. www.taylorguitars.com