Taylor Previews 2004 Fall Limited Editions at Summer NAMM

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Bob Taylor and his Custom Shop designers have pulled out all the stops, treating some of Taylor's most popular models to exotic tonewood upgrades, and bedecking them with new, eye-catching embellishments, in order to create the Taylor 2004 Fall Limited Editions.

Tasmanian koa makes its debut as a Fall Limited tonewood this year, adding an alluring flair to the 300 Series Fall Limiteds, with deep, dark grain patterns, and a warm, mellow tone, similar to that of its Hawaiian cousin. The 400 Series Fall Limiteds feature the rich, refined look, and distinctive, full tonal spectrum of solid Indian rosewood, combined with a Sitka spruce top.

The 600 Series Fall Limiteds have been given narrow back-wedges of figured Hawaiian koa, flanked by premium flamed maple, while koa binding and a single soundhole ring of deep red cocobolo continue the theme of color contrast. Abalone and mother-of-pearl "wing" fretboard inlays add the finishing touch to these stunning Limiteds.

Cocobolo is back, replacing rosewood in the 800 Series Fall Limiteds; this popular and beautiful tonewood from Central Mexico makes for some of the most visually arresting guitars Taylor has ever made. Bright maple wedges down the center of perfectly-bookmatched cocobolo backs coordinate with dazzling, figured maple binding, and the detailing is complete with a cocobolo peghead veneer, soundhole rosette and top edging. The 900 Series Fall Limiteds have backs and sides of increasingly rare, premium Brazilian rosewood, for depth and bass, and Engelmann spruce tops, for crystalline sparkle and clarity.

Luthiers and players everywhere revere this time-honored combination of solid tonewoods. To compliment these treasured woods, Taylor revisited their inlay archives, bringing back one of their most popular fretboard inlays from the past, the original 900 Series "Cindy" inlay.

Another extremely rare wood is Hawaiian koa. Taylor currently reserves their stash of this gorgeous tonewood for custom orders, or, in this case, the Koa Series Fall Limiteds. On these lovely guitars, koa creates a luscious tropical canvass, with curly maple binding following the koa bodylines. A meandering jungle vine creeps up the fretboard, with abalone and pearl philodendron leaves reaching out as fret markers. Each Koa Series Fall LTD is a work of art, befitting koa's complex and inviting tone.

For more information, visit their web site at www.taylorguitars.com.