At a Glance

The Specs:
Eight-string baritone guitar. Sitka spruce top. Indian rosewood back and sides. Three-piece mahogany bolt-on neck. Ebony fretboard and bridge. 27-inch scale. 1³/₄-inch nut width. 2¹/₄-inch string spacing at saddle. Bone nut and saddle. Gold Taylor tuners. Elixir baritone heavy-gauge strings (.016–.070) tuned B to B. Taylor Expression System electronics. Made in USA.

This Is Cool:
Combines the deep bass of a baritone with the jangly sound of a 12-string while keeping great playability.

Watch For:
1³/₄-inch nut width may be a bit tight for eight strings.

Price:
$3,998 list/$2,999 street.

Maker:
Taylor Guitars: (619) 258-1207; taylorguitars.com.

Taylor Baritone Eight-String Guitar Review

What has eight strings, jangles like a 12-string, growls like a baritone guitar, and plays as easily as a six-string? That would be Taylor Guitar’s new Baritone Eight-String guitar. Having just celebrated its 35th anniversary, Taylor seems to be riding a burst of creative energy lately, resulting in new models that also include new body styles (a parlor and a 12-fret grand concert), nine-string guitars, a six-string baritone, and the Baritone Eight-String, which combines a baritone scale with doubled third and fourth strings. The idea of doubling only some strings (as opposed to all of them, as on a 12-string) isn’t entirely new. For example, luthier David Eichelbaum has offered eight-string instruments with a similar string arrangement (see Great Acoustics, February 2006), and Martin has been building the seven-string Roger McGuinn model (which has a doubled third string) for many years. However, Taylor’s application of the idea to a baritone is a new twist.

Low-Tuned Grand Symphony

The Baritone Eight-String is based on a Taylor grand symphony (GS) body, but observant viewers will do a double take at the sight of its eight tuning keys and longer-than-usual neck. The extra tuners are for the octave strings on the doubled third and fourth strings, while the 27-inch scale length, combined with heavy-gauge strings, allows the guitar to be tuned a fourth below standard pitch, to a low B. Our review model was built with an attractive Sitka spruce top, deeply colored Indian rosewood back and sides, and ebony fingerboard and bridge. The lack of a pickguard enhances the clean look of the elegant GS body shape and provides an unobstructed view of the perfectly matched top.

Two additional bridge pins are located behind the third and fourth strings on the bridge.

The fit and finish are what we’ve come to expect from Taylor guitars—completely flawless. The GS-style body measures 16¹/₄ inches at the lower bout, and the Baritone Eight-String comes standard with a Venetian cutaway and Taylor’s proprietary Expression System (ES) electronics, which consist of a magnetic pickup, a soundboard transducer, a nine-volt battery-powered preamp, and onboard controls for volume, bass, and treble. The bridge accommodates the extra octave strings with a pair of bridge pins behind the regular set, while the bone saddle borrows a technique used on Taylor’s T5 and R. Taylor 12-string models­. Shaped so that it raises the octave strings to the level of their neighboring strings, Taylor claims the saddle provides more accurate intonation but it also allows the octave string to be picked more consistently, instead of being “hidden” by its paired heavier string. A bone nut, gold Taylor-branded tuning machines, and small pearl diamond fretboard inlays complete the feature set.

Easy to Play

In spite of the heavy-gauge strings (.016–.070), which Elixir now offers in an eight-string set as a result of a Taylor partner­ship, and doubled octave strings, the Baritone Eight-String offers the excellent playability Taylor is known for, in part due to some interesting design choices. The 27-inch scale length is on the short side for baritones (which commonly fall between 27 and 30 inches­), but the guitar delivers plenty of bass with easier playability than longer-scale instruments. Also, Taylor has kept its standard 1³/₄-inch width at the nut, while using the wide 2¹/₄-inch string-spacing of its 12-strings at the saddle to accommodate the heavier baritone strings and the doubled octave strings. Although I appreciated the standard-size neck, I often wished for a slightly wider nut with a bit more space between the strings.

New Tonal Colors

While the Baritone Eight-String would be a novelty in anyone’s guitar lineup, it is quite versatile, adding new twists to existing pieces and opening up new creative possibilities, and it will undoubtedly inspire some new sounds and new ideas. The octave strings brighten the overall tone and combat the muddiness typical of many baritones. In addition, they provide the overall effect of a 12-string, but with far greater playability. For accompaniment, either strummed or fingerpicked, the Baritone Eight-String provides a bigger, deeper sound, and the lower register should please any singer who’s tired of straining
to hit those high notes. The Baritone Eight-String should also be a hit at jam sessions, adding a new color and deeper bass to any six-string-heavy session. You’ll need to brush up on your transposition skills to play with others, of course. To play a tune in the standard-pitch key of D, for example, you’d need to think in the key of G on the Baritone.

Playing melodic passages, flatpicked or fingerstyle, requires some adjustment but also offers opportunities for new sounds or new fingerings by taking advantage of the octave strings. As with a standard 12-string, there is the challenge of an octave jump when playing lines that cross from the second to third strings, and the Baritone Eight-String has the same issue between the fourth and fifth strings. As a result, the guitar seems best suited to new material, where you can exploit the string arrangement rather than fighting it on existing arrangements. However, I discovered that with a bit of attention to picking technique, the effect of the doubled strings can be varied—from a slight fattening of the middle strings to a full-on 12-string sound—making the instrument suitable for many more situations than I expected. Bass lines, from walking bass to slapping funk, sound phenomenal, while the heavy, single treble strings offer fat and juicy tones for melody lines. The octave strings provide a full middle voice as well as opportunities for high, singing melodies. It’s just a matter of employing each of these characteristics to its best advantage.

The ES pickup system seems to be an excellent match for the Baritone Eight-String, delivering the deep bass very effectively, although the octave strings tend to be more pronounced when amplified than when played acoustically. The Baritone Eight-String is equipped with the latest version of the ES system, which allows you to switch off the body sensor individually to fine-tune the tone, although I thought the sound was more multidimensional with all sensors active. The Baritone Eight-String sounded excellent, with a satisfying low end, when playing through a small AER AcoustiCube combo amp, but a full-range PA system capable of reproducing the bass-like range of the low B string creates a more exciting experience.

A Great Addition to Any Collection

While few players would choose a Baritone Eight-String as their only instrument, Taylor has created a unique and unusual instrument for anyone looking for new sounds. With its extended range and unusual blend of single and doubled strings, the instrument should excel as a tool for studio work, provide a distinctive sound in a song circle or jam, and above all, inspire new directions for anyone willing to dive in and explore its potential.