The Guitar Magazine – September 2019

LIKE THIS? TRY THESE...

Martin GPCPA4 £1,849, Waterloo WL-14X Mahogany £2,199,

Guild M-20E £1,599

A characterful instrument that bucks

8 /10 convention in pursuit of tonal goodness

Taylor confirms the spruce and mahogany

tops at this end of the range are thicknessed

and braced to the same measurements

regardless of which wood is used, perhaps

something of a missed opportunity.

Things improve dramatically with the

application of a plectrum. The soundboard

springs into life, revealing a very different

character. Mahogany-topped guitars have

often found favour in the hands of blues

players and while this guitar can certainly

snarl and grunt with the best of them,

there’s more to it than that.

Wide-voice open-string textures and

close-harmony jazz chords come through

clearly, with an encouraging degree of

sustain along the entirety of the fretboard

and even past the body join. There’s a

compressed quality to the strummed

attack as you dig in more forcefully and

the ‘sweet spot’ scale length keeps things

clear and tight with impressive note

separation throughout.

As you might expect, the 322ce really

does shine when plugged in. The ES2

pickup system (Taylor’s in-house design)

proves more than up to the task of

providing an expressive amplified voice,

with very little tweaking needed. The guitar

also proves admirably resistant to feedback,

something we ascribe to its smaller size as

much as to the V-Class bracing.

It’s always tempting to wonder about the

thought process behind a particular model.

And given that much of the more

conventional range of the sonic spectrum

will be covered by its spruce and sapele

sibling, it’s just as tempting to believe

that Andy Powers’ end goal for the 322ce

was to create smooth-voiced instrument

that growls when you hit it. If, as we

suspect, that is the case, then it’s mission

accomplished once again!

The headstock’s

striking stripe

of orange and

black ebony

for the fretting hand, dedicated fingerstylists
might prefer a touch more ‘meat’ in the
first position.
The Grand Concert body fits snugly
against the player and the satin finish not
only feels comfortable, but also keeps body
rubs and extraneous noise to a minimum

• a real bonus for the sensitively mic’d
  recording guitarist.
  With the 322ce in standard tuning, we
  open up its tonal possibilities with some
  exploratory fingerstyle and are greeted
  by a warm, friendly voice, albeit one that’s
  slightly subdued. A smaller soundboard
  often translates into an immediate sense
  of presence due to the speed of movement.
  However, in this case, the playing
  experience is a lot mellower with a gentle
  sound and balanced timbral spectrum that
  leans towards the mids while smoothing off
  the trebles and upper-partial overtones.
  The bass register is focused and underpins
  fingerstyle work effectively, but we are left
  with the impression that the soundboard
  might be a little over-built for fingers.

REVIEWS

GUITAR MAGAZINE 111