Taylor 110e 100 vs Faith Venus

eog

I’m in the market for an acoustic guitar to complement the Strat that I already have. I played a bit of acoustic when I first started out, but it's been a while since I’ve had one.

What I’d like is a mid-sized one with at least a 25.3” scale length. For gift card related reasons I am looking at the Andertons website to prepare myself for a visit, and have narrowed it down to a Taylor 110e and a Faith Venus model.

Does anyone have a view on these? I'm aware of the Sires for example, bit they’ve been pushed so hard by Andertons that I’m not sure whether it’s just hyperbole. 

drofluf

I looked at both when I bought my Venus. A few points:

• The Faith is all solid wood, the Taylor laminate back and sides. Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with laminate. 
• I think, but am not 100% sure, that the Taylor had a thinner neck profile. 
• Venus has a cutaway, the Taylor doesn’t. Not sure if that’s important to you?
• Faith also came with a hard case whereas the Taylor just has a soft bag. 

There was however a great difference in sound; the Faith was a warmer, richer more mellow sound compared with the Taylor that was more brash and in your face. Depends whether you’re a fan of the Taylor “sound” or not. 

My preference was the Faith but if you can get out and try them both. 

eog

Thanks @drofluf , that’s very helpful. Won’t die in a ditch over the cutaway, but would still prefer it. 

Did you get a Naked or Natural?

drofluf

@eog Neither, the Blood Moon

eog

Man, that is a pretty guitar

Snags

The thing with the Sire ones surely has to be to give one a go if you're going to the shop anyway?

They look pretty intriguing, and on paper are excellent value, but I'd not want to take a punt without playing/hearing one in the room.

FWIW I'd probably take a Faith over a Taylor too, but I'm not a huge fan of the majority of Taylor stuff - it's really easy to play, but lacks a certain something aurally. Not that I'd turn one down if it was given to me, but parting with my own cash I'd almost always look elsewhere.

eog

Yeah I fully intend to try out the Sires, and any others that catch my eye

drofluf

eog said:

Man, that is a pretty guitar

Thanks! It’s the one I should have bought from the start! (And apologies if I’ve posted this story before) Back in February when I got serious about restarting guitar I thought coming from a mandolin background that I would prefer something with a shorter scale so I bought a Baby Taylor. When I was trying out the Taylor someone was picking up a Venus and I was kindly allowed to try it. I l loved it but it was “too big” and I didn’t need the cutaway or electronics. But the sound!

Fast forward a few months; I never really bonded with the Taylor it never sounded great in DADGAD and there was something missing so I ended up selling and buying the Venus. 

Rocker

eog said:

I’m in the market for an acoustic guitar to complement the Strat that I already have. I played a bit of acoustic when I first started out, but it's been a while since I’ve had one.

What I’d like is a mid-sized one with at least a 25.3” scale length. For gift card related reasons I am looking at the Andertons website to prepare myself for a visit, and have narrowed it down to a Taylor 110e and a Faith Venus model.

Does anyone have a view on these? I'm aware of the Sires for example, bit they’ve been pushed so hard by Andertons that I’m not sure whether it’s just hyperbole. 

Don't rule out Sigma from your considerations.  Amazingly good guitars for real world money.

misterpete

Just bought a Sire R3 in the sale £249, got the one with the zebra break out box to control magnetic and piezo pickups. I could not believe how good this guitar is, straight out of the box plays like a dream. I have had a Faith bloodstone, a Taylor 214 and a PRS plus various Takamines, but I prefer this Sire to all of them. The build quality is superb and the pickup system is the best I have heard. The price is ridiculous for a guitar of this quality, if you are going to Andertons anyway then you must try one out. Hope you get sorted.

eog

Thanks for the suggestions and insights all. 

I wound up buying a Sire A7 after trying quite a few guitars in Andertons. It sounds amazing and I couldn’t be happier! 

In the end it was between a Faith Venus (HiGloss) and the Sire, but the neck on the Sire (quite slim) felt that much more comfortable to me. There wasn’t much else in it to be honest, and that Faith is a fantastic guitar as well.

If there was one thing that I learned it’s that there are sooo many great guitars available at really good prices in today’s market. They vary in quality of course, but you’d struggle to find an absolute dud.