USED Taylor T5z Pro Rosewood

There's something about this guitar I couldn't put my finger on. It took me a while to work out what it was, and boy, I enjoyed the search.

It starts with the rosewood top, which looks even better in person. The grain alone is worth the walk across the shop.

Then you pick it up. It weighs 5.4 lbs, lighter than plenty of electrics.

Then you strum it before it's plugged in, and that's when it gets weird. It resonates like a proper acoustic, and you feel it in your arms. It sings, and I don't usually expect that from a guitar this thin and lightweight.

The neck is fast, with an electric-style feel that makes you want to keep moving around. Plug in, and you get a five-way switch on the side of the body, three knobs, and more range than most guitars. I kept clicking through the positions to see what else it could do, and every one had more to say.

Somewhere in there I quit running the checklist, and just sat down with it to introduce myself. No agenda. Two of us in a room, seeing what the other one had. I may have been at a loss for words, but it sure had a lot to say.

Then I got curious enough to go looking for the story. The serial puts it in El Cajon, 2015, which is normal enough. Then I checked the sticker, the spot where the model name goes. It doesn't say T5z. It doesn't say Pro. It doesn't say anything about rosewood.

It says PROTO.

Short for prototype. Not Pro. Not T5z. Prototype.

Five letters, and everything above them suddenly makes sense. The weight, the ring, the way that switch kept coming up with another answer: that's what a guitar does when somebody builds it to find out what's possible, before it has to be a product. A prototype doesn't have to be reasonable. It only has to be right. And boy. Is it.

I'm not going to invent a pedigree or a production count for it. I don't need to.

This is a USED instrument in VERY GOOD condition. There's very little fret wear, and everything works. It comes with its Taylor hardshell case.

I couldn't put my finger on it. Now I can. This Taylor prototype is one hell of a guitar.

Specs

Body / Construction
Body Type: Thinline hollowbody, single cutaway
Top Material: Rosewood
Binding: Black and white

Neck
Fingerboard Material: Ebony
Inlays: Spires

Hardware
Tuning Machines: Taylor, silver finish
Output Jack: 1/4", face-mounted, lower bout

Electronics
Bridge Pickup: Visible humbucker
Controls: Three knobs, unlabeled
Switching: Side-mounted five-way switch
Power: 9V battery

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