Taylor Guitars - Taylor Electric Guitars | Electric SolidBody and T5 Electric Features

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Pickups

Taylor’s breakthrough pickup design brought the SolidBody to life. Our design team captured all the familiar “goodness” of the iconic electric pickups that players have loved for years, but also solved some of their inherent problems. In the process, we also added unique Taylor “flavors” and enhanced the tone-shaping capability.

SolidBody pickup choices include:

Mini Humbuckers (High Definition or High Gain)
Full-size Humbuckers (High Definition or High Gain)
Vintage Alnico Humbuckers
Silent Single Coils

Pickup Personalities

Much of the distinctive tonal character of an electric guitar comes from the types of pickups used. The following pickups are available in different configurations on the SolidBody.

Humbucker

Humbucker pickups by Taylor Guitars Uses two coils to generate sound. Humbuckers are known for having a high output and for their ability to produce sound without the noise that is inherent with a traditional single coil pickup. Players such as Jimmy Page, Dickie Betts and Carlos Santana have defined their signature tones with humbucker-equipped guitars. Our humbucker was designed to balance the sweetness and definition of a vintage pickup sound with the power to fully drive an amp without overpounding it. It unleashes raw rock power and great sustain without sacrificing balance or great tone.

Mini Humbucker

Mini Humbucker pickups by Taylor Guitars Also uses two coils and has all the advantages of a full-size humbucker, but because of its smaller size, it provides a tone that takes up less sonic space, which is great for cutting through a mix.

High Gain / High Definition

High Gain / High Definition pickups by Taylor Guitars Our full-size and mini humbuckers are available in two different versions. The High Definition (HD) is our original high fidelity design, while the High Gain (HG) is slightly darker-sounding and unleashes more front-end drive for a crunchier tone with extra rawness.

Vintage Alnico Humbucker

Vintage Alnico pickups by Taylor Guitars A full-size, covered humbucker with a big sound. The Alnico 5 magnets we use are known for their hot output and round sound. Our VA pays homage to the tradition of classic humbuckers, yet with a more modern sonic flavor. Taylor’s David Hosler explains: “I’ve always liked that big, woolly tone that comes with PAF humbuckers. Our goal was to create a pickup with a little more drive on the front end of the amp.”

Single Coil

Single Coil pickups by Taylor Guitars Uses only one coil by design. When played through a clean channel on an amp, single coils can sound shimmery, glassy and bright. They take on a different personality when played through the crunch or high gain channel of an amp. Players who have popularized the single coil sound include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck and David Gilmour. Our breakthrough silent single coil responds with all the breathiness, sparkle and other distinctive character of the single coil sound, but without any of the traditional buzz, hum or other sonic artifacts.

Pickup Configurations

Among the SolidBody’s flexible ordering options is the ability to choose from nearly a dozen different different pickup combinations. This lets you customize the fundamental tonal palette of your SolidBody.

The great part is that the pickup assemblies were designed so you can easily swap them out for other Taylor pickup configurations, offered as aftermarket Loaded Pickguards. The solderless design allows you to do it yourself in minutes, which means you can completely change the tonal personality of your SolidBody any time you like. You can go from Single Coils to High Gain Humbuckers — it’s like getting a whole new SolidBody without having to buy a whole new guitar. For a full list of pickup configurations, refer to the Loaded Pickguards page or the SolidBody Configurator.

Mini Humbuckers | Full-size Humbucker | Silent Single Coils

Controls

Tone control is the Holy Grail for an electric player. From our five-way pickup switch to our original control knobs, we¹ve given you more tone and made it easier to tweak it on the fly.

Five-Way Pickup Switch
The switch is laid out in a familiar way, with the neck pickup position located closest to the neck humbucker and the bridge position closest to the bridge pickup. In between the full, fat neck tone and the rockin¹ bridge tone, the middle settings give the Taylor electric its own distinctive voicings.

Position 1: Full neck pickup
Position 2: Inside coils of the neck and bridge pickups in parallel (skinny, funky neck tone)
Position 3: Full neck pickup with the inside coil of the bridge pickup (adds fatness and drives the amp a little harder for extra crunch)
Position 4: Inside coil of each pickup in series (creating the effect of a super-wide humbucker and producing a truly unique tone)
Position 5: Full bridge pickup

Tone Control
Tone controls on electric guitars are often along for the ride. Not ours. The first two-thirds of the knob rotation acts like a traditional tone control. The last third, especially when all the way at the end, starts peaking the mids, yielding a killer nasal tone that resembles playing through a semi-cocked Wah-wah pedal. It¹s ideal for slide playing, or as a different tonal color for solos or throaty rhythm parts. The tone control together with the different pickup settings give you a whole new set of flavors to play with.

Knobs
Designed in-house, the knobs had to look uniquely cool, yet more importantly, feel good to the touch, and allow smooth tone-tweaking on the fly. They have a lip on the top, which makes them easy to roll in the moment. If your hands tend to get slick when you play, slip a rubber O-ring (included) over the knob and you¹ll never lose your grip.

Design

Our innovative building methods allowed us to revamp both the look and sound of a solid body electric. From our blend of contouring with binding, to the use of spectacular woods for tops, to our refined use of tone chambers, Taylor electrics are truly one-of-a-kind.

Contours with Binding
Most electrics either have a hard edge with binding or sleek contouring. We're able to integrate the two in a unique way, because of the way we inset the guitar top into the body. This enables us to define an edge with binding and then contour up to that edge. Our forearm and cutaway contours are comfortable and especially beautiful with elegant binding trim.

Ultra-exotic Tops
Insetting the top also allows us to use gorgeous, exotic woods (like walnut burl used in high-end furniture design or luxury cars) that otherwise can¹t be used on electrics; it would require carving up a thick slab, which would be insanely expensive with woods of this aesthetic value. An inset top means we can cut a much thinner slice of wood.

Tone Chambers
Chambering on electric bodies has been used primarily to lighten the body weight. We¹ve applied our acoustic expertise to chambering in order to create the optimal acoustic "bloom." This enhances sustain, which is otherwise hard to create on an electric when everything is locked down.

Fused String Ground
Even reckless rock 'n' rollers have to respect the "blue spark" effect of getting shocked when grabbing the mic at a venue with improper ground. We designed a fused string ground (wired to the switch plate inside the guitar), so that in the event of faulty ground or funky wiring, the 5-milliamp fuse will fry instead of you. If the fuse blows, your guitar will still play, but it may be susceptible to more noise until you can replace it, which is easy to do, especially since you won¹t be in the hospital.

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