Taylor Customer Service

TTony · September 2023

Got to say ... I'm impressed.

I bought a GS Mini a few weeks back (s/h, through here). Love the guitar, ridiculous sound from the small body, so easy to play, sounds good acoustically and recorded too. Colour me happy. The seller did say that it would probably benefit from a set-up, but I thought "I can do that".

So after enjoying it as-was for a few weeks, last week I thought I'd invest some set-up time on it. There was a bit of string buzz/ring on the B and top E and the action wasn't as low as I'd like it to be further up the neck. Checked the neck relief and there was none (maybe even a slight back bow). Tweaked the truss rod and got that sorted, fret buzz gone, but the action was now uncomfortably higher in my usual playing area - and it wasn't low before I started.

No worries. Next step, out with the nut files ... except the nut was fine. Look at the saddle, but there was max 2mm to come off that - and then that would be a very low saddle.

Hmmmm. Oh. Errrr. So it's a neck reset then.

Off with the (bolt-on) neck, check the value of the shims in there, and email Taylor CS.

That was Thursday. Tomorrow, Mr UPS should deliver my Taylor shim kit. Easy to swap the old-out and new-in and I should end up with an even nicer playing GS Mini.

I've had previous v good response from them on another guitar too, so this isn't a one-off. Taylor quickly moving up my "favourite brands" list (currently also got a 12 string acoustic and a T5z).

thermionic · September 2023

Ooh, that’s interesting - I have a GS Mini that I’m not playing as much as I should because the action is over 3.5mm. I had heard that Taylor would not sell you the shims, because, somewhat understandably, they only want their approved techs to do this. No reluctance at all in letting you do it? Seems like something which is well within my capabilities… Let us know how it goes.

sev112 · September 2023

Make sure you dehumidify the GS Mini before shimming - it has been REALLY humid lately for quite a while now, and that will increase the action at 12 a lot

lincolnblue · September 2023

I had brilliant customer service from Taylor after I bought my 710e the other year. Was very impressed

richardhomer · September 2023

thermionic said:

Ooh, that’s interesting - I have a GS Mini that I’m not playing as much as I should because the action is over 3.5mm. I had heard that Taylor would not sell you the shims, because, somewhat understandably, they only want their approved techs to do this. No reluctance at all in letting you do it? Seems like something which is well within my capabilities… Let us know how it goes.

I’ve had mine reset under warranty via a tech authorised by them. A hassle-free process.

I also managed to lose one of the screws which hold the truss rod cover on. A quick e-mail to Taylor resulted in a pack of four arriving through the post free of charge.

TTony · October 2023

Spent a bit of time with my digital calipers and the Taylor shims last night, working out the thicknesses and slopes of each.

Then out with the old, in with the new (pair of shims), re-bolt/screw the neck in place, re-tension the strings, nudge the truss rod an <1/8th of a turn and leave overnight.

Check all the measurements this morning and it's just about bang-on factory spec. I've got a tiny bit of relief in the neck, top of frets align perfectly with the bridge, BassE action of 2.2mm and TrebleE at a smidge under 1.5mm. The nut and saddle were already sorted, so I've not touched those.

I've now got a GS Mini that is a proper joy to play for the cost of a bit of time. A lot less time and hassle than finding a Taylor authorised shop and getting the guitar there and back, which I'd probably never have got round to doing (plus it's probably not covered by any warranty now).

OK, maybe not the sort of thing that you'd want to do unless you were reasonably confident poking large tools into the innards of your (potentially expensive) guitar to take it to pieces, and I can see multiple easy ways in which you could feck it up nicely, so understand why they recommend the approved repair shop.

But I've now got a very nicely playing GS Mini, thanks to Taylor Customer Service. Certainly makes me brand-positive.

I've now got to stop looking at a new 314CE.

thermionic · October 2023

Taylor has a lifetime warranty, although I think it only applies to the original purchaser.

I get your point about getting it to a Taylor tech, even though there’s one half an hour’s drive away from me. Although he would be able to sort out fretwork and nut slots better than I could, if they needed attention. There’s also the matter of committing to take it apart beforehand so you can tell them what shims are currently in there.

Was it the Netherlands Customer Service centre you contacted? Exact same situation, but I can’t decide!

RaymondLin · October 2023

That's nice to know, lifetime warranty for a guitar, acoustic no less! That's awesome.

Bowks · October 2023

thermionic said:

Taylor has a lifetime warranty, although I think it only applies to the original purchaser.

I get your point about getting it to a Taylor tech, even though there’s one half an hour’s drive away from me. Although he would be able to sort out fretwork and nut slots better than I could, if they needed attention. There’s also the matter of committing to take it apart beforehand so you can tell them what shims are currently in there.

Was it the Netherlands Customer Service centre you contacted? Exact same situation, but I can’t decide!

It applies to the original registered user. So, even if you have a used Taylor, go online and register to see if it's an unregistered guitar.

I bought used, but the previous owner hadn't registered the guitar, so I am now lucky enough to enjoy the lifetime warranty!

idiotwindow · October 2023

I think the warranty is 10 years (to the original owner). https://www.taylorguitars.com/legal/warranty-europe

TTony · October 2023

thermionic said:

Taylor has a lifetime warranty, although I think it only applies to the original purchaser.

I get your point about getting it to a Taylor tech, even though there’s one half an hour’s drive away from me. Although he would be able to sort out fretwork and nut slots better than I could, if they needed attention. There’s also the matter of committing to take it apart beforehand so you can tell them what shims are currently in there.

Was it the Netherlands Customer Service centre you contacted? Exact same situation, but I can’t decide!

@thermionic - yes, I used email contact and it routed through to the Netherlands team.

I was happy taking mine apart - though it took me a bit of hunting to find the appropriate tools/sizes - on the basis that if I completely screwed it up, well, it wasn't hugely expensive.

You'll need a 7/16ths socket to get the neck bolt, plus a handle long enough to reach the bolt, but short enough to manoeuvre through the soundhole. Plus an Allen key of a very specific size (I tried - literally - dozens until I found the right size in a Fender toolkit), and again it has to be big enough / small enough to get to the screw. Metric close-enough equivalents didn't seem to be quite close enough.

I then spent a while last night measuring all of the shims (to 0.05mm) and drawing out the pockets/angles to try to work out which combination would work best. As it happens, I got a bit lucky, and the first set that I used got the guitar to pretty much exactly factory specs. The nut/saddle were already fine (I'm guessing they'd had some attention previously). But others have said be prepared to go through the process a couple (or a few) times to find the right combination of the two shims.

If you're wanting fretwork doing too, then it might be worth at least a conversation with the half-an-hour-away approved centre.

jellybelly · October 2023

I have had my USA 210 dreadnought for 17 years but never registered it - will have to do so!

Glad to hear Taylor do these things right - "premium brand has excellent customer service" shouldn't be newsworthy necessary but these days it's worth praising where it's found.

RaymondLin · October 2023

I guess i need to register my T5 and GS Mini this weekend.

TTony · October 2023

Bowks said:
It applies to the original registered user. So, even if you have a used Taylor, go online and register to see if it's an unregistered guitar.

I bought used, but the previous owner hadn't registered the guitar, so I am now lucky enough to enjoy the lifetime warranty!

I think I'm in the same situation with this GS-mini.

The guitar (some years old) still had the registration card in the gig bag, so I went online to register it (though you don't need the card to be able to register it). I didn't get any error message about the guitar already being registered, or being too old to register, so I'm guessing I'm good.

thermionic · October 2023

Thanks for the helpful info @TTony - so they sent you a complete set of shims then, I understood from your original post that you'd told them what was in there and they'd made an educated guess as to which set would get the action back to factory specs. No harm in sending them an email I guess, and see what they say.

I registered my GS Mini when I bought it about 3 years ago, but I don't think I did for the 310 I've had since 2001!

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