Demoing both of these for a customer at my old job. Hoping this helps some of you when it comes time to purchase. $5 a month keeps me rocking on Patreon! / patzguitar www.elderly.com / pzproject
I played them both, first the Taylor one day then both together a different day. Even though the Taylor clearly had older strings I opted for the Guild. It played better and sounded better and it cost less. I bought the Guild and love it!
This video captures my experience exactly- the Taylor is clearly a more classy build, and sounds OK unplugged. The Guild slaughters it for amplified tone and volume. This is purely subjective, but I preferred the feel of playing the Guild as well.
The Taylor is a really solid bass. But, the Guild sounded great too. For everyone insulting the instruments, remember, the tone all comes from your fingers, and the way that you play. I let the strings on my Taylor age and gunk up, put a string mute on it, play it with my fingers, and sounds great.
Thanks for this vid, I’ve been waiting a long time to hear a head to head comparison of these two basses. I don’t like the buzzy, floppy-sounding strings on the Taylor. Plus it’s significantly more expensive than the Guild. I think I’ll be buying the Guild.
Also the Taylor uses WATCH style batteries for the preamp where the Guild uses a regular 9 vlt ...also the Taylor has an on board tuner and the Guild does not ....BUT tone wise ....for the money especially the Guild wins HANDS DOWN!!!!!
Played both basses (plus the Taylor in the koa-version) a few days ago. The Guild is so much more fun to play, better sounding, better pickup system (Taylor used great PU's as well, but the new ones aren't that nice). On top of that, the Guild costs half the price of the Taylor here in Germany.
I like the guild sound better to my ear. The maple is punchier and seems appropriate for a small acoustic bass. And for $200 less it seems like a no brainer. Just a newbie on bass though. Perhaps in the future I'll have a different opinion. Only had a chance to play the Taylor, can't find a Guild around anywhere to try.
