Remember the wedding? If you look at the first photo in that blog you'll see Val playing a gorgeous sunburst 12-string guitar during the ceremony... afterwards we asked if we could buy it (well, hardly surprising) and, to our delight, they said yes and arranged to have it shipped to coincide with our return home.
16 days later we were back in the UK... a few degrees colder, less sunshine, more rain... welcome home. After a long trip (made even longer by a flight delay from London Heathrow) we were very tired by the time we got around to checking through the small mountain of mail on the floor in the hall - and among them was a card from UPS saying that they'd attempted to deliver a parcel but there was no reply so they'd try again the next day. Then we found a second card saying they'd tried again and would try once more. Then we found a third card confirming that as no-one was available to take delivery they would send it back!
Panic quickly set in - customer services was closed for the day (by now it was 22:00 local time on a Friday), and depots would not be open to the public again until Tuesday as it was a bank holiday weekend. We logged on to the UPS website and tracked the package... and, sure enough, it was all laid out on screen - shipment from Taylor, flight to the UK, then on to our local depot, then the failed delivery attempts. Aaarggghhh!!! We submitted an on-line request to allow us to pick it up from the depot and were relieved to see the request actually appear on the tracking page... so went to bed having done all that we could, but still nervous that somehow the internal UPS mechanisms might carry on with returning it to Taylor over the weekend.
On Saturday we phoned UPS and they confirmed that the package would be held at the depot awaiting our collection. As you can imagine it was a very long and frustrating weekend, even more so because of the additional holiday Monday. So, first thing on Tuesday morning we checked the UPS website and to our dismay the note about us collecting it had gone completely and had been replaced with something about return process... oh no! This could not be happening!!! After another call to UPS we were assured that the parcel was still at the depot and, yes, we could collect it any time after 10:00 am.
Needless to say we drove straight off to the depot. After a nerve-wracking wait while they checked the paperwork and searched out the paperwork we were eventually presented with the package - a carton with the Taylor Guitars logo prominently displayed on it. Then we paid the import duty/VAT and signed the appropriate paperwork. We could hardly contain our excitement as we drove home... would it be OK/undamaged?... would it look as good as we remembered?... would it sound as good as we remembered?
We need not have worried! We were overwhelmed and euphoric... as perfect as any guitar could be... and the perfect reminder of our wonderful wedding day. Guitar geeks may wish to read the guitar specification (somewhat cut down version for the blog)... and we apologise to the TMI brigade :>)
16 days later we were back in the UK... a few degrees colder, less sunshine, more rain... welcome home. After a long trip (made even longer by a flight delay from London Heathrow) we were very tired by the time we got around to checking through the small mountain of mail on the floor in the hall - and among them was a card from UPS saying that they'd attempted to deliver a parcel but there was no reply so they'd try again the next day. Then we found a second card saying they'd tried again and would try once more. Then we found a third card confirming that as no-one was available to take delivery they would send it back!
Panic quickly set in - customer services was closed for the day (by now it was 22:00 local time on a Friday), and depots would not be open to the public again until Tuesday as it was a bank holiday weekend. We logged on to the UPS website and tracked the package... and, sure enough, it was all laid out on screen - shipment from Taylor, flight to the UK, then on to our local depot, then the failed delivery attempts. Aaarggghhh!!! We submitted an on-line request to allow us to pick it up from the depot and were relieved to see the request actually appear on the tracking page... so went to bed having done all that we could, but still nervous that somehow the internal UPS mechanisms might carry on with returning it to Taylor over the weekend.
On Saturday we phoned UPS and they confirmed that the package would be held at the depot awaiting our collection. As you can imagine it was a very long and frustrating weekend, even more so because of the additional holiday Monday. So, first thing on Tuesday morning we checked the UPS website and to our dismay the note about us collecting it had gone completely and had been replaced with something about return process... oh no! This could not be happening!!! After another call to UPS we were assured that the parcel was still at the depot and, yes, we could collect it any time after 10:00 am.
Needless to say we drove straight off to the depot. After a nerve-wracking wait while they checked the paperwork and searched out the paperwork we were eventually presented with the package - a carton with the Taylor Guitars logo prominently displayed on it. Then we paid the import duty/VAT and signed the appropriate paperwork. We could hardly contain our excitement as we drove home... would it be OK/undamaged?... would it look as good as we remembered?... would it sound as good as we remembered?
We need not have worried! We were overwhelmed and euphoric... as perfect as any guitar could be... and the perfect reminder of our wonderful wedding day. Guitar geeks may wish to read the guitar specification (somewhat cut down version for the blog)... and we apologise to the TMI brigade :>)
Custom Jumbo 12-string
Venetian cutaway
Top: Sitka spruce
Back and Sides: Cocobolo
Venetian cutaway
Top: Sitka spruce
Back and Sides: Cocobolo
Nut width 1-7/8"
Scale length: Standard 25-1/2
Nut and Saddle: Bone
Binding: Ivoroid
Trim and Rosette: Abalone
Purfling: Cream
Fretboard Inlay: Abalone 900 series
Tuners: Gotoh 510
Electronics: Expression System
Finish: Gloss, Sunburst
Logo: Mother of Pearl
We've named the guitar Chalise after our contact and friend at Taylor (with her permission of course). She sounds beautiful acoustically as a solo instrument and also paired with our Taylor 910CE 6-string guitars and also with our Taylor 855 Jumbo 12-string guitars too. The sound through our Bose L1 system is just as beautiful but even more so - guitar controls set straight up the middle, select the Taylor Guitars Jumbo preset on the Bose ToneMatch (personal mixer), and leave the Tonematch with no EQ adjustment ... voila!
Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Taylor Guitars website
Scale length: Standard 25-1/2
Nut and Saddle: Bone
Binding: Ivoroid
Trim and Rosette: Abalone
Purfling: Cream
Fretboard Inlay: Abalone 900 series
Tuners: Gotoh 510
Electronics: Expression System
Finish: Gloss, Sunburst
Logo: Mother of Pearl
We've named the guitar Chalise after our contact and friend at Taylor (with her permission of course). She sounds beautiful acoustically as a solo instrument and also paired with our Taylor 910CE 6-string guitars and also with our Taylor 855 Jumbo 12-string guitars too. The sound through our Bose L1 system is just as beautiful but even more so - guitar controls set straight up the middle, select the Taylor Guitars Jumbo preset on the Bose ToneMatch (personal mixer), and leave the Tonematch with no EQ adjustment ... voila! Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Taylor Guitars website
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