As seen in Guitar Girl Magazine, Issue 8
I’ve been a fan of short-scale basses for some time, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to test out the new Taylor GS Mini-e Bass. At 23-1/2-inch scale length, this small-scale acoustic bass is around 10 inches shorter than a standard bass guitar. It has a solid Sitka spruce top and sapele layered back and comes with a built-in tuner and the Taylor ES-B system pre-amp with volume and tone control. The Mini-e Bass also comes in a maple option for an additional price.
“I love the portability.”
I found it that this mini bass was very easy to play and has a great acoustic tone and good action, and I love the portability. I could easily see myself with one backstage on tour working on some songs or jamming with some friends around a campfire. Although it isn’t as loud as I would like unplugged, for its size, I think it’s a great travel companion. As a music teacher, I would recommend it to my younger students with smaller hands that might struggle with a full-size bass, and it would also be a good transition from a guitar for a beginner on bass.
“I could easily see myself with one backstage on tour working on some songs or jamming with some friends around a campfire.”
According to the Taylor specs, the custom nylon-core strings with phosphor bronze wrap wire were developed especially for this bass by D’Addario, and no other strings will work on it. To protect your Taylor bass, it comes with a hard bag, slightly tougher than your average soft case. It’s crafted with high-quality materials and double stitching, and I think offers pleasing aesthetics that you would expect from Taylor and is really a great addition.
Plugged into an amp, it has a great round bass tone; I found the sweet spot for me was with the tone dial at around 11 o’clock. I’m not quite sure how it would do in a large live show setting as I didn’t have the opportunity to try it out in that environment, but definitely for small venues, coffee shops, practice, songwriting, recording, and for just playing for fun, this would make a great addition to anyone’s collection—it would get a lot of use from me if it were in mine. Overall, I found it very enjoyable and would recommend it for guitarists and bassists to try one for themselves!
Also available in maple option.
GS Mini-e Bass: $699.00
GS Mini-e Maple Bass: $799.00
TaylorGuitars.com