jamey Faulkner

My first real fingerstyle guitar was & is a Taylor 712. It’s the guitar I played at my first Winfield competition. I didn’t win the championship, nor place, but I got to meet the guys from Taylor, which led to an Independent listing on their site, & half price guitars. That was nice. Note: I recently asked them to remove me from the Taylor site, which they did. There was a ‘pigeon hole’ kinda resonance around that whole deal. Even CGT thought of me only as a ‘fingerpicker’ or fingerstyle guitarist. Down with pigeon holes; they are worse than debt; burdensome limitations.

Since buying a Taylor 512, which I recorded 12 stone row with, I’ve backed off of using Taylors. I don’t really have a single reason, but I do I still love them. I gave the 512 to a student to keep [for a number of reasons].

So, the 712. I had it modified by Tom [Tom's Guitar Repair]. Tom recently passed away, & we miss him here in Indianapolis, dearly.

I had Tom recut a nut so that the 1 string is a .54 & the 2 string is a .46. I mostly work in D-A-D-E-E-D. I move the 3 string around a bit, but this is normal for tuning exploration [get a tuning, then modify 1 or 2 strings in the mix].

This guitar is producing some wild sounds. There’s an ‘inverted’ quality to it, which is extraordinary. Much like playing an upside left-handed guitar [crazy!].

I’m working on an acceptable video rig. I’m so particular, this often hangs me up.

Once in place, I’ll share some sights &/or sounds from this modified 712.