Over the years, I have become an ardent fan of Taylor guitars—especially their more affordable models. Upon playing a number of Taylor Big Babys at various music stores, I decided I needed to own one, so I went right to eBay. After being outbid on several auctions, I found a newbie seller who was offering a Big Baby with a factory-installed pickup (worth around $200 more than the guitar’s $568 list price). A new seller with low buyer feedback ratings can often mean a 20 or 30 percent reduction in an item’s price, so—just to be safe—I e-mailed the seller to see if I received an answer. After all, poor communication before an auction is over can only get worse afterwards. He answered, and also informed me that if I won the Taylor, it would cost a reasonable $30 to ship the guitar to my zip code. Well, I entered the auction, and I won the Big Baby for $255. Cool!

When I received the guitar, there was a quarter-sized discoloration on its face (which was hard to see in the auction photos), but when I played it, the blemish didn’t matter anymore. The guitar sounded absolutely wonderful! My wife, Gayle, had to pry my fingers off it in order to have a husband at bedtime—a sure sign of a keeper guitar. I don’t know how Taylor can make these so inexpensively, yet have them sound so good, but I’m not going to argue. I’m just going to enjoy mine.