Taylor 310ce

This is the Taylor 310ce I purchased in 1999. It is a stock model with spruce top and sapele (a variant of mahogany) sides and back. This guitar's sound beat several others (some more expensive) hanging on the showroom wall.

Taylor 310ce body

Here's a close-up of the spruce top. (The streak at lower left is a reflection, not a scratch!) The "button" on the left is the volume control for the Fishman Prefix pickup.

Carvin BK4 Bass

This is the Carvin bass kit I built: Alder body, Rock Maple bolt-on neck, Ebony fretboard and a tung oil finish. It's a very "plain vanilla" bass, but I'm really surprised at how good it sounds, especially for the modest investment.

Carvin BK4 Bass Body

Here's a close-up of the Alder body. The tung oil finish really accents the wood grain, and provides a "satin" feel that's easy to maintain. I was very impressed with the quality and fit of the kit parts, and the sound compares with basses I tried costing twice as much!

Trace Elliot TA60CR

I picked up this Trace Elliot TA60CR amplifier on clearance in 2000. This is one of the last Trace amps built before Gibson purchased them. It features two 8" Celestion speakers and a tweeter, along with chorus and spring reverb in a 60-watt amp. It really brings out the Taylor's acoustic sound.

SWR Workingman's 10

Tired of lugging around a big bass amp, I found this used SWR Workingman 10 gives a great sound in a small package. It packs 80 watts behind the 10" speaker and tweeter, but has enough power left over to drive another cabinet if necessary.

Nady Wireless / Korg Tuner

I use a 2-space rack to tote and protect my Korg DT-1 Pro tuner and Nady RW-1 UHF wireless. I got the Nady unit on clearance and the Korg tuner off eBay.

Actually, I've downsized a little more yet since this picture was taken ... I switched to a shallow SKB rack for these two pieces and now have even more room in the trunk!