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Stu, Most folks would tell you that its an "upgrade", but its not always the case.. Some super bright sounding instruments actual balance out well with a piece of plastic for the saddle. Hard to believe, but true. I would do it on your Martin, but only the saddle. The saddle is heard on every note that's played on the guitar, the nut is only heard when you play the strings open. -Greg V.

Hey hey Brian! I'm a big fan of inexpensive room humidifiers; $20 or so dollars should do it. I place all my own instruments and the ones that I work on in one room along with a hygrometer. This way it's really easy to monitor your humidity and not have issues with the dry heat during the cold months. I hope this was of help, Greg V.

Yes the acoustic settings are very authentic when played through an acoustic amp. I use mine through a line6 pod with an acoustic amp model. They don't sound so good through an amp that's meant for electric guitars however. I think Line6 make amps designed with the variax in mind and allow you to change from electric/acoustic sounds on the fly but you might need to look into that. You definitely would need an amp designed for acoustics to get the best from the Variax acoustic models but I'm pretty certain that would be the same for the taylor too. There are also other interesting models such as a banjo, sitar and resonator guitars which are great fun. Also its very useful to be able to change tunings with the twist of a knob. Open G with a dobro setting for example is a lot of fun I have some demos of some stuff I've done with my Variax's ...not great quality but it might help This is the Variax on a Strat setting This is Pink Floyds "Mother played to a backing track. The acoustic part was done on my Variax and the solo on a PRS SE This is my JTV 59 Variax on a 12 string setting. Not great quality I'm afraid

Grog, I'm not familiar with that exact model. However, Cordoba makes a great product. I've never had the 12th fret buzz be a chronic issue on these instruments. Their fretwork, for the most part is pretty solid. -Greg

Bryan, my apologies for the typo. -G

I have had the guitar for 10 days now - pickups give a clean sound and no hum. Robert Cray type sound. To me well worth the cost.

Mike- I have not played the T5, but I did attend services where the church music director played a T5 and he switched back and forth during songs and it sounded really nice from out in the cheap seats.

Those are some really nice sounds. Great playing and productions, too. Thanks for sharing. I have a Fishman Loudbox Artist for acoustic and a Fender Super Champ for electric. I could plug in to both with an A/B switch. As you said, I would need to do the same with the T5. I was just hoping to avoid carrying two amps. I like the altered tuning option, too. I play fingerstyle in DADGAD sometimes, so that could be a great feature. The only negative I see so far is the string spacing at the nut is narrow, only 1 5/8", so fingerstyle may be a challenge. I've definitely got to try one of these out. Looks like lots of fun and practical as well. Thanks again!

I have more than a few of his courses and yes, he does get a bit long winded at times on his daily videos, but I take that as assuming you're "new" and don't want to miss anything. He's very good at explaining things, and his courses are very "Steve like", if you get my drift. No affiliation with Griff other than being a satisfied customer

@Wim VD The reason the chord tone approach sounds better to you is because you are using the harmonic framework of the progression. Chord tones are the safe, sweet notes the chords or arpeggios are made of. They are the notes you can hold or land on. When it comes to the seventh chords, the third and the seventh are the guide tones and you should target one of them when making the chord changes. Of course, the chord tones alone don’t make a great solo, but if you start with them, you will get the harmony into your ear and you will hear the chord changes. Then, you can start adding approach notes and here the devil is in the details that are way beyond the scope of a simple post. So you decided to focus on learning the arpeggios starting with the dominant 7th chords. That’s a good idea because all you need for a traditional 12 bar blues is this one type of chord. The harmonic simplicity and structural economy of the 12 bar blues makes it the perfect vehicle for tackling soloing and improvisation in the early stages. So again, you start with chord tones only, then you add approach notes thereby building your solo from the bottom up. You can learn the arpeggios in isolation or from the perspective of its parent scale. The mixolydian which can be thought of as a major scale with a lowered seventh is the parent scale for a dominant 7th chord. After you’ve completed Session 19, you may want to reach for a resource that thoroughly deals with soloing and improvisation in your chosen genre.