TAYLOR GUITARS
DOYLE DELUXE
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
Pickers don’t come much quicker than Doyle Dykes. His lyrical and popping
fingerstyle wizardry, while rooted in bluegrass and Chet Atkins’s Nashville-meets-jazz
approach, draws upon melodic pop sensibilities of the Beatles and U2 among others. But no matter how Doyle approaches
a song, it’s sure to be resplendent with fast
and flying pick work. And while Doyle
could probably rip “Wabash Cannonball”
on a Sears Silvertone left for dead in a
chicken shack since Eisenhower was prez,
it’s no accident he has a long-standing relationship with Taylor—who above all other
considerations, try to build the most playable guitar every time out.
A few years back, the partnership
between Taylor and Dykes yielded the
Doyle Dykes DDSM, a pricey spruce-and-maple Grand Auditorium model with a
Florentine cutaway that was about as buttery a guitar as you could build. Neither
Taylor nor Dykes wanted to bar more
frugal buyers from the party, however. So
this year, they unveiled the Doyle Deluxe,
an acoustic/electric with a solid spruce top
and laminated maple back and sides, and
a slick, fast feel that will make any aspiring
Doyle feel ready to roll.
“Chet”-style thumb inlay
Taylor ES-T electronics
Venetian cutaway
