Taylor T5 Custom in Koa with Graphtec Acoustasonic Ghost installed with Case

The vintage beauty of a Hawaiian koa top gives each T5 Custom a classic island vibe. Our versatile hollowbody hybrid is equipped with a three-pickup setup featuring an acoustic body sensor, a concealed neck humbucker, and a visible bridge humbucker, plus five-way switching and onboard tone controls, giving players an electric/acoustic guitar with a sweeping range of tones. Gold hardware, white binding and Taylor’s progressive Spires fretboard inlay add sharp complementary touches. The guitar ships in a T5 hardshell case.

Ghost 13 Pin System with Piezo Installed

The controls for this retrofitted system were mounted to a piece of plastic and then velcro'd inside the guitar so the controls come throught the F hole of the guitar. No extra holes were drilled into the top. 
All electronics are easily accessible through the rear opening.   The 9 volt battery compartment has an on off switch on the rear.  all the controls allow for blending of the Taylor T5 electronics with the the Piezo system to a single 1/4" output.   Your Taylor T5 acoustic sound has never sounded this full. 

Although known best for their innovative line of guitar accessories, Graph Tech are no strangers to interfacing electric guitars to pitch-to-MIDI converter systems such as the GR55. Their new Acoustic MIDI System is a derivative of their existing Ghost modular pickup system for electric guitar. The review sample arrived pre-installed into a modestly priced Chinese-made dreadnought, a situation that is somewhat akin to fitting Rolls Royce steering to a Mini. However, given the amount of woodwork involved in the fitting, this approach may be a better option than carving up a more expensive guitar!

The Ghost Acoustic MIDI System consists of two electronic modules that install inside your acoustic guitar — the Roland GK-compatible Hexpander Interface, and the Tone Control acoustic preamp, with three-band, swept-mid EQ. Both are driven by the hexaphonic pickup, which replaces the existing bridge saddle of your nylon or steel-strung acoustic guitar. The system is completed by a switched output jack, 9V (PP3) battery clip and holder, and a no-solder cabling harness.

The Tone Control is an acoustic preamp that's designed to deliver an accurate acoustic sound from the Graph Tech hexaphonic piezo pickup. Three dual concentric potentiometers control the Tone Control's three-band EQ and the levels of the system's acoustic and MIDI outputs. Two of these are mounted on the board itself, while the pot that controls the sweep mid-range is on a flying lead, allowing you some flexibility in the control layout. The review guitar was fitted with the optional rosewood stacked knobs, which really looked the part. The only other available option for the board, the MIDI Program Up/Down switch, was not fitted (not that I missed it).

The Tone Control is powered by the battery and connects to a standard quarter-inch jack that carries its acoustic output. The input from the hexaphonic piezo pickup comes via the Hexpander board, and for that reason the Tone Control is not intended for stand-alone use.

The Hexpander MIDI Interface carries a Roland GK-compatible 13-pin output that can drive not only the latest pitch-to-MIDI converter systems, such as Roland's GR55 and VG99, and the Keith McMillen StringPort, but also the earlier GK-compatible units from Roland and other manufacturers. Essentially a preamp designed to interface the output of the hexaphonic piezo pickup to a pitch-to-MIDI converter, the Hexpander features a proprietary harmonic damping system, said to yield fast, accurate tracking unequalled by any other system on the market today. The Hexpander gets its power down the GK cable, from whatever unit it is driving. The circuit board is attached to the mounting plate for the 13-pin connector, which also carries Graph Tech's Traktion switch. This selects between the Hexpander's two tracking curves to help optimise its response for your guitar, playing style, and MIDI converter. The presets are intended for use with Roland and Axon MIDI converters, but with other brands you should find that one of these will do the job.

The hexaphonic piezo pickup that drives the Ghost Acoustic MIDI system is dimensioned to replace a standard 1/8 inch (3.175mm) bridge saddle. The six piezo elements are mechanically isolated from each other by voids in the pickup, which gives it something of the appearance of a wide-toothed comb. There are two variants available, one designed for steel-strung guitars and the other for nylon-strung guitars.