[DawnsMinstrel]

Hi BE,

Though I've never had the opportunity to try any of these guitars, I have a few thoughts:

If this is to be your only guitar and you are primarily but not exclusively a fingerpicker then I'd go with one of the Gibsons because they are designed to be played either way. The Taylor is evidently designed to be a fingerstylist's guitar. Unless you have a very light hand, you don't want to strum a guitar that doesn't have a pick guard. I learned this the hard way - and with someone else's guitar!

If you are looking for a guitar that is specifically designed for fingerstyle playing, and considering how much money you're obviously willing to spend I think you owe it to yourself to consider other brands in addition to these two (assuming you haven't already of course). In particular I would encourage you to give Breedlove, Lowden, and Bourgeoise guitars a try as well.

I also thought I'd point out that the Taylor has a cutaway while the Gibsons you mention do not. This is a non-trivial distinction to me because there are some pieces that can be played on cutaways that are not easily played on non-cutaway guitars. If you have plans to work on fingerstyle instrumentals then this is something to think about too.