Acoustic Guitar Magazine | 8 years ago
When I pick a few bass notes on the new Taylor 814ce DLX, first with my thumb and then a plectrum, I’m struck by its richness and depth of sound. Traveling across all six strings and up the neck, both picking gently and really digging in, I’m impressed by the guitar’s evenness and clarity in all registers, as well as its warm natural reverb. It’s immediately obvious that Taylor—which for decades has been raising the bar on the modern steel-string guitar—has taken its flagship model to the next level.
When the brilliant young instrument maker and musician Andy Powers took over as master luthier at Taylor Guitars several years ago, one of the first things he did was overhaul the 814ce and its 800-series counterparts. He tweaked its bracing patterns, wood and finish thicknesses, and cosmetic appointments; he began using animal proteins in gluing the sound-transferring parts of the guitar. The instrument also received a new electronics package, the Expression System 2. It was arguably one of Taylor’s finest guitars to date.
The 814ce DLX is even better.
The DLX, or Deluxe, designation refers to a trio of new upgrades: Adirondack spruce bracing, said to turbo-charge the sound; a rounded rosewood armrest, which not only feels, but looks great; and ultra high-performance Gotoh 510 tuners with their 21:1 gear ratio. It can be made even more deluxe with options like an Adirondack spruce soundboard ($600), Milagro Brazilian rosewood back and sides ($7,700), and gold Gotoh 510s with black buttons ($220).
As is expected from a high-end Taylor guitar, our 814ce feels luxurious and well- built. An especially nice set of Indian rosewood—deeply colored and straight-grained—was used for the back and sides, and the finely grained Sitka spruce used for the soundboard is similarly premium. On the guitar’s body, the 3.5-mil-thick (that’s three and a half thousandths of an inch) finish is perfectly smooth and glossy. The classy wooden appointments—the maple binding and rosewood edge trim and pickguard—are all perfectly flush and tidy.
MORE INFO: http://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-taylor-introduces-upgraded-version-of-its-popular-814ce-video/
