Taylor 314ce Grand Auditorium Electro Acoustic Overview
The Taylor 314ce Electro Acoustic Guitar has a Grand Auditorium body shape - the ultimate all-purpose shape that sustains louder strumming, a dominant bass dominance, and the size makes the guitar nice and easy to handle. It’s ideal for acoustic folk and blues as well as being a good writing tool for singer-songwriters.
The 314ce has a Sitka spruce top, which is the most common spruce wood in use today and provides lots of volume and crisp articulation. Sitka spruce ages nicely over the first four or five years of the guitar’s life, improving the sound with time.
The back and sides are made from Sapele, which is now commonly used as an alternative to mahogany and belongs to the same family. It is slightly darker in tone but has similar properties to mahogany. It sounds very sweet, a little quieter than spruce wood, responsive to a lighter touch and blends really well with other acoustic instruments.
Taylor has used various voicings based on the classic ‘X’ pattern embraced throughout the industry. The big breakthrough has been Andy Powers’ creation of the V-class bracing.
The V shape which is used on the Taylor 314ce channels the energy through the guitar in a way that holds the centre of the top more rigidly than the sides, which respond with a rocking motion (not actually visible to the eye, of course). The V Class bracing means more volume up the neck, better intonation, a noticeable change in the way notes blend further up the higher end of the fretboard.
The ES2 pickup is different from the standard under saddle piezo system which is under constant tension from the strings. This tension has a negative effect on tone, according to Taylor, and so they place their pickup on the side of the saddle, tensioned by 3 hex bolts which can be adjusted to calibrate the pickup response.
The Taylor 314ce is completed with a black pickguard, gloss finish, and comes with a Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Brown Case.
Fancy an upgrade? The 514ce is glossy with Tropical Mahogany back and sides, with a choice of either a Lutz spruce or Western Red Cedar top.
<< Click here to learn more about the Taylor 300 Series >>
- Highlights
- Scale Length: 25-1/2"
- Nut & Saddle: Black Graphite, Micarta saddle
- Bracing: V-Class
- Truss Rod Cover: Black Plastic
- Pickguard: Black
- Number of Frets: 20
- Tuners: Taylor Nickel
- Case: Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Brown
- Brand of Strings: Elixir Phosphor Bronze Light
- Body Length: 20"
- Body Width: 16"
- Body Depth: 4 5/8"
- Body
- Binding/Edge Treatment: Black
- Top Finish: Gloss
- Back Config: 2-piece
- No Wedge
- Backstrap Finish: None
- Rosette Size: Three Ring
- Bridge Inlay: None
- Back/Side Finish: Satin
- Armrest Binding: None
- Backstrap Wood: None
- Rosette Mat: Plastic
- Stain/Sunburst: Medium Brown Stain Back/Sides/Neck
- Wedge: None
- Armrest: no
- Neck
- Neck Width: 1-3/4"
- Fretboard Inlay: Gemstone, Italian Acrylic
- Fretboard Binding/Edge Treatment: Black
- Heel Cap Binding: None
- Type of Neck Joint: Taylor Neck
- Neck/Heel: Tropical Mahogany
- Fretboard Wood: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Neck Finish: Satin
- Heel Length: 3-1/2"
- Peghead
- Peghead Finish: Satin
- Peghead Binding: None
- Peghead Type: Standard
- Peghead Purfling: None
- Headstock Overlay: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Peghead Inlay: Gemstone, Italian Acrylic
- Peghead Logo: Italian Acrylic
- Other
- Bridge Pins: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Buttons: Nickel
- Fingerboard Ext: None
- Edge Trim: None
