The Taylor 914 really is a dream guitar…
Bob Taylor surely hit on a winner among acoustic-electric guitars when he designed the 800 Series, and hence the 900 series instruments, including the Taylor 914.
Bob refers to the Taylor 914ce as the elite of the hand-made production guitars. “Hand-made production” – sounds like a contradiction? Yes well, less so than it might have been in the past. In his video discussing the evolution of Taylor Guitars, he shows how much of the cutting and shaping is now automated. That’s how Taylor achieve their renowned consistent precision. But at the front end – the selection of tone woods, and at the back end – guitar assembly and set up, the expert luthiers are intimately involved. And always will be.
Taylor’s operation is unique in a number of ways:
- it’s privately owned, with a CEO who can roll up his sleeves and build an instrument on the shop floor
- his neck design is agreed to be the most playable of any acoustic guitar
- his reputation for selecting exquisite tone woods is untarnished
- his quest for capturing the authentic acoustic sound for output to a sound system resulted in the Taylor Expression System – with Taylor’s own resonance detection system and pre-amp designed by no less than Rupert Neve himself!
The Taylor 900 Series includes 3 of Taylor’s standard body shapes:
Taylor 910 – Dreadnaught
Origins: Dreadnought acoustic guitars first appeared early in the 20th Century. With a simple, no-nonsense shape it became a natural namesake of the contemporary battleships. Since then Dreadnoughts, including Taylor’s, have been based on that original design.
In 1997, Bob Taylor re-designed the Taylor Dreadnought. He softened the top and bottom curves and refined the overall dreadnought shape. Then in 2003, Taylor implemented bracing refinements to gloss-finish Dreadnoughts to substantially enlarge their volume and bass resonance, without any trade-offs in the Taylor’s well known balance and clarity.
Dreadnought six-strings star as “plectrum” or “rhythm” guitars with their excellent response to flat picking and light-to-heavy strumming.
Taylor 912 – Grand Concert
Smaller in size, the Taylor Grand Concert is known as a comfortable, “intimate” guitar—something to fold yourself around. With a clear, balanced response, smaller proportions, and scalloped bracing the 912 is great for finger style players. On stage, performers are at ease with its comfortable fit. In the recording studio session players love the 912’s controlled overtones.
In 2000, Taylor re-designed the Grand Concert to bring it more in line with the other Bob Taylor original designs. For 2004, the Grand Concert’s body depth was expanded by a quarter-inch, revoicing it to enhance volume and bass response on the 500 Series and up, giving it a big guitar sound in spite of it smaller size.
Taylor 914 – Grand Auditorium
This was the first completely original guitar shape designed by Bob Taylor. Announced, in 1994, to commemorate the company’s 20th Anniversary, it has more than lived up to its promise ever since. With the width and depth of a Dreadnought, a narrower waist makes it appear smaller, layer a treble “zing” across the guitar’s tonal spectrum, crystallize individual note definition, and helps it rest comfortably in the lap. Removing mass from the width of the Grand Auditorium’s braces, allows the guitar top to move faster, producing a snappy, bell-like tone.
The Grand Auditorium is designed to be a strong finger picking guitar with the versatility to handle medium strumming.
If you’re a finger-picking or medium strumming player, and ever find a used Taylor 914-ce for sale, buy it! It will almost certainly have been well looked after, have matured in tone, and probably be offered at amazing value for money. The Taylor 914 is the crown of the Taylor 900 series, but they are a rare member of the breed. Don’t miss the opportunity…
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