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Taylor 514ce - Mahogany Back and Sides with V-Class Bracing

6-string Acoustic-electric Guitar with Western Red Cedar Top; Tropical Mahogany Back, Sides, and Neck; Ebony Fingerboard; and Taylor ES2 Electronics
Item ID: 514ceV8

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Taylor 514ce - Mahogany Back and Sides with V-Class Bracing
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Cedar-top Taylor Grand Auditorium with V-Class Bracing

What’s the best tonewood for fingerstyle guitarists? Thanks to cedar’s quick response and midrange overtones, Sweetwater regularly recommends cedar-topped acoustics for fingerstylists and other players with a light touch. As a back and side tonewood, mahogany generally serves up a focused sound with a full midrange. The Taylor 514ce combines a Western red cedar top with mahogany sides and back in a gorgeous guitar that delivers powerful all-around response with blooming sustain. In the 514ce, these desirable sonic attributes are lifted to new heights with Taylor’s revolutionary V-Class bracing, which boosts volume evenly across the tonal spectrum, increases sustain, and improves the natural intonation of the instrument by creating a more synergistic response from the soundboard. This fosters a more harmonious relationship between the notes you play, helping chords to ring out in cohesive splendor. Spec’d out with ES2 electronics and tasteful, understated appointments, the Taylor 514ce is a superb acoustic-electric guitar you’ll find hard to put down.

V-Class bracing: a sonic revelation

Bracing is the internal framework of an acoustic guitar that helps shape its sound. Although X-bracing has been standard in acoustic guitars for over a century, it creates an innate conflict between two key elements of a guitar’s sound: volume and sustain. The guitar’s top (its soundboard) contributes to both. The flexibility of the top generates volume (projection), while its stiffness generates sustain. And with X-braced guitar tops, here’s where the trade-off comes in: when something is made stiffer, its flexibility is reduced (and vice versa).

V-Class bracing changes all that. With Taylor’s V-Class bracing, an acoustic guitar top can be both stiff and flexible — for more volume and sustain. V-Class bracing provides stiffness parallel to the strings for more rigidity and hence sustain. Flexibility on either side generates the air movement necessary for robust projection. It’s the best of both worlds. This groundbreaking innovation also improves intonation, not only producing notes that are louder and with longer sustain — but also more in tune with each other. Guitarists at Sweetwater are gobsmacked. But don’t take our word for it — pick up the superb Taylor 514ce and experience it for yourself!

Grand Auditorium body style delivers exceptional presence

Taylor’s beloved Grand Auditorium body style, featured on the 514ce, employs the width and depth of a dreadnought. However, its waist is narrower, which gives Grand Auditorium guitars a sleeker look and more treble zing. The Grand Auditorium body style also helps to focus and sharpen the definition of each note — a quality desirable in any musical style. You’ll also find your Grand Auditorium guitar to be incredibly comfortable whether you’re playing seated or standing.

Cutting-edge Taylor Expression System 2 electronics

If you play plugged in, then you’re going to love the Taylor Expression System 2 (ES2) electronics built into your 514ce. The key to this fantastic system is the 3-section proprietary pickup located behind the saddle. Because of where it’s positioned and how it’s integrated into the 514ce’s saddle, the ES2 pickup provides you with remarkably clear and accurate sound. In addition to a master volume control, a pair of tone controls lets you tweak your highs and lows to get the sound you need, and a discreet phase switch offers vital onboard feedback suppression.

Taylor 514ce Acoustic-electric Guitar Features:

  • Western red cedar top, tropical mahogany back and sides
  • Bracing: V-Class with Relief Rout
  • Venetian cutaway
  • Faux tortoise binding, rosette, and pickguard
  • Tropical mahogany neck with satin finish
  • West African ebony fingerboard and binding
  • Grained ivoroid Century fingerboard inlay
  • West African ebony headstock overlay
  • Black graphite nut, Micarta saddle
  • Scale length: 25.5"
  • West African ebony bridge pins
  • Taylor nickel tuning machines
  • Gloss top, side, and back finish

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

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Tech Specs

  • Manufacturer Part Number: A502002111000110093

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As one of the nation's top Taylor Guitars dealers, Sweetwater receives regular on-site training from Bob, Andy, and the rest of the Taylor crew. We're also, many of us, Taylor players ourselves, and we're happy to steer you in the right direction once you're ready to make the leap. New to Taylor? Our Find Your Fit guide simplifies Taylor body shapes, woods, and series. Longtime player? Our Taylor Custom Shop, annual limited editions, and in-house mods offer a level of exclusivity you won't find in stores. Whatever your pleasure, Sweetwater's climate-controlled warehouse and 55-point Inspection ensure your Taylor guitar arrives ready to play just as the manufacturer intended.