My Taylor 814CE acoustic guitar has arrived! – review

Two days ago my Taylor 814CE arrived and so I decided to make an ‘detailed’ review. As a ‘bonus’ you can also see me unboxing it in a video below this post and there is also a small gallery!

I’ll start with the features. It came equipped with the ES Expression system a nice deluxe Taylor guitar case, which weighs a ton! Overall very nice presentation. I like the 800 series best of all the Taylors: gold Taylor tuners, bound headstock, abolone headstock inlay, subtle abalone soundhole rosette, delicate but distinctive fretboard inlays, East Indian rosewood, etc. This model comes with the newest ES system. In my humble opinion, if you’re going to plug in rather than mike up, then this new Taylor system beats all other pick-up systems. Only drawback is the limited battery life (but the easy access to change the batteries compensates for this).

Lets talk a little bit about the sound. You plug your 814CE with ES system into the PA. What do you get? In my opinion, the ES gives you the best plugged in acoustic sound around. Result is a fair representation of an acoustic sound, and brings out quite a bit of the individual guitar’s tone. The 814CE gives great workable pleasing sound. So, the 814CE with ES I can recommend wholeheartedly for performing artists.

Now let’s talk acoustic tone. The key question is: does particular guitar have a great sounding tone PLUS quality, playability, longevity etc? Well, in that respect the Taylor 814CE has a great sound. Playing solo with pick gives a pleasing balanced sound with good tight bass, plus good treble and mids. It respond well to the pick from soft to fairly high volumes without overdriving the spruce top. It will suit most applications except bluegrass and some blues. Not as loud as a Dreadnaught, but more that enough for singing along on your own. Finger picking? That was one of the main reasons that attracted me to the 814CE in the first place. Sweet defined tone without too much hard work on the fingers.

Overall, a very versatile guitar which managed to sound pretty darn good in most applications. It is a master of no single style, but it is at the top of teh pile in all applciations and styles which I have played.

Action, Fit, & Finish? Simply put, impeccable manufacture and set up. After a couple hours of inspection all I could find is two very very small glue spots inside the guitar. Frankly, I find this whole “hand made” thing a bit blown out of proportion – Taylor’s introduction of certain machine manufacturing tools and methods into guitar making has resulted in better quality guitars at affordable prices for most guitarists (Except maybe the guys with unlimited cash).

The Taylor 814CE is very usable right out of the box, unlike most other guitar makers which are generally require neck adjustment, nut filing and saddle sanding.

A small remark, I have replaced the standard Tusq saddle and ebony pins with fossilized walrus ivory ones. These are handmade by Bob Collosi (located in the US) and perfectly made to fit this guitar. In my opinion it gives a higher treble and a louder sound, some people might disagree though… I also like the look of it. I’ve spend $3.700 on the guitar and the FW ivory parts were $200, this is a guitar for the rest of my life, lol.

Below you can find a small gallery of pictures and a video of me unboxing it. Enjoy!