Taylor 114ce Review
As most guitar players know Taylor is a good sign of quality, and this Taylor 114ce review is going to show that they don’t compromise on this new addition to their acoustic guitar family. So how does Taylor offer their signature quality for around $800.00 when in the past a guitar like this would cost well over $1k? Let’s take a look and find out!
The Taylor 114ce is an acoustic electric guitar with a proprietary pickup behind the saddle. The piezo-electric sensors are individually positioned and calibrated to offer a balanced organic response to the sound as it is transferred from the body to the saddle. This gives a consistent acoustic sound that maintains it’s natural quality as it utilizes the Taylor custom preamp built into the system. If this means nothing to you suffice to say that even though the guitar is using a preamp and a built in pickup it still sounds like a classic Taylor guitar though an amp or PA.
Taylor 114ce Features
- String Type: Steel
- Right-handed (LH customs available via Sweetwater)
- Shape: Grand Auditorium
- Finish: Matte
- Color: Natural
- Back & Sides Wood: Layered Western Walnut
- Top Wood: Solid Sitka Spruce
- Binding: Black
- Body Bracing: Forward Shifted Pattern
- Fingerboard Material: Ebony
- Number of Frets: 20
- Scale Length: 25.5″
- Bridge Material: Ebony
- Neck Wood: Sapele
- Tuning Machines: Chrome tuners
- Nut Width: 1.6875″
- Nut Material: NuBone
- Saddle Material: Micarta
- Electronics: ES2
The Grand Auditorium body shape packs a tonal punch and while the body is big the cutaways make it very manageable. One of our reviewers found the tighter waist of the GA body easier to manage than a full dreadnought but most would agree both styles are equally manageable. GA’s tend to use lighter strings than dreadnoughts but that is also purely a matter of taste.
The previously mentioned Grand Auditorium body has the depth of a dreadnought but employs a narrow waist that both increases the response in the high end but also give the guitar an overall sleeker appearance. The shape also sharpened note definition even before it hits the internal preamp. Some players find the shape easy to play than a traditional dreadnought, especially when sitting down.
The tortoise pickguard and solid spruce top look great and the laminated sapele back and sides offer additional protection against temperature swings and to a lesser degree moisture. Taylor is known for guitars that last a long time and this one is built to last as well.
This guitar will be at home on the stage, in the studio, or strumming at a campfire.
The ebony fingerboard sports 20 frets with 1.68” wide bone nut and pearloid dot inlays. The varnish finish gives the instrument a refined professional look and the guitar’s scale is 25.5”.
With impressive tonality and obvious stability, the Taylor 114ce uses hardware you will see in much more costly models. The aforementioned saddle pickup is the ES-T internal pickup system and the preamp has a built in EQ that allows the adjustment of Treble, Bass, and Volume from the guitar itself.
Check out this guitar in action in the video below.
With the built in electronics you soundcheck will go easier and the troublesome feedback associated with acoustic guitars with add-on pickups will be a thing of the past.
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