Taylor Builder's Edition 814ce Adirondack

Adirondack spruce and V-Class bracing

To deliver a premium sonic experience, Taylor uses Adirondack spruce for the soundboard. Known for its dynamic range, this tonewood brings out focused mids and sparkling highs. The V-Class bracing supports the top’s two-dimensional vibration, enabling each note to resonate fully with sustain and clarity. This effect is enhanced by a lightweight build and ultra-thin finish, making the 814ce Adirondack a perfect match for fingerstyle and expressive strumming techniques. The warm Kona Burst finish enhances the guitar’s aesthetic appeal, accented further by a high-end abalone rosette and an elegant rosewood pickguard.

Rosewood for additional saturation

To balance out the bright top end, the back and sides are crafted from Honduras rosewood, a richly grained tonewood known for its bass response and tonal complexity. It adds depth to the guitar’s overall sound and allows the overtones to develop with beautiful sustain. The thin finish on these tonewoods allows even delicate touches to come through with precision. The Grand Auditorium body, known for its versatility and comfort, supports a wide range of musical styles while remaining easy to hold and play for extended periods.

An incomparable playing comfort

Taylor’s signature comfort features are evident in the neck construction. A mahogany neck with an ebony fingerboard provides a fast, smooth playing experience. The nut width of 44.45 mm allows for easy fingering across all 20 frets. The nut, made from black GraphTech TUSQ, is perfectly paired with a Micarta bridge saddle, ensuring precise intonation across the 648 mm scale length. The antique gold tuning machines add vintage flair and reliable tuning performance, while the Element fretboard inlays enhance the instrument’s refined look. The guitar also includes Taylor’s Expression System 2, offering natural-sounding amplification in any setting.

Expression System 2

Taylor’s Expression System 2 redefines acoustic guitar amplification. Instead of the traditional under-saddle setup, this system uses three carefully positioned piezo sensors behind the saddle to capture each string pair with maximum fidelity. The result is a clear, transparent tone that reflects the true acoustic character of the guitar. Simple controls for volume, bass, and treble are discreetly mounted along the upper bout, maintaining the instrument’s clean lines while offering full tonal control.

Sustainable ebony cultivation in Cameroon

As ebony is particularly finger-friendly due to its hard, supple texture, it has long been the preferred choice for the production of fingerboards. Its attractive appearance is also extremely popular for bridges, headstock overlays, bridge Pins and Bindings. However, the high demand and the flourishing black market outstripped the stocks, so that ebony ended up on the Red List of endangered species in 1994. In addition, only the deep black heartwood, which makes up only a fraction of the tree, was used, resulting in a disproportionately large amount of waste in production. To protect the forests, Taylor has been working with the Crelicam Wood Mill in Yaoundé, Cameroon, since 2011 to promote controlled consumption by processing waste products. Thus, Taylor guitars not only contain black ebony elements, but also the different colored, more clearly grained parts of the tree. This complete recycling is an effective method of preserving the stocks and successfully counteracts their dramatic decline and the associated negative ecological effects.

"We need to use the ebony that the forest gives us" - Bob Taylor