Taylor Builder's Edition 914ce

Sinker redwood and V-Class bracing

The star of the 914ce’s tonewood selection is its stunning, solid sinker redwood top, known for its cedar-like warmth, quick response, and rich harmonic content. Visually unique due to its reclaimed origins, sinker redwood also delivers a powerful tonal core, making it perfect for players who want detailed overtone complexity and excellent sensitivity to touch. Taylor’s revolutionary V-Class bracing system enhances this further by promoting two-dimensional top vibration, ensuring greater sustain, improved projection, and precise intonation across the neck. The result is a guitar that sings in every register and adapts effortlessly to both light fingerstyle and dynamic strumming. The top is finished in a natural high-gloss lacquer, bordered by single-ply binding, and adorned with exquisite Belle Fleur inlays and a luxurious Paua rosette.

Honduras rosewood for additional saturation

The back and sides of the Builder’s Edition 914ce are crafted from solid Honduras rosewood, a tonewood revered for its deep bass response, lush sustain, and crisp articulation. The wood’s bold visual grain is highlighted by a shaded edgeburst finish, adding to the guitar’s elegant look. This tropical hardwood brings balance and depth to the redwood’s expressive highs, resulting in a harmonically rich, full-bodied sound. A thin finish enhances resonance, while fine single-ply bindings provide subtle contrast between the back and the instrument’s rounded sides. The Grand Auditorium body shape proves once again to be the ideal all-rounder—comfortable to hold and tonally adaptable to nearly any musical setting.

An incomparable playing comfort

Comfort is at the heart of the Builder’s Edition experience. The mahogany neck features a fast, flat profile and is paired with a premium ebony fingerboard and a nut width of 44.5 mm, allowing clean fretting across all 20 frets. The beveled armrest and beveled cutaway enhance ergonomic support and ease of access to upper frets – ideal for intricate fingerstyle work or complex lead passages. The nut and Micarta bridge inlay are carefully matched to ensure spot-on intonation over the full 647.7 mm scale length, making this guitar feel just as perfect as it sounds. Antique gold tuners not only offer precise tuning stability but also blend visually with the finely executed Belle Fleur fingerboard inlays and elegant headstock design.

Expression System 2

The Taylor Expression System 2 (ES2) takes a revolutionary approach to acoustic amplification. Using three behind-the-saddle piezo sensors, the ES2 captures string and top movement with stunning accuracy, resulting in a natural, transparent amplified tone that reflects the guitar’s true voice. Discreetly mounted volume, bass, and treble controls allow players to fine-tune their sound without disrupting the instrument’s aesthetics. Whether on stage, in the studio, or during intimate live sets, the ES2 ensures the 914ce’s tone remains rich, clear, and faithful to its acoustic character.

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 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