- Solid Sitka Spruce Top.
- Solid Ovangkol Back/Sides.
- Grand Auditorium.
- Cutaway; ES.
- Hardshell Case Included.
Ovangkol lends exotic flare to the 414ce, with a tone many find
similar to Indian rosewood. Providing access to the upper
registers of the fingerboard, the soft Venetian cutaway is both
practical and attractive, and dramatically outlined with
contrasting white binding. The Expression System pickup completes
the package on this popular acoustic/electric guitar.
* 6-String Grand Auditorium with Venetian cutaway
* Better amplification with the Taylor Expression System
* Sitka Spruce top
* Ovangkol back and sides
* Ebony fretboard and bridge
* Tusq nut and saddle
* Chrome-plated Taylor tuners
* Adjustable truss rode
* Strung with Elixir Light Gauge Strings with NANOWEB Coating
Taylor's Grand Auditorium Shape
The Grand Auditorium was the first guitar shape designed from
scratch by Bob Taylor. It was unveiled to commemorate the
company's 20th Anniversary in 1994, and since then it has more
than lived up to its promise. Although the GA has the width and
depth of a Dreadnought, its narrower waist gives it the
appearance of a smaller instrument, adds treble "zing" across the
guitars tonal spectrum, sharpens the definition of individual
notes, and also enables it to rest comfortably in the lap.
Because Taylor removed mass from the width of the braces, the
guitar top moves faster, resulting in a snappy, bell-like tone.
The GA is designed to be a strong fingerpicking guitar that also
can handle medium strumming, and is exceptionally versatile.
A Venetian cutaway in the 414ce Grand Auditorium body allows
better access to the upper frets. In the past, many players
moving to acoustic guitars grew accustomed to the cutaways on
their electric guitars, while others simply like the freedom of
movement into the upper register that a cutaway allows. Now,
cutaways are favored as much for their decorative appeal as for
their function.
Solid sitka spruce top is joined with ovangkol sides and back
for a tone similar to rosewood, but with the livelier sparkle of
mahogany.Made from Sitka and Ovangkol
The top is made from Sitka Spruce, a dense, straight-grained
wood that has the highest strength and elasticity-to-weight ratio
among available tonewoods. It's these attributes that make Sitka
Spruce an ideal material not only for soundboards, but also for
internal bracing. The Sitka top will produce a tone slightly
brighter tone than Engelmann Spruce.
The back and sides of the 414ce are made from ovangkol, an
attractive hardwood indigenous to tropical West Africa. Usually,
its coloration runs from yellow-brown to a mottled olive-brown to
dark brown, and it features stripes that run from gray to almost
black. When it has significant purple coloration, however,
ovangkols variegation and grain pattern closely resemble East
Indian rosewood. It also shares some tonal characteristics with
rosewood, but boasts the livelier "sparkle" found in such
medium-density hardwoods as mahogany, walnut, and koa.
The Taylor Expression System gives you a natural acoustic
sound.Pure Reproduction of An Acoustic Sound
In the past, Taylor had relied on after-market pickups that
employed traditional piezo technology. But the result was a
distorted tone that failed to capture the natural acoustic
richness and dynamics of a Taylor for live performance. After
several years of research, Taylor designed their own
groundbreaking pickup system that uses magnetics much like a
microphone. The result is an exceptionally pure reproduction of
an acoustic guitars natural sound. The Taylor Expression System
delivers an amplified tone that will satisfy the most demanding
pro player, yet makes it simple for anyone to plug in and sound
great.
The Expression System incorporates three different magnetic
sensors. Two strategically placed Dynamic Body Sensors affixed to
the underside of the soundboard capture the complex nuances of
the tops vibration, while a Dynamic String Sensor ed beneath
the fretboard extension registers string and neck vibration. The
preamp boosts the pickup signal cleanly, without the need for
artificial EQ "coloration." The balanced, low-impedance signal
the Expression System produces can run direct into a mixer or PA
in most situations, and is free of distortion at almost any
volume.
Three simple, unintrusive onboard control knobs preserve the
aesthetic beauty of your Taylor, yet allow you to easily adjust
the volume, bass, and treble to suit your personal preferences
and performance environment. When set flat, the tone controls add
no color and produce the most natural sound. Or, add bass or
treble (or subtract) to adjust for the room or personal tastes.
The payoff is in the purity of high-fidelity amplified tone,
unprecedented dynamic range, and extraordinary resistance to
feedback and distortion. It enables all of the expressive
subtleties of your playing to come through, just the way you
intended.
Construction
Taylor takes pride in using the finest quality woods for their
guitars, like ebony for every fretboard they make. The tone woods
for the 414ce were quartersawn and carefully book-matched before
being sorted, dried, and prepared by Bob Taylor and his
experienced team of luthiers. The 414ce pearl inlay and binding
work was also done by hand, providing care and "touch" that no
machine can give. Taylor believes that precision matters, which
is why they rely on laser cutters and computer-aided milling
machines to consistently hit minute tolerances that were
impossible a decade ago.
Balance and Bracing
A balanced tone is critical to a quality recorded sound. Guitars
that are too heavily weighted towards a particular end of the
tonal spectrum (too "bassy," for example) tend to be tougher to
record. While the Dreadnought shape has more volume or bass than
other shapes, the overall balance on the 414ce is not
compromised.
Features large pearl dot inlays.Straight Necks Matter
Don't all guitars have straight necks? The answer is usually
yes, but the real question is will they stay that way? Since its
inception, the acoustic guitar had a major design flaw. The
fretboard lacked sufficient support to remain truly straight
because of top movement caused by changes in humidity. All
guitars experience this phenomenon--often resulting in a slight
bump at the 14th fret--but not all guitars respond to it in the
same way.
Introduced in 1999 and a standard feature since 2001, the
patented New Technology (NT) neck was designed by Bob Taylor and
his team to accomplish the primary goal of building a straighter,
more stable guitar neck. While some necks may bend in the face of
humidity and other factors, the NT Neck stays stable and
straight.
Adjustability is another major NT advantage. Since the NT Neck
angle is created by spacers and requires no glue, adjustment
simply requires a repair person with a new set of spacers and
about five spare minutes. Altering the neck angle of a
traditional neck assembly could require invasive surgery to
remove wood and relocate the bridge.
The bottom line: The NT Neck on the 414ce means a stable,
easy-to-adjust neck that stands up to the pressures all acoustic
guitars face.
Tuners
Precise, gleaming tuners add appealing form to an important
function, while the type of strings used can alter the feel and
the tone of your guitar. Taylor pays careful attention to both,
using tuners and strings that are optimized for the 414ce guitar.
Together, they are among the keys to an easy-playing,
incredible-sounding Taylor.