6-String | Sitka Spruce Top | Hawaiian Koa Back and Sides | Neo-Tropical Mahogany Neck | West African Crelicam Ebony Fretboard | Expression System® 2 Electronics | Venetian Cutaway | Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Brown Case
Players seeking an all-purpose acoustic guitar with striking looks to match its rich tone are sure to love the 214ce-K DLX. This versatile Grand Auditorium boasts back and sides of beautifully figured layered Hawaiian koa paired with a solid torrefied Sitka spruce top, combining for a vibrant yet warm tone with room-filling projection and a clear, balanced profile across the frequency spectrum. Taylor’s special roasting recipe for the top adds a dash of warmth and sweetness that you’d expect from an older guitar, while the cantilevered V-Class bracing inside dials up more volume, longer sustain and clearer harmony between notes. This Deluxe model is capped with upgraded appointments like gold hardware, a full-body gloss finish, and Sentinel fretboard inlays.
- Torrefied Sitka spruce top for projection and warmth
- Beautifully figured layered Hawaiian koa back and sides
- Comfortable, versatile Grand Auditorium body shape
- Slender Taylor neck offers relaxed fretting
- Ships with ES2 pickup and a deluxe hardshell case
FEATURES
Rich Tone, Elegantly Appointed
With its highly adaptable sound, comfortable feel and deluxe aesthetics, this acoustic-electric is a perfect match for players of all styles.
Grand Auditorium Body: Taylor’s most popular and versatile body shape, the mid-size Grand Auditorium arrived in 1994 bearing refined proportions that fell between a Dreadnought and Grand Concert. While the bigger Dreadnought was traditionally considered a flatpicker’s guitar and the smaller Grand Concert catered to fingerstylists, the GA was designed to deliver on both fronts. The shape produced an original acoustic voice that was big enough to handle medium-strength picking and strumming, yet with impressive balance across the tonal spectrum, especially in the midrange, producing clear, well-defined notes that suited both strumming and fingerstyle playing. The GA’s overall presence tracks well with other instruments both in a studio mix and on stage, and singer-songwriters have embraced its utility both for composing and traveling with one guitar. Many people want a single guitar that can cover a variety of styles, which is why the GA continues to be Taylor’s bestselling shape. If you want a great all-purpose guitar, the multi-dimensional GA won’t let you down.
Grand Auditorium Body Specifications: Body Length:20″ / Body Width: 16″ / Body Depth: 4 5/8″
Hawaiian Koa Body Wood: A dense tropical hardwood, koa blends midrange focus with extra top-end brightness and chime. The more a koa guitar is played and opens up — especially an all-koa guitar — the more its midrange overtones add warmth and sweetness to its voice.
Origin: Hawaii
Sound: Koa’s tone profile blends the midrange of mahogany with the top end of maple. Due to its density, a new koa guitar tends to start out sounding a little bright and tight, somewhat like maple. But the more a koa guitar is played, the more the sound opens up, expanding the midrange and rewarding the player with a richer, sweeter, more resonant tone. A common mistake is when a bright player buys a koa guitar in part for its visual beauty, finds it to be too bright, and doesn’t play it enough to allow the wood to warm up.
Goes Well With: Fingerstylists who play more with the pads of their fingers and tend to have a meatier touch. Bright players may want to experiment with different pick materials to produce a warmer tone.
Sitka Spruce Top Wood: As a guitar soundboard, or top, Sitka spruce is the tonewood standard of the modern era. It’s used on 85-90 percent of the guitars that Taylor makes. Its combination of strength and elasticity translates into a broad dynamic range, yielding crisp articulation and allowing for everything from aggressive strumming and flatpicking to fingerpicking. Sitka spruce is Bob Taylor’s personal favorite for an all-around great guitar.
Origin: Canada
Goes Well With: All styles of guitars and players.
Expression System® 2: The Taylor Expression System® 2 (ES2) is a revolutionary pickup design that delivers the latest in Taylor’s ongoing innovation in acoustic guitar amplification. The heart of the Expression System 2 is Taylor’s patented behind-the-saddle pickup, which features three uniquely positioned and individually calibrated pickup sensors. The location of the sensors enables a more dynamic range of acoustic sound to be captured than ever before. Together with Taylor’s custom-designed “professional audio”-grade preamp, this system produces exceptional amplified tone and responsiveness. On stage through a PA, plugged into your favorite acoustic amplifier, or direct into recording software, the Expression System 2 faithfully conveys the voice of your Taylor guitar.
Venetian Cutaway: The Venetian cutaway is known for its soft, round lines. The sloping peak of the cutaway will vary depending on the shape of the body. The Grand Concert and Grand Auditorium have a steeper slope, while the Dreadnought is a bit flatter. Taylor’s Grand Concert nylon-string models also feature a subtle, flatter slope, while Taylor’s 200 Series cutaway models incorporate their flattest slope.
SPECIFICATIONS
General
- Number of Strings: 6 String
- Orientation: Right Handed
- Body Shape: Grand Auditorium
- Bracing System: C-Class Bracing with Relief Rout
- Cutaway: Venetian Cutaway
- Color: Natural
- Electronics: Expression System® 2
- Case/Bag: Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Brown
Body
- Top Wood: Sitka Spruce
- Back/Side Wood: Hawaiian Koa
- Rosette: Faux Pearl Single Ring
- Back Configuration: Layered, 2-Piece
- Body Binding: Cream
- Armrest: No
- Top Finish: Gloss
- Back/Side Finish: Gloss
Neck
- Neck Wood: Neo-Tropical Mahogany
- Fretboard Wood: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Neck Profile: Standard Carve
- Fretboard Inlay: Faux Pearl Sentinel
- Fretboard Binding: None
- Neck Finish: Matte
Peghead
- Nut Width: 1-11/16″
- Peghead Veneer Wood: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Scale Length: 25-1/2″
- Peghead Inlay: None
- Peghead Type: Paddle
- Peghead Binding: None
- Peghead Finish: Matte
Other
- Bridge: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Nut & Saddle: White NuBone Nut, White Micarta Saddle
- Bridge Pins: Black ABS Plastic
- Strings: D’Addario XS Coated Phosphor Bronze Light (.012 – .053)
- Pickguard: Tortoise
- Tuners: Taylor Gold with Gold Buttons
- Strap Pin: Gold
- End Pin: Black
