6-String | Sitka Spruce Top | Hawaiian Koa Back and Sides | Neo-Tropical Mahogany Neck | West African Crelicam Ebony Fretboard | LR Baggs – Element VTC Electronics | Non-cutaway | Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Brown Case
Designed by Andy Powers to produce a new voice rich with seasoned warmth and power, the new Gold Label K14e introduces players to a new kind of sound inspired by the classic sounds of the vintage era. This model features a new body shape Taylor is calling the Super Auditorium, which resembles their Grand Auditorium but with slightly wider contours that help coax out more volume and greater low-end presence. Hawaiian koa back and sides paired with a torrefied Sitka spruce top generate stunning midrange power and richness complemented by warmth and depth usually only found in older, more played-in guitars. Inside, a fanned variant of Taylor’s V-Class bracing helps add even more volume and sustain while maintaining focus and clarity even at the highest volumes. A new long-tenon neck joint adds to the litany of innovations, improving sonic transfer for greater resonance and easy adjustability. The Gold Label K14e sports a striking appointment package headlined by Taylor’s new Continental inlays, a new pickguard design, a Honduran rosewood bridge, grained ivoroid trim, and antique chrome Gotoh 510 tuners with ebony buttons, while a full-body gloss showcases koa’s natural highlights and variegation. This model ships with LR Baggs Element VTC electronics and a deluxe hardshell case with a British Cocoa exterior.
- Hawaiian koa back and sides yield rich midrange presence
- Torrefied Sitka spruce top adds aged-in sweetness and depth
- Super Auditorium body for exceptional power, focus and warmth
- Long-tenon neck joint for improved resonance
- Features LR Baggs Element VTC pickup and hardshell case
FEATURES
Gold Label Innovation Meets Stunning Koa Tone
Taylor’s new Super Auditorium body shape and fanned V-Class bracing combine with koa’s midrange sparkle for a powerful sound with unmatched focus and clarity.
Super Auditorium Body: Building on the versatility, balance and clarity that players have come to love from Bob Taylor’s Grand Auditorium body shape, consider the Super Auditorium an evolution of that playing experience that incorporates all the benefits of the V-Class bracing architecture developed by Andy Powers. With curves and contours that draw on Bob’s design but with a slightly longer body and wider lower bout, the Super Auditorium will feel familiar while adding a new sonic dimension inspired by guitars from the 1930s and ’40s. With a focus on warmth, the Super Auditorium produces an open, blooming voice that produces room-filling tone with a light touch while gaining power as you dig in. Inside, a fanned V-Class variant enhances the depth and resonance, enhancing the volume and sustain while ensuring pitch accuracy all the way up the neck.
Super Auditorium Body Specifications: Body Length: 20 3/16″ / Body Width: 16 1/4″ / Body Depth: 4 1/2″
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.
SPECIFICATIONS
General
- Number of Strings: 6 String
- Orientation: Right Handed
- Body Shape: Super Auditorium
- Bracing System: Fanned V-Class with Tonal Route
- Cutaway: Non-cutaway
- Color: Natural
- Electronics: LR Baggs – Element VTC
- Case/Bag: Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Brown
Body
- Top Wood: Sitka Spruce
- Back/Side Wood: Hawaiian Koa
- Rosette: Custom Single Ring, Bound Sound Hole
- Back Configuration: 2-piece or 4-piece Simons Wedge
- Body Binding: .080″ Grained Ivoroid, Round Over Edges
- 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: Mother-of-Pearl Continental
- Fretboard Binding: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Neck Finish: Satin
Peghead
- Nut Width: 1-3/4″
- Peghead Veneer Wood: West African Crelicam Ebony
- Scale Length: 25-1/2″
- Peghead Inlay: Mother-of-Pearl Continental
- Peghead Type: Paddle
- Peghead Finish: Gloss
Other
- Bridge: Honduran Rosewood
- Nut & Saddle: White TUSQ Nut, White Micarta Saddle
- Bridge Pins: Bone
- Strings: D’Addario XS Coated Phosphor Bronze Light (.012 – .053)
- Pickguard: Ivoroid/Tortoise, with Engraving
- Tuners: Gotoh 510 Antique Chrome with Ebony EN01 Buttons
- Strap Pin: Black
Introducing the Taylor Gold Label Collection: Born with an Old Soul
Think this guitar is rad? Check out what else Bananas at Large offers in Taylor’s Gold Label acoustic guitar series.
Boasting a new body design, new neck joint, new bracing, and a new aesthetic. Taylor’s Gold Label Collection reveals a stunning old-heritage sound that’s unlike anything Taylor has ever produced.
