With each new year, Taylor fans start buzzing about the new gear we unveil at the music industry’s Winter NAMM trade show. This year is especially exciting—we have a groundbreaking new innovation to share, along with a rollout of new models. What’s more, we’ve crafted a batch of NAMM-exclusive limited edition guitars, produced in small quantities for dealers who attend the show. Read on for the full rundown, available from select retailers starting in mid-February.
814ce LTD
Body Style: Grand Auditorium
Back/Sides: Cocobolo
Top: “Singing” Sitka spruce
Cocobolo’s exotic complexion never fails to inspire us. For this limited edition cutaway Grand Auditorium, we knew exactly what to pair it with: “singing” Sitka spruce, part of a special cache of spruce from a tree whose wood features a wider, uniform grain structure and delivers an especially crisp, resonant sound. This tonewood combo delivers bold projection and a pleasing top-end shimmer, perfect for fingerpickers or any player craving an articulate acoustic voice with dynamic punch. Other details include Performance bracing with tone-enhancing hide glue, a single ring paua abalone rosette edged with ebony and ivoroid, ebony binding, mother-of-pearl Element fretboard inlays, paua/mother-of-pearl Nouveau peghead inlay (borrowed from our Presentation Series), abalone-dot bridge pins, our thin 3.5-mil gloss finish to enhance the body resonance, and a shaded edgeburst on the back, sides, and neck. The guitar comes with onboard ES2 electronics, a special edition guitar label, and ships in a Taylor deluxe hardshell case.
812ce 12-Fret LTD
Body Style: Grand Concert
Back/Sides: Indian Rosewood
Top: Redwood
There’s something special about the way our 12-fret neck configuration plays on a Grand Concert body, so we took this easy-playing, compact 812ce 12-Fret and opted for the fresh tonewood pairing of a redwood top with rosewood back and sides. Redwood blends a bold attack with the overtone warmth of cedar, lending extra texture and depth to rosewood’s full-spectrum voice. The 12-fret design also punches up the mids, making this a guitar that’s equally responsive to fingerstyle players and strummers. Distinctive aesthetic touches include a smoky ebony fretboard, maple binding, a mother-of-pearl Element fretboard inlay, an abalone rosette trimmed with rosewood, a rosewood pickguard, and abalone-dot bridge pins. Standard features include a Venetian cutaway and onboard ES2 electronics. The guitar includes a Taylor deluxe hardshell case.
524ce LTD
Body Style: Grand Auditorium
Back/Sides: Walnut
Top: Walnut
The sets of walnut we selected for this limited edition Grand Auditorium showcase a range of warm golden-brown shades featuring rich grain structure. Tonally, walnut blends mahogany’s dry, woody character with some of maple’s transparency, yielding a pleasing player-reflective voice. The walnut top will even out a player’s attack to create a balanced response that creates the impression of extended sustain. Unique specifications include Performance bracing, faux tortoise shell binding and rosette, a mother-of-pearl Century fretboard inlay, full-gloss body, faux tortoise shell pickguard, and Taylor nickel tuners. The guitar come with our proprietary ES2 electronics and a Taylor deluxe hardshell case.
358e LTD
Body Style: Grand Orchestra
Back/Sides: Tasmanian blackwood
Top: Lutz Spruce
We love a good 12-string, so for this NAMM-exclusive guitar, we went big with a big-bodied Grand Orchestra and a wood pairing that churns out plenty of sonic horsepower: a Lutz spruce top and Tasmanian blackwood back and sides. Blackwood is a beautifully focused tonewood, delivering a punchy midrange colored by a dash of extra treble power. Those traits sing with extra volume and richness thanks to the Lutz spruce top. Despite the big voice, the Grand Orchestra body and tonewood selection reveal impressive clarity and tonal balance, and respond readily to a light touch to give players tremendous dynamic range. The rich voice is matched by a vibrant aesthetic treatment, featuring a honey sunburst top, shaded edgeburst back, sides and neck, and all-satin finish. Other stylish touches include a Gothic Diamonds fretboard inlay in Italian acrylic, faux tortoise shell binding, a three-ring rosette, nickel tuners, and Taylor ES2 electronics. In looks and sound, this guitar will command attention.
312ce 12-Fret LTD
Body Style: Grand Concert
Back/Sides: Tasmanian blackwood
Top: Lutz spruce
This acoustic beauty shares the same enticing tonewood pairing and aesthetic package as our aforementioned 12-string 358e LTD and presents a whole new musical personality at the other end of the musical spectrum—as a small-body 6-string 12-fret Grand Concert. Yet even with the compact body, the blackwood/Lutz pairing pumps out surprising midrange punch and projection (thanks to the different location of the bridge on the soundboard). Finely articulated highs supply a pleasing chime for fingerstyle players, while the relaxed handfeel of the 12-fret neck makes fretting and bending strings a breeze. The guitar features a Venetian cutaway that invites you up the fretboard. Visually, the elegant color gradient of the honey sunburst top, the shaded edgeburst treatment on the sides, back and neck, and the slotted peghead together evoke a refined neo-vintage style.
These NAMM-exclusive models will begin shipping in very limited quantities to dealers in mid-February 2018. Contact your dealer to check for availability.
