Following the launch of Taylor’s new 800 Series at the 2014 Winter NAMM Show, the accolades have begun pouring in from the likes of Premier Guitar, Guitar World and Acoustic Guitar magazines. In fact, the new 800 Series is an award winner: The 814ce earned a Premier Gear Award from Premier Guitar and a Platinum Award from Guitar World.
In the upcoming edition of Premier Guitar, reviewer Scott Nygaard puts the 814ce through its paces, in both standard tuning and a favorite “oddball” tuning (DAC#F#BE), and the guitar performs at every step. “The result is a stunning-sounding guitar,” Nygaard declares. “Its bass frequencies are loud and fat, but not overwhelming…. The midrange is rich and smooth no matter where you are on the neck. The low-end response…is felt by the player’s body as much as it’s heard by the listener.”
In a video review of the 814ce, Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario calls the design “nothing short of extraordinary,” describing the guitar as “a perfect marriage of many different acoustic sounds. It has all the projection of a jumbo but the warmth and clarity of a smaller-bodied acoustic all wrapped up in one acoustic that sounds phenomenal.”
As part of the redesign of 800 Series, Taylor master builder Andy Powers created new bracing that was customized for each body shape and refined many of the guitar’s material components, including the use of protein glues and a thinner finish, to heighten the sonic response. The new 800 Series models also boast Taylor’s new Expression System® 2 pickup, which features an innovative relocation of piezo-electric crystals from under the saddle to behind it. The result is less restriction on the movement of the crystals, which enables them to better capture the guitar’s natural tones. Nygaard was more than impressed. “I was astonished by how well the system duplicated the guitar’s acoustic characteristics, including the string-to-string and bottom-to-top balance,” he shares. Guitar World writer Chris Gill echoed the sentiment in his review in the March 2014 print edition of the magazine. “The latest Expression System sets a new standard of excellence for piezo pickups,” he says.
In the March 2014 edition of Acoustic Guitar magazine, reviewer Teja Gerken spotlights the 814ceas versatile – but in a good way. “The instrument is just as suitable to strumming chords as it is to playing jazz voicings in standard tuning or fingerpicking in alternate tunings,” he writes. “This latest version just raises the bar.” Nygaard reacted similarly: “Considering how well suited this Taylor is for so many musical settings, you’ll rarely wish you had another guitar instead.”
Fans can discover the new 800 Series with a trip to an authorized Taylor dealer. To learn more while online, please visit the 800 Series page.
