Taylor Guitars 314CE

Mine is a 2001 model which predates the expression system, but I love it anyway..This is one of the few guitars I that I can pull out of the case and "Voila!" it is still in tune! I got a great deal on it at a local pawn shop..It was filthy, out of adjustment, and needing a lot of TLC..I talked them down to $700, with the original hard shell case..So I was very happy and went to work on it right away..It is definitely a Taylor!! Great string deinition, and balance. The Fishman pre-amp sounds good to me through my Strawberry Blonde acoustic amp..so no worries!

I use it in my church praise band..The other guitarist uses a D-18, and they blend well together..I have recorded it acoustically and it sounds wonderful..Deep, full, and well balanced..

The action was high due to hanging in a pawn shop for Lord knows how long, but now it is excellent..The top has some wierd grain in it, but it makes it look unique, so I LOve it..

It is very reliable in my opinion, it stays in tune very well..Every gig i have used it on, it sounded like a million bucks..I really don't like the tail strap button..But that is really a minor complaint..

Never had any contact with Customer Support, So I really can't say..

Been playing for eons (Literally)..I also play a Gibson Les Paul BFG..(Yes One of those) and a very unusual Fender Toronado..My main amp is my 59 Gibson Gibsonette, but I have a Blues Junior, and a 67 Fender Bassman as well..If my 314 were stolen, yes i would try to replace it..but who knows, I might end up with a D-18 just for grins!

Standard features, simple but good.

Very balanced, but with sparkling highs. I compared it with my friends D-28 and this was way better. Much fuller and smoother.

Well setup and smooth playing. Feels right to me.

Used it for nearly three years and still great.

Great professional guitar. Well balanced and smooth. This is what a guitar should sound like.

My Beauty is a 2007 Model 314CE. Spruce top, sapele sides. This is my first all solid wood guitar. ES pickups with simple controls. Came with a case

I lead worship at my church and play in a band. This guitar in fantastic. Rich, full, tight.

Action is great, no flaws, no blemishes

Taylors are awesome, everything on this guitar is tight.

Just got it

I have been playing for about 10 years. I have heard and played Taylor before and always wanted one for myself. I finally have a pro sounding guitar. I played all the guitars in the price range, Martins, Ovations, and many others, none could compare to the Taylor.

Very good guitar, only a built in tuner would come in very handy.

I play alternative rock, and this guitar is great for it. The only thing that doesn't fit my genre, is the pickup system. It's a good system, that's not the problem. It just sounds so clear, and bright. And I like it more when the sound's a bit more neutral. Background acoustic, you get the picture. So I use a Fishman Rare Earth humbucker now. Perfection.

No flaws, I had to take it back to the shop once to vile the top nut.

I don't like the two AA batteries to power the pick up. They go out a bit fast. No problems anymore because I use the Fishman pick up.
Very reliable if your batteries are new though. :)
I have it for a year now, and it still sounds great.

The warranty of Taylor goes through my shop, the shop is very helpful, so no problems at all.

It's great.

2007 model cutaway Grand Auditorium electro. Solid Spruce top, solid sapele b/s, mahogony 'NT' neck which it seems has recived some revision as the fingerjointed headstock looks more like a traditional scarf joint now (Any comments Bob ?). 2007 expression system, only difference appears to be that the preamp is now powered by a single 9-volt battery easily removed from the rear under the jack pin. Gloss finished top and baby smooth satin finish for the rest. Some have lamented the absence of a tuner but this would mean a more bulky pre-amp which negates the advantages of the expression system in my view.

Traded in a 2004 Martin D18 for this which I'd only had for 6 months. I assumed the Martin would snare me with it's sound but it wasn't to be. My first strum of the Taylor brought a bright, zingy sound that I instantly knew was the sound I was looking for. Good bottom end too which will mature as it's played in. The Grand Auditorium body ensures the best of both worlds, the zesty articulation of a small bodied guitar with a nice low end shove reminiscent of a dread/jumbo. Overall, superbly balanced, dare I say, the ideal acoustic sound ?!!!

For me, I can only describe the factory set-up as, well, perfect. Playability a major plus point with Taylors generally and from this experience, I cannot agree more. I'm now determined to progress my playing, reassured by the knowledge that this superb set-up will facilitate greater potential in my playing and I look forward to growing in maturity as a player with my Taylor. Construction again is spot-on, beautifully put together inside and out. I think I got a good piece of spruce, something I always look for in an acoustic as most of the sound is generated from here, nicely grained with healthy amount of cross-silking. Overall, a precisely put together premium product.

Had the guitar a week now and have not yet heard it amplified. I used to own a 214e with the lesser ES blue electronics that sounded stunning plugged-in, so I'm confident in it's live ability. Two fitted strap-buttons are rock-solid. The only minor point with the whole package I feel are the Taylor branded tuners, that have a little play in them. May at some point swap these for some Gotoh 510's but I bet I don't. Tuning stability has not been affected one-jot so will probably leave them on and keep the guitar's originality.

Taylor have an enviable reputation in this field. Not sure how this extends to their customers here in the UK. I have confidence in my 314ce that I will not require their assistance but it's nice to know there are many satisfied customers out there. Going to give this a 10 anyway due to Taylor's historically good service and the guitars exacting construction. If you're reading this Bob, I would only suggest a little updating of your tech-sheets with regard to for example the 2007 Exp system.

My favourite guitarist James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers uses one of these live to great effect. I have made a pact with myself that this will be my final acoustic purchase. I've had a rather mad time of acoustic buying over the last 9 months. Started with a Czech made Stanford dread (well made, but think it required a neck re-set), traded that for a Larrivee OM-01(superb no frills OM-type which I should have kept !). Followed that with a Taylor 214e (good live sound, but acoustically it's cost-cutting was evident), then what I thought would be my finale, the Martin D18(loads of sustain but other than that, a little underwhelming) and now the 314ce (entry level proper Taylor which so-far has pushed all my buttons and I'm sure will continue to do so). I would strongly suggest if you are in the market for a Taylor, and a guitar to keep, that you avoid the 100/200 and spend that bit more and get the 300 series. As I'm in the UK, we are never going to get good deals on US made guitars, it seems US customers pay the same dollar value as we do Pounds. If you buy a 'good one' you won't regret it no matter what it's cost. Taylor have a rock-solid reputation for innovation and quality and all-hail to Bob and his team.

This one has a grand auditorium corpus shape. I like it much better than regular dreadnoughts. Finish is flawless, the case is of very high quality and great look. It has a cutaway and comes with the Taylor Expression System. You have the ability to connect a balanced cable to the guitar, to plug it directly into the PA with an XLR connector. It comes equipped with Elixir strings. A built in tuner would be nice, so I'll give it a 9.

The acoustic sound of this guitar is the best I have ever heard. I tried some Martin guitars, but none of them could compare to the Taylor. This ist really very subjective, so you probably have to make you own decision, which one you like better. The sound is very clear and differentiated. Bass is rich and full, and the highs are so brilliant - very well balanced.
The electronics? Forget anything that you have heard from guitars with a piezo pickup. The expression-sytem (ES) is another world of sound. It combines a bridge-piezo with two surface microphones mounted in the body. The tone controls are quite simple - bass and treble, which mix the sound of the three pickups perfectly together. The result ist more than satisfying, and I have never had any problems with feedbacks. Even though the ES sounds great, you should use a condenser mic in a studio situation to capture the whole potential of this guitar. A nice alternative is to record the guitar with a mic and the build in ES simultaniously, and then mix the results together, panned left and right.

Factoy setup was good, perfect fret placement and intonation. The strings could be a bit closer to the fretboard, but that would possibly cause some noise when you strum quite hard. I have played guitars that were a lot easier to play (some Yamaha models) but they were absolutely no match concerning the sound!

I have never had any problems with this Guitar, although a friend of mine, wo owns a Taylor model, had some loose contact at the input jack.

Never needed to contact it.

I have been playing for 17 years now, and I own the Taylor for about 3 years. Ok, 1800 EUR was some money, but I never regretted buying this one. Not a second. I play it every day, and every other guitar I played since that sounds like crap :) Really, I mean it.

Nice looking instrument, nothing wrong with it's appearance or workmanship, at least that I can see.
Electronics are pretty good, though somewhat "tinny."

Like I said, a little tinny in the upper registers, but generallyI like the electronics.

Action okay from factory, I will need to replace the nut, it's just not right. Lower registers fine, upper two string slots are just flat-out WRONG.

I got this as a workhorse guitar so I could retire my Martin from the gig scene, and it seems pretty solid. I use it live all the time, no back-up, and I've experienced no problems.

No experience yet.

Try as I do, I just can't love this guitar. Don't get me wrong, it may not be the guitar's fault.
It just ain't me. I really liked it in the store, but after doing 4 or 5 gigs with it I realized we just weren't made for each other.
I realize that at 1400 bucks I'm going to have to compromise a little, but I think that this guitar should be more in the 700 - 800 range, then it would be a deal.
I would not replace this with the same model, or probably even another Taylor - I'll bite the bullet, resign myself to spending about 3000 or so and get a Huss and Dalton.

The electronics are simple (I don't mean sound/technology-wise). Volume, bass and treble knobs are on the side of the guitar near the neck. You would barely notice them, if you didn't know to look for them.

The body style is the cutaway. I think it looks great. It has more visual appeal than a dreadnaught. More importantly it fits perfectly in my lap.

It comes with a very nice hard shell case. It feels very sturdy.

There's a reason this guitar retails for $1600. Sound is a big part of it. This guitar sounds amazing. It's not too bass-heavy, which I like. You can clearly hear all of the notes in the chords as well as any subtle movements (hammer-ons & pull-offs).

I play stuff from Days of the New, to Clapton, to some more folksy stuff. This guitar can handle it all really well. I really enjoy playing along to Clapton's Unplugged CD and having the tone be just as nice instead of being much "muddier" (as with my other acoustic - Fender DG-20).

I only have an electric guitar amp, so it probably doesn't do it much justice compared to a dedicated acoustic amp. However, when I do plug it in, it doesn't loose any sound quality. The electronics are great at picking up the subtle movements and there is no static at all. Only minor thing is I have to turn up the amp a bit more than I would for the acoustic. But that is not a problem at all.

I have absolutely no complaints about the sound of this guitar.

If sound is a big part of the cost, this would be the rest. It was set up perfectly from the factory.

What makes this guitar so enjoyable to play is the neck. It has a great, soft feel to it. I have a Fender (US) Strat as well as a PRS Tremonti, both have great necks on them. I would say though, that the Taylor has the best of the three.

Chords come easy and you can play fast scales with no problems at all.

I've only had this for about a month or so. I can't really comment on the reliability. From what I've seen so far, the guitar looks and feels very solid though.

Haven't had to deal with this yet.

I've owned a guitar for a while, but got back into playing about 3-4 years ago.

I own: PRS Tremonti SE (with Seymour Duncan p/u's), Fender American Strat, Fender DG-20 acoustic, Talyor 314ce, a Samick strat and a Dean bass. Peavey 65w Studio Pro amp & Crate 100w Bass amp. Digitech Hotrod, Multi-Chorus, Delay & Dunlop 535 Crybaby.

I like playing a wide variety of music, and this guitar perfectly rounds out my collection. I finally have a great acoustic guitar.

Read Taylor website for features.expression system 2006 model. I wanted a tuner built in to the electronics, so that's why the 9 and not 10.

Perfect, no dislikes at all. sounds great plugged in and unplugged.

Perfect, no dislikes at all. This is the best guitar I have ever played and owned.

This will forever be my main guitar,because I think it will last longer than me.

I hear Taylor support is good.

I've been playing for over thirty years and have owned several makes and models. This Taylor 314 is it. You have to play one to understand, for me to try and describe it would not do it justice. Please e-mail me if you have any distinct questions, I'd be happy to reply on my tayor experience.