Taylor Guitars 214-E

Made in El Cajon, San Diego, California. Production started Sept 06. You already know the features, Solid Spruce Top, Solid Sapele back & sides, ebony bridge and fretboard. My fretboard also displays the 'spots' in the fretboard but it really doesn't bother me. Presumably a development by Taylor, because mine came with the ES Blue electrics and the ES style '3 knob' preamp which was a very welcome addition. Very tidy harshell case included which is a very snug fit and holds the guitar securely.

The sound is what sold me on this guitar. Traded in a very nice Larrivee OM-01 for this. Originally I wanted a 314ce but just couldn't afford it. Compared to my 214E. the 314ce seems overpriced. Nice and sparkly sound with great sustain and generally good balance across the strings. Have had it about 2 weeks now and I'm sure it's starting to open up, sounds very rich when strummed which I didn't expect from the 'poppy' sounding Sapele b & s. Have changed the plastic bridge pins for ebony, which has probably made a small difference. Overall, excellent and will try to keep hold of this one to enable it to blossom properly. May try some D'addario EXP's next time as I've read some reviews which seem to suggest the Elixers fitted may be harming the string balance. We'll see.

The finish is all matt and the neck and back/sides have no grain filling, so feel slightly rough to the touch. The spruce on mine seems a decent piece of wood with some nice cross-silking and the sapele back/sides do have a very nice graining, looks more interesting than mahogany to my eyes. As mentioned already the fretboard blemishes aren't an issue and the frets are superbly finished. The action is OK, maybe slightly higher than I would like so may get this seen to. The 100 and 200 series Taylors use a narrower 1 11/16" neck than the higher series models and I have read reports of some high 'E' string fret-end slip-over as Taylor has gone for a wider string spacing than is normal with a narrow neck. Luckily mine has shown no sign of this irritation even when I've tried, so try a few guitars if you can. I also tried a Martin D16GT which suffered a lot from this and may well have bugged me had I bought it.

I gigged with this guitar about an hour after I bought it and it performed flawlessly. Plugged in sound is also fantastic. I do tend to look after my guitars so I'm not worried too much about the duarability. If it picks up the odd knock as it's a matt finish, so be it. The only blemishes are the tuners which are not up to the rest of the guitar's quality and a loose endpin jack which I will endevour to fix myself. I'm going to order the proper Taylor tuners at a later date, which are about twice the price in the UK than they are in the US. If anybody has a spare set of stamped Taylor tuners, please feel free to get in touch !

Have regisitered serial no. with Taylor in the US, thought I may get some reply but nothing. Contacted UK distributors about tuners and they were really helpful

Been playing about 11 years and wanted a really good acoustic so as to help me quit my acoustic buying habit. Was prepared to go non-electro despite my band activities and get a pick-up fitted but found my 214E by accident. Was delighted with the additional preamp which makes life onstage so much easier. Have had a Takamine EAN16C, a good guitar but very heavily constructed and narrow string spacing and the aforementioned Larrivee OM-01, very plain but a real stunner in the sound department. Would rate my Taylor as at least equal to the Larry, but I have to say, the Taylor does come with a certain amount of kudos on that headstock. I will therefore try my utmost to keep hold of it and let the all solid woods do their thang !

This 214e Taylor is nothing short of amazing. I'm new to North Central Arkansas and was just checking out a 514ce in Batesville Music when on a whim I picked this one up just to try it out. It was a religious experience that I'll never forget. I loved the sound and playability immediately and at $950 I couldn't pass it up! I've picked up MANY acoustic guitars and have never been moved the way I am with these Taylors. Ever since I bought the 214e, I've completely scoured the Taylor site to learn the ins and outs of acoustics. The signature Taylor bell/midrange chime is absolutely killer. Bright and/but balanced. The bottom end is deep and tight.. not boomy. Very defined. This guitar sounds just like the Taylor site and everyone else describes.. excellent dynamics for fingerstyle and medium strumming. If you hit it too hard, it seems/feels like the sound compresses and doesn't get any louder.

Setup was typical for factory setups...high. But I knew I wanted the action to be ridiculously low so I took it to Treble Clef music in Batesville three times and had him lower the action in increments each time. He (being partial to Martins) was very surprised at the 'balanced' tone of this Taylor and that the consruction of the instrument was so exact. Just today I got the guitar back and the action measures 2/32nds" at the 12th fret on the low E and just a hair above 1.5/32nds on the high E. You can practically fret this thing just lookin' at it :) NO buzz anywhere and the intonation is perfect. I scrapped the Elixirs right off the bat in favor of the D'Addario Phosphor Bronze 12s (Lights). I may try the EXPs later (?). My guitar was made in July of 2005 and I bought it in July 2006. No flaws that I can find. No bear claws either. The Sapele used on the back and sides is actually an impressive tight-grained rust orangish wood that really has depth (kind of a shimmer) when you look at it in the light. The picture of Sapele under tonewoods on Taylor's site doesn't do it justice. Overall it's 'plain Jane' but it has it where it counts... tone and playability. I'm sure it was the Spruce top that resulted in the sound that I liked better than the cedar of the 514ce.

The tuners feel responsive and smooth. I've only had this guitar for a month and I took it to Mountain View which is considered the Folk Music capital of the world to meet a local fingerpicking champion. I wound up banging the heel of the guitar on the end of a metal table and put a 2 inch hairline crack in the side. No big deal as the guy in Batesville reglued it and now you can hardly even see it. Adding character like alot of players will say :) The guitar is just a bit neck heavy. It's not like it's an eggshell or anything but you do have to watch it. I personally love the natural finish. I've never liked anything glossy, shiny or flashy.

The music store registered the guitar when I purchased it. I've heard nothing but great things about customer service and unless I run into a serious humidity related issue with this guitar, I doubt I'll need to contact them.

I'm 36 and have been playing since I was 15 on a garage sale acoustic (complete with tuning record) my parents bought me. My main and only electric is an original Washburn Nuno Bettencourt N4 I bought way back in '92. I'll never forget its signature tone that blew me away and it was the clean channel that spoke to me. The natural alder finish is beautiful. The only complaint I have with the 214e is that when you flick the guitar around, a cord or something inside from the pickup smacks around. I also wish this model came in a cutaway version. But for me, the coolest thing is the 1 11/16" nut width. The 214e nut width, scale length (25.5") and ebony fretboard match the N4 exactly. It's like an acoustic version of my electric. All the higher Taylor models are the wider 1 3/4" which actually feels a little too wide for me. If this guitar were lost or stolen, I'd be crushed because while Taylor models do exhibit lots of consistency, I get the feeling that my specific one stands out. Van Halen, Winger, Extreme, Satch, Vai, Guthrie Govan, Greg Howe, Megadeth, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Puya and Porcupine Tree rank as some of my favorite stuff. I've known about Chet Atkins for years but after seeing Tony Emmanuel, that's exactly where I wanna go with the whole acoustic thing. If you wanna compare this acoustic with another, try the 315ce. That fingerpicking champion has one and man, just like the Taylor site says about the Jumbo body style, it really does preserve the Taylor tone but adds more bottom and volume.. sounds more 'mature' and for about 500 bucks more.

Solid Top.
OM size but the "butt" size is same as a dreadnought, but slimmer, not cut away.
Taylor tuner, just as good as Fishmen. But a passive one without battery use and no EQ control.

I agree no more! It sounds great, better than everything I have tried below US$2000. The only one can compare to it is another mid-price Larivee which cost $200 more but I like Taylor's sound more.

The pick is just as good as those Fishmen best pickup.

It is like an OM style and a little smaller than Dreadnought.

The overall all quality is good, it is a solid top one ,and the finishing is tight.
Properly bookmatched top as weel as bridge, just as usual as the other Taylors.

The only complain is it seems the finishing is not long-lasting.

I don't know, no opinion there.

I have played guitar for around 10 years.

I will sure buy it again if I lost it on any reason, since no one come close below US$2000.

I love it.

I'm not experienced enough to comment on the features. I used to play over 20 years ago and was somewhat decent, but got back into it now that my son is taking lessons. I wanted a quality guitar with at least a solid top, and this one happens to be all solid wood, which I've been told, and have read will only improve the sound as it ages. It has a passive electronic pick-up(?), but I don't plan on being plugged up any time soon. I got this because they didn't have a pure acoustic in stock and gave me this one for $30 more than I would have paid for a regular 214. The neck is slimmer than the other guitars I tried and feels extremely comfortable. It came with a custom hard case that fits the guitar like a glove making it look like someone much better than I should be carrying it around.

This is the primary reason I bought the guitar. I had a Little Martin to trade in, and had fully intended to buy another Martin, and hadn't really considered another guitar until I started doing all this Internet research and started reading all the reviews. By the way, my budget was to stay under 1K. I had been visiting all the local guitar/music shops for over a month primarily comparing Martin and Seagul, then in the last week or so gave Taylor and Larivee a try. Compared to the Martin and Seagul, the Taylor and Larivee sounded much livelier in my opinion. The Martin and Seagul seemed a little darker, which is fine for some and the sound I thought I wanted until I played the Taylor and Larivee. The Taylor had a ring or sound I can't explain, but love, and the Larivee got pretty close and actually had a more pronounced base that wasn't as boomy as the Martin. The balance and clarity of the Taylor just kept me coming back to play it more and more. I truly love the way this guitar sounds and feel that I made a very wise investment that will continue to reward me as I improve.

The action is the other reason I decided on this guitar. The neck is so easy to play compared to the other guitars I tried. My hand feels very comfortable and doesn't get tired or cramped playing like it would 20 years ago. The size of the guitar is also very comfortable. As far as I can see, everything looks tight and straight. Taylor happens to be conducting a clinic at the store I bought it from later this month, so I'll have them double check everything since my eye is untrained compare to theirs. They're also going to restring it for free as part of the clinic. Plugged it up once to my son's electric amp just to see if the pickup worked, and it does. Can't really comment on the quality of the sound from my son's little Pevey amp.

Like I said, everything looks straight and tight. If anything should happen I'll send it to Taylor. The finish does seem a little delicate, but I don't like that glossy look anyway. I think it mutes the sound a little, and I bought the guitar for sound, not everlasting beauty. I would hope that any wear patterns would be reflective of my improved playing, and so long as it doesn't affect the sound...I could care less. Wear patterns add character. I'd rather have SRV's or Willie Nelson's worn out guitars than any new one I could buy.

Heard nothing but great things about Taylor,and hope I never have to use them. Even called them prior to buying the guitar because I noticed that the 100 and 200 series guitars were not included on the warranty info on their website. The rep couldn't believe it and double checked the website too. Said it must have been an oversight that they didn't update the warranty info, and that the 100/200 series are relatively new lines. He and the store rep assured me that Taylor stands behind all thier products and apologized for the oversight. The warranty is a limited lifetime warranty.

I played about 7 years and was just getting to where I could play by ear before selling my guitar for beer money in my fraternity days nearly 20 years ago. Things are coming back quickly and I'm loving it more each day, especially when I play along with my son. We're working on different things and have different taste, but it's still nice to play together. I also own a Fender Lite Ash Strat, but hardly play it because I love the acoustic so much. All the guitars my son and I own have been purchased since Xmas '05 (Little Martin(traded-in),my Fender and Taylor, and he has an Epiphone SG that I bought to get him started, and just purchased a Faded series Gibson Les Paul for him when I bought the Taylor for his birthday. If it were lost I'd beat myself senseless for being so stupid, and if it were stolen I'd beat the misguided soul who stole it senseless...and then some. Money permitting I'd buy another one in a heartbeat to replace it. Favorite thing is the sound and comfort of playing it. It definately lifts my spirits and makes me want to improve so I can justify carrying around such a beautiful sounding and looking instrument.