Among Taylor’s product development team, there was no shortage of ideas around special guitar designs that would appropriately commemorate the company’s 50th year in business. In the end, we chose to celebrate the breadth of musical and aesthetic tastes of Taylor owners over the years and the diversity of the Taylor guitar line.
We’re thrilled to begin a year-long rollout of limited-edition guitars that were designed as a curated collection spanning the Taylor line. Some were inspired by player-favorite models over the years. Others are beautiful instruments that showcase fine tonewoods and exacting craftsmanship. Throughout the year, we plan to release 50th anniversary commemorative guitars that range from the GS Mini to the Presentation Series.
In honor of our golden anniversary, all the guitars in this collection will share the common design theme of gold tuners and ebony bridge pins featuring gold acrylic dots, along with a commemorative 50th anniversary label inside the guitar.
As special as this collection is for us, it’s also a tribute to all the players who have made Taylor a part of their musical journey over the past half century. Whether you’re a longtime Taylor enthusiast or just discovering our guitars for the first time, thank you, and enjoy!
50th Anniversary Builder’s Edition 814ce LTD
Rosewood and redwood set the stage for a rich playing experience with this refined expression of Taylor’s flagship model.
Back/Sides: Indian Rosewood
Top: Sinker Rosewood
It would be downright criminal not to celebrate the quintessential Taylor model, the 814ce, with a special 50th anniversary edition. For starters, Taylor’s rosewood/spruce 800 Series is an integral part of our history, tracing back to 1975. Fast-forward to 1994, when Bob Taylor introduced his Grand Auditorium (GA) body style to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary, including a limited-edition rosewood/spruce XX-RS model. The GA shape found the sweet spot between the flatpicking-friendly Dreadnought and fingerstyle-focused Grand Concert, offering expanded musical versatility. It quickly grew in popularity to become Taylor’s flagship body style. And once the 814ce joined the 800 Series, featuring a cutaway and onboard electronics, the model came to embody the modern steel-string acoustic experience and became an indispensable tool for studio musicians and stage performers far and wide. Not to mention a consistent top-seller among recreational players.
With its iconic Taylor heritage, the 800 Series also became a focal point of Taylor’s 40th anniversary in 2014 — a proverbial torch passed from Bob Taylor to Andy Powers signifying his role as Taylor’s next-generation guitar designer. Andy embraced Taylor’s philosophy of continuous design improvement, giving the series a comprehensive overhaul that once again raised the bar on playability and tone.
And just last year, Andy gave the 814ce his Builder’s Edition treatment — in fact, delivering two versions, including a luxurious Blacktop edition.
For our 50th Anniversary rendition, Andy has crafted another Builder’s Edition beauty, this time pairing Indian rosewood back and sides with a sinker redwood top. The redwood, taken from logs reclaimed from the rivers of northern California, responds with remarkable touch sensitivity, warmth and projection. Together with rosewood’s rich lows and sparkling highs and voiced with our V-Class bracing, the tone is wonderfully complex with expressive dynamic range.
The guitar’s sonic virtues are matched by a suite of comfort-enhancing playing features that define the Builder’s Edition experience — in this case a beveled mahogany armrest, a beveled cutaway, chamfered, unbound body edges and a contoured Curve Wing bridge. Elegant appointments give the guitar a distinctive aesthetic personality: a green abalone rosette framed with rosewood and maple/black purfling, a rosewood-bound soundhole, rosewood/maple/black top edge trim, and an Indian rosewood pickguard that complements the warm reddish-brown color of the top. The fretboard and peghead are outlined with thin maple purfling lines and decked out with Element inlays in gold-hued mother-of-pearl.
Other premium elements include Gotoh 510 antique gold tuning machines, Kona edgeburst back and sides accented with subtly contrasting maple purfling, and a gloss finish that wraps the body in a luxurious luster, highlighting its beautifully sculpted contours. The guitar comes with onboard ES2 electronics and ships in a Taylor deluxe hardshell case.
50th Anniversary 314ce LTD
A best-selling model that introduced many players to the all-solid-wood Taylor experience enjoys an aesthetic upgrade.
Back/Sides: Sapele
Top: Torrefied Sitka Spruce
African sapele and the 300 Series first joined the Taylor line together as a new wood/series pairing back in 1998. At the time, sapele was widely associated with mahogany (and often referred to as African mahogany) due to its resemblance in look and sound. Together, the sapele/spruce 300 Series became the gateway to the all-solid-wood Taylor acoustic experience, dressed in clean appointments that helped make the series the most attractively-priced solid-wood models Taylor offered for many years. And due to the appeal of our Grand Auditorium body style, the 314ce became, and has remained, a Taylor best-seller.
After 25 years of loyal service to recreational and working guitar players, we’ve decided to renew our vows. The 50th Anniversary 314ce LTD showcases premium enhancements, starting with a torrefied Sitka spruce top, specially roasted for a warm, played-in sound that’s also more responsive, with added performance stability. Our roasting recipe for the top slightly darkens the Sitka soundboard, and we’ve enhanced that vintage character with an artfully sprayed shaded edgeburst around the body and neck. A firestripe faux-tortoiseshell pickguard adds another eye-catching visual touch to the top.
Other featured appointments include a three-ring rosette with contrasting black and white purfling, black body binding, Gemstone fretboard/peghead inlays in Italian acrylic, and a rich full-gloss body.
Sonically, between the torrefied top and our V-Class voicing architecture, this Grand Auditorium will delight players with its range-roving musical versatility, serving up signature Taylor balance and clarity with pleasing warmth, projection and sustain. And the trademark playability of our neck promises to pull players in from the first strum. Onboard ES2 electronics and a Taylor deluxe hardshell case round out the offering. It all adds up to a beautifully crafted instrument that will deliver years of inspiring musical pursuits.
50th Anniversary AD14ce-SB LTD
Our first spruce-topped cutaway Grand Auditorium joins the American Dream Series.
Back/Sides: Walnut
Top: Sitka Spruce
An American Dream model is apt for inclusion in our 50th Anniversary collection. The series name references the guitar-making shop where Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug first met in 1973 and purchased a year later to launch Taylor Guitars. In 2020, the American Dream name was revived to launch a new guitar series in response to the pandemic. The development period (during a factory shutdown) channeled the resilient spirit of Taylor’s earliest years and the desire to meet the unique needs of players during an uncertain time, offering a high-quality all-purpose guitar featuring solid-wood construction designed without a lot of frills to make it more affordable to a wide swath of players.
For this anniversary model, the AD14ce-SB LTD, master builder Andy Powers chose our popular cutaway Grand Auditorium body style. The guitar features a solid Sitka spruce top paired with walnut, a tonewood that traces back to some of Bob Taylor’s earliest guitars. A hand-sprayed tobacco sunburst top and firestripe pickguard give the guitar rootsy, neo-vintage appeal. Like other American Dream models, it features chamfered body edges for extra playing comfort, a thin matte finish on the body to optimize the acoustic resonance, and clean Italian acrylic dot inlays. Sonically, the walnut and spruce pairing serves up a versatile acoustic palette with a pronounced midrange presence and balanced warmth. Together with the versatile Grand Auditorium body and V-Class voicing architecture, it’s a guitar that’s well-suited for a wide range of musical genres and playing styles. Equipped with onboard ES2 electronics, it ships in a super-durable AeroCase.
Sonically, the walnut and spruce pairing serves up a versatile acoustic palette with a pronounced midrange presence and balanced warmth. Together with the versatile Grand Auditorium body and V-Class voicing architecture, it’s a guitar that’s well-suited for a wide range of musical genres and playing styles. Equipped with onboard ES2 electronics, it ships in a super-durable AeroCase.
What started as a side project by Bob Taylor and a few other tone-and gear-obsessed Taylor guitar nerds grew into Circa 74, a two-channel acoustic/vocal amp that combines warm sound, simple controls and elegant woodworking craftsmanship.50th Anniversary Presentation Series LTDs
Three glorious tonewood pairings and our most ornate inlay craftsmanship elevate these commemorative guitars to the level of musical fine art.
50th Anniversary PS24ce LTD
Back/Sides: Master-grade Koa
Top: Master-grade Koa
Paired with Koa Circa 74 amp (U.S. only)
50th Anniversary PS14ce LTD
Back/Sides: Figured Walnut
Top: Western Red Cedar
Paired with Walnut Circa 74 amp (U.S. only)
50th Anniversary PS14ce LTD
Back/Sides: Figured Urban Ironbark
Top: Striped Sinker Redwood
Given the special milestone of our 50th year, our anniversary collection warranted something truly exceptional. Bob, Kurt and Andy agreed that Taylor’s luxurious, top-of-the-line Presentation Series was the deserving design ethos. First launched as a series in 1996, our Presentation models have always showcased our finest tonewoods, ultra-premium appointments, and elaborate inlay craftsmanship.
Through the years, the featured tonewoods of the series have rotated to reflect what we’ve had available in sufficient grade and quantity in our wood reserves, ranging from Brazilian rosewood to highly figured koa or maple to gorgeous cocobolo, often paired with our finest sets of spruce.
For similar reasons, we’re offering these anniversary Presentation models in several different wood pairings (in limited quantities), each uniquely beautiful and all featuring our Grand Auditorium body style. The first is an all-koa edition featuring densely figured master-grade Hawaiian koa. Next, we have figured walnut from Bob Taylor’s personal tonewood collection, paired with gorgeous Western Red cedar. Lastly, sets of magnificent figured Urban Ironbark are paired with richly striped sinker redwood.
In a nod to the original Presentation Series, each guitar will showcase the Byzantine inlay suite (fretboard, peghead and bridge) that was featured on those models, in green abalone. The visual complexity is reminiscent of classically ornate banjo inlays. Bob Taylor recalls collaborating with Taylor designer Larry Breedlove to create the inlay in the mid-’90s.
“We wanted a vine like old-school guitars and banjos, but we didn’t want flowers or acanthus leaves,” he says. “We wanted something a little more architectural.”
All three PS models feature paua shell edge trim around the top, back, sides, neck and peghead; ebony armrest and binding (including soundhole); Gotoh luxury gold tuning machines; a paua rosette; a rich gloss-finish body; an ebony backstrap; and no pickguard. Both the walnut/cedar and ironbark/redwood models feature an elegant shaded edgeburst body and neck, while the koa model incorporates a natural finish.
