In 1994, Taylor unveiled the mid-sized Grand Auditorium body style. The Taylor 214ce Deluxe has since become their most popular and desirable shape, fitting nicely between the Dreadnought and Grand Concert guitar bodies. It was designed to take the best of both guitars, the fingerstyle playability of the Dreadnought and the flatpicking style of the Grand Concert, and meld the two. The result is a perfectly balanced and rounded tone that can project whether you are flatpicking, fingerpicking or strumming. The midrange tones are equally impressive, ringing clear no matter how hard the string is plucked.

The Grand Auditorium 214ce Black Deluxe has become a favorite among singer-songwriters for its proficiency on the stage and its clarity in the studio. The guitar sits very well with other instruments in a mix and has become the trusty travel companion of touring musicians due to its smaller shape.

If you’re looking for one guitar to cover a myriad of styles, the 214ce Black Deluxe is the way to go! As Taylor’s number one selling guitar shape, it is an instrument well-suited for even the most particular of players.

Maple Back and Sides

The Taylor 214ce Black Deluxe uses layered maple for its back and sides. The layered maple features an all-wood construction, with inner and outer layers of maple veneer, which are separated by a middle layer of poplar. Since solid wood guitars are known to produce a highly complex tonal quality, Taylor has constructed a way to utilize… read more layered woods to highly rival those solid-body sounds. By using this method, the company is able to conserve more expensive tone wood, and thus build affordable professional instruments at a more palatable price point. The combination of solid lutz top and legendary Taylor craftsmanship put the finishing touches on an instrument that will project and ring with clarity.

Expression System 2

Taylor’s latest advancement in acoustic guitar amplification is The Taylor Expression System® 2 (ES2). Its revolutionary, proprietary behind-the-saddle pickup (patent pending) boasts three strategically placed and calibrated pickup sensors. Because of the placement of the sensors, a much wider dynamic range of acoustic sounds can be attained. The Expression System® 2 (ES2) teams up with Taylor’s professional grade preamp to produce incredible amplified sounds with unparalleled responsiveness. The Taylor 214ce Black Deluxe transcends its pristine acoustic properties whether plugged into a PA system or when directly recording into your favorite DAW. Similar to the original Expression System, the ES2 features the same volume and tone knob configuration, but the preamp has now been fitted with a new gain structure running 25 percent hotter. The new preamp is more in-line with today’s desired setup for live performance and overall sound quality.

The Piezo Pickup 2.0

Piezo-electric transducers have been positioned under the saddle of a guitar for decades. The thought was that the vibration of the top and the strings cause an up-and-down “bouncing” of the saddle. However . . . David Hosler, lead tech on Taylor’s electronics team, discovered that the vertical movement actually is more restricted, causing the saddle to choke due to the pressure from picking. Hence the thin, tin-like sound that has become so characteristic of piezo-electric pickups. The harder the player picks, the more brash and brittle the string sounds. Taylor’s design team quickly recognized that the actual movement of the guitar’s saddle is similar to the back-and-forth motion of a pendulum.

Features

- Solid Lutz spruce top
- Layered Maple Back and Sides
- Taylor Expression System 2 Electronics
- Hard Rock Maple Neck with Ebony Fingerboard
- West African ebony fingerboard and bridge
- Deluxe Hardshell Case
- Grand Auditorium (GA): Body Length: 20" / Body Width: 16" / Body Depth: 4 5/8" read less