Taylor 214ce Grand Auditorium (Cutaway, Electronics, Natural) Reviews

4.6/5.0 based on 12 customer reviews

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Customer Reviews

Bobby Elliott
from Erin TN
March 12, 2013Music Background:
Musician, Engineer, Live Sound, Studio Musician

AWESOME

I have played a lot of different guitars , but this Taylor has blown me away! The tone and action are perfect! It's not for heavy strumming though, if you want to strum the hell out of it then don't get this one, it's more for light strumming and finger picking!

Norman Chambers
from Albany, NY
July 9, 2012Music Background:
Musician, Songwriter

Great Guitar

I have just purchased the best instrument I own. I have been sitting on the fence for 8 months. I made the best investment in recent memory!!! The clarity of each note, tone and most importantly the ease of which the guitar plays. I tried Martin, Gibson and many others. This was my choice. It feels like your playing some of the much more expensive models. You will not be disappointed!!!!

Jim Myers
from Escanaba Michigan USA
May 19, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist, classic rock, country,blues

love this guitar

Right from the very first strum I was impressed with crispness and clarity of the sound from this guitar. I also own a Martin Custom, but the Taylor is in class of it"s own. An absolutely great guitar!

Bruce Allen
from Dover, Delaware
March 13, 2009Music Background:
Amateur musician, rock and contemporary christian music

Best in class

In my opinion, the best acoustic guitar for under $1,000. I tried similar guitars from Guild, Martin, and Yamaha and I always came back to the Taylor. The string to string balance of the Taylor is what sets it apart from the competition. Highly recommended. Ordered it from Sweetwater. Unlike other "big" internet music retailers, they do a full 55 point inspection before it goes out the door so you know your getting a quality product when it arrives.

bry
from Colorado Springs
June 11, 2008Music Background:
contemporary christian, worship leader

Never thought it could sound this good

I just got me 214ce and I am blown away by the sound this guitar puts out. You can hear every note cut through on every chord you play. I had the 114ce for a while but this guitar is much bettter. It feels more solid and has a more full sound than the 114ce. This is a great way to get the taylor you've always wanted but not spend your whole paycheck. I've had three guitars delivered to me from Sweetwater and none of them had any issues. They really take care of you.

from New York City
December 21, 2012Music Background:
musician

excellent craftmanship, excellent sound.

The guitar itself sounds beautiful. It's very bright, which is consistent with the research I found before purchasing the guitar. I was able to play one before buying it and couldn't believe how easy it was to play. I actually sound like a better guitarist with this guitar. The neck is perfectly smooth, and the playability lives up to the taylor brand.

Because the guitar has such a bright sound, the high end is accentuated when it's plugged in and you're using the pickups, so I run it through an EQ pedal for live performances to make it less harsh. That really fixes everything for me.

I've recorded with it quite a bit already through a mic, not direct-in, and it sounds beautiful. ZERO regrets on this purchase.

CoreyLeon
from Barbados
May 21, 2012Music Background:
Recording Artist

Simply Amazing

This guitar is worth every cent spent. The guitar is beautiful to look at, its weight distribution is perfect, the width of the neck isn't very big and the tone is beautiful unplugged and amazing when plugged in. I use mine with an acoustic monster cable and a Roland AC-60 rosewood acoustic amp.

Mine came with what i believe were medium gauged strings and that made playing it quite uncomfortable to the fingers. I changed the strings to elixir nano web light (0.12) and that solved the problem. I did get some fret buzz after so i had to adjust the truss rod which was quite easy.

The hard bag it comes in is quite durable and really protects the guitar.

I would recommend this guitar and for the price you are surely getting a deal

Natan Abdala
from Orlando,FL
January 5, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician, mixing engineer

Nice and Decent

I've had the privilege to play some awesome instruments, really expensive ones and really cheap ones, this guitar, which I own, is a very nice and sweet sounding guitar, I've also played the other more expensive series, which in my opinion, does sound somehow better, for what I understand it's a tiny bit pricey, but again you are getting a really quality guitar, in other words, if you have some more money to spend, go for the 414 series, but if not, don't feel bad, you are getting a really NICE and beautiful guitar, ohh! and one more thing, it is a TAYLOR! :)

Bob
from Melbourne FL
December 24, 2009Music Background:
Worship Team

Best Guitar under $1000

I almost bought this guitar, but afer a week of playing both the 214ce and the 314ce, I opted to go with the 314ce... but it was a very close call. I love the sound of the 214ce and the value. The main reason I dished out the extra $600 for the 314ce is it had a more solid feel and slightly better response (i.e. tone / action) to my style of play. I also preferred the 314ce's Expression electronics, but the 214ce's ES-T electronics still sound great! Note: I also tried 414ce and above, but to me, not much sound difference compared to 314ce (only visual differences).

Paul
from Salem, MA USA
January 26, 2013Music Background:
Hobbyist, Sometimes Church Worship Leader/Musician

Easy to play and well balanced

Tried a lot of guitars $600-1000 and considered buying a Takamine or a Yamaha in the same price range and wasn't thinking of Taylor, but this one sang to me in a way the others didn't and it won me over. Neck has a smooth comfortable feel, narrower than some guitars and suits my hands. Some say it is harsh plugged in but, while it is very "sparkly" in or out (due to the body shape), the treble dials back nicely with the onboard controls and sounded extremely natural through a Fishman Loudbox. For me, this guitar was more comfortable to play than a higher-priced Taylor such as the 414ce that had a wider but thinner feeling neck, was a little brighter in sound and not as warm or bassy as the more expensive models but the price difference was ridiculous and not worth it. Compared it to a 114ce which was louder, more compressed (tolerated hard strumming well) and had more mids (hard to sing through a 114's tone and volume). Yes, it is laminate back and sides, but will withstand dry conditions better, which I am thankful for now that I have a hygrometer to tell me my house is 20% RH in Winter! It can get harsh with hard strumming but it is very sweet with medium strumming and is even and balanced with fingerpicking, where the sparkly tone is quite pleasant. Great sustain! strings make bends and pull offs easy, which are Elixir Bronze 12's. The CE shape is very comfortable in the lap and lightweight, yet does not feel flimsy or cheap. Simple understated look - again, the price difference does not justify a more flashy guitar for a nonprofessional like myself. Battery is easy to change but only with Duracells, some cheaper 9V's are slightly too thick and will get stuck in the plastic holder, then good luck getting it out! Now, on to review Sweetwater, which offers amazing customer service and value! When I got this guitar (took 3 days to ship FedEx to Massachusetts), it had bad buzzy high E and low E strings despite adjusting truss rod, the saddle seemed too low and two strings broke immediately at the pegs when I lowered their tunings a step. I emailed Tim Harrington who responded immediately and I sent back the guitar, FREE shipping, and they fixed it and got it back to me in about ten days. The free two year warranty paid off as they probably did $100+ worth of work replacing the saddle, leveling the frets, changed the strings, adjusted the action and cleaned it up for me - and they told me exactly what they did with prompt emails and were easy to reach with questions and concerns. When I got it back today, I must say it stayed in tune, plays amazing and I cannot put it down! At first I was perturbed by going through all this but research proved that these things can happen with even a high-end new guitar, but good luck getting your average big box store to do anything about it just because you bought it there! Plays so smoothly and you could not tell it was worked on. Plugged it in and it is more balanced in tone than it was the first time, probably due to the guitar having proper action now. It just sounds right, with more bass response plugged in. I can feel the body hum in my lap. I can't wait for the top to age. I plug into a Fender Superchamp at home which emulates a Fender Acoustasonic and this guitar is noiseless - no hiss or feedback or other issues. In my honest opinion, I really like the under-saddle pickup on this and favor it over the higher-end Taylor expression system in their solid-wood guitars. But, no matter what you read, you gotta play it for yourself to know if this is the guitar for you. I will, without reservation, recommend Sweetwater as they stand by their products and put the customer experience and satisfaction first, truly!

Mick Luehrman
from Kansas City, Missouri
November 8, 2012Music Background:
pro-musician, singer-songwriter

Good acoustic electric

Bought this model a year ago. Plays like a dream. Action very fast. Precision of the neck allows for action to be set low and not buzz. Ebony fingerboard is luscious--wonderfully silky smooth. It plays more like my electric than other acoustic guitars I have (Martin, Takamine, Alvarez). Great sounding finger style instrument. Not as good for "strumming" with a pick. Can be a bit harsh when plugged in (Fender Acoustasonic). I often end up rolling off almost all of the treble to reduce the harshness when strumming with a pick. I use a 31 band graphic eq and that helps a lot also. I do kind of wish I had stepped up to a higher end model to get the full Taylor Expression system. Thinking it might be less treble-y. On the other hand, I think this treble characteristic is probably part of what makes it sound so good as a finger style guitar. My first Taylor and I must say the craftsmanship on my 214ce is excellent. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the instrument

Jimmy
from El Segundo
October 19, 2012Music Background:
Lifetime musician, gigging regularly.

Beautiful unplugged but not so nice plugged in

I am primarily a solid body electric guitar player. That being said, I finally decided to spend some money on a *decent* acoustic guitar. I got the sunburst model which is what first caught my eye. Then, the playability and the unplugged sound won me over after trying several other guitars. I bought an acoustic guitar to play *acoustic* guitar - I already do plenty of electric otherwise but I also liked the option of being able to plug in and this is where the 5th star falls off with my review. I tried going straight in to three different P.A. systems as well as with a Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum preamp in the signal chain. I was hard pressed to find a sound that really satisfied my ears, no matter how much tweaking I did on the guitar, the P.A. or the preamp. I've read reviews where people have said it sounds "tinny", amongst other things. This is true to an extent but that is not my main gripe. There was such a disparity in volume levels between the strings that it was almost unusable plugged in. The low E was a little louder, the G was buried in the mix(you could barely hear it while soloing) and the high E was super harsh and over powering compared to the rest. I ended up taking the guitar to an authorized shop, covered under warranty, with the idea that the saddle maybe wasn't seated properly, the pickup was not balanced or both. I explained the issue and they ended up putting in a bone saddle. I just got the guitar back and have not heard it yet so I'm anxious to see if this solves the problem as the guy at the shop said it has. In summary, this is a nice guitar. It has great action, feels good in my hands and sounds fantastic unplugged but keep in mind that if you are buying this guitar for it's electric capability there is a chance you will be disappointed and be prepared to make modifications as it may not be to your liking right out of the box.