Taylor 314ce Studio Acoustic-electric Guitar - Tobacco Stain with Shaded Edgeburst
Taylor 314ce Studio Acoustic-electric Guitar - Tobacco Stain with Shaded Edgeburst Reviews
The Taylor 314ce Studio is a solid Grand Auditorium with excellent top-end response and a natural, direct tone. The 314ce Studio’s sapele back and sides have a warm, full body with a bell-like sparkle and broad dynamic range thanks to a torrefied Sitka spruce top. You also get Taylor’s revolutionary V-Class bracing, which boosts volume evenly across the tonal spectrum, increases sustain, and improves the natural intonation of the instrument by creating a more synergistic response from the soundboard. The 314ce Studio’s ES2 electronics provide convenient and natural-sounding amplification for the stage and studio with discrete Tone, Volume, and Phase controls to help you shape your sound. And with looks this good, you’ll be turning heads everywhere you play!
Plays and looks as expected
I received the guitar in perfect condition and it played very nicely out of the box. The guitar lives up to the Taylor name.
Gorgeous Looks and Great Playability Can't Make Up for Flat and Treble Heavy Sound
For several months, I had my eye on this particular Taylor model. When I found one that had a finish that I absolutely loved and was on discount as an open box item, I finally pulled the trigger on making the purchase. Upon arrival, the guitar was fun to play immediately, although it was clearly not set up very well (the action was VERY high). I went to make an adjustment to the truss rod and discovered it requires a deep or thin-walled 1/4 socket wrench to manipulate, instead of the standard Allen wrench that is on most guitars. No big; I bought the proper tool and put the action where I liked it.
Unplugged, the guitar sounded quite nice and played like a breeze. Running it through my PA system for gigs, however, was a different story entirely. Taylor describes this guitar's sound as warm and full-bodied (which is what I like; it's one of the reasons I was interested in this model), but plugged in it was anything but. It came through very muddy and with too much treble, creating a very "chimey" sound through the PA. I made countless EQ adjustments on the guitar itself, on my Boss EQ foot pedal, and on the PA system, but it still sounded very high pitched, flat, and much too crisp for my liking. I toggled the phase switch to reduce the boost (which helped a little) and even tried using a feedback cover over the hole, but it still sounded like a cheap toy. Additionally, whenever playing a solo the B and high E strings were MUCH quieter than the rest; you could barely hear them, which is ironic considering the guitar sounds like it has too much treble.
After 2 weeks of trying to get it to sound at least somewhat decent, I gave up and returned the guitar. As I'd mentioned, I got this as an open box item, and I suspect it may have been returned by someone else before me for these very same reasons. Maybe this was a one-off and the pickups one this guitar were not placed properly, but I am extremely disappointed with how this turned out. When paying nearly $ for an instrument, I expect much better, especially form a revered brand such as Taylor.
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