Taylor 517 Grand Pacific Builder's Edition V-Class - Natural Reviews
With its unique round-shoulder dreadnought silhouette, revolutionary V-Class Bracing, and dramatically different tonal personality, Taylor's 517 Grand Pacific Builder's Edition blazes new ground for Taylor. Featuring premium all-solid tonewoods — neo-tropical mahogany for the back and sides and a torrefied Sitka spruce top — this alluring acoustic guitar delivers a seductively bold and versatile tonal profile. As your eyes drink in this instrument's understated elegance, your hands savor its flawless playability while your ears revel in its warm, rich, organic tone. The 517 Grand Pacific Builder's Edition is a feast for the senses.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Excellent Bluegrass Machine
I played D-28s, HD-28s, Blueridge BR-140s, etc. all in search of a new dreadnought to torch bluegrass classics with. The 517 has proven to best them all in tone and playability (and, unlike most Martin boxes, arrived with a usable setup).
The Grand Pacific also stands apart as a gigging/recording instrument-- the V class bracing deadens the "poof" you get when plucking most dreadnoughts without sacrificing on volume or low-end sustain, making it far easier to mic up than my Martin D-15M. All in all, an excellent instrument.
Add in that Taylor is transitioning to being an employee-owned business and it's an easy choice.
Gorgeous New Taylor Acoustic...
So, I've been in the market for a Mahogany back & sides / Spruce top, Dreadnaught-styled guitar, for a few months now, and it came down to three choices / options: this Taylor 517 Grand Pacific Builder's Edition V-Class - Natural, being one of them. The other two being: a brand new, standard, current production, Martin D-18, and believe it or not, a Collings D1HT (with a Torrefied / baked / cooked Sitka Spruce Top (same exact process as the Taylor 517 and 717). Believe it or not, while the Martin and Collings had a bit more boom and lower-end bass going on, the Taylor 517 Grand Pacific Builder's Edition V-Class has a lot more of an elegant, original, unique, aesthetically pleasing, innovative, harmonious, very well-balanced & rounded, versatility, with sweet highs, subtle mids, and still, low lows, but not like Rosewood lows, hence Mahogany, going for it. Plus, the Collings was scary expensive, with very few upgrades, inlays, perks, incentives, or even customer service. I am not suggesting that this Taylor is BETTER than a Collings, but I am suggesting that it's certainly a better match / choice / fit for my needs, and for what I was looking for in a high-quality, made in the USA, acoustic guitar, which will be used primarily for songwriting, recording, and inspiration. A beautiful, patterned, plush, hard shell case also comes with the Taylor 517 (Mahogany) and 717 (Rosewood) models. And as always, nothing but the absolute finest, A+, customer service and support by Sweetwater. Thanks again, Jon and Dave.
So happy I got it!
Got this a few months ago and honestly I couldnt be happier. Tone, wood, all that is great as you can see in the specs, but just the way that it feels and sounds and the way your body forms around it, it cant be explained. Again, only had it for a few months but Im already more attached to it than any other guitar I have.
My 2nd Taylor, is one of my favorites
My first was one I purchased at a bix box store in Miami, in 1997, it was a '96 714. I didn't play it much and sold it 21 years later. Fast forward to my Youtube watching in 2019, and Taylor introduces their x17 models. Sloped shoulder, longer scale length, new bracing, first Taylor guitar designed around the new bracing, and a new sound for this "modern" guitar company. It just arrived today - so my impressions are very recent.
I'll admit, they have a winner. It doesn't sound like a Gibson, it sounds like a Taylor but a smidge darker, a little more even in the midrange, maybe a little rolled off the top end, with the bottom kept in check. I don't record but this guitar would likely excel in the studio.
After having more than a few Gibsons come through my shop, it is a real pleasure to see the attention to detail and overall build quality of this instrument. It arrived from IN to GA, and was in tune. I mean, what guitar arrives in tune?
It has a sound all it's own, and it's fantastic. Fun and inspiring to play and I may just try to play this in public, for other people to enjoy too!
1st Impressions of my 517
Well I've had this new Grand pacific model now for a couple of weeks, The guitar needed very little set-up work to fit my playing style and it arrived quickly, and in prefect condition, which is typical for Sweetwater.
The guitar has a wonderful projection and clear tones, I'm attempting to get used to the satin finish which is slippery to me for some reason this is my only real issue with this new instrument, every thing else is very nice. I'm quite impressed with these new Taylor's. This is my second with the new bracing, the other guitar is a 514ce, and that guitar is awesome for finger style.
Congrats to Taylor for making these wonderful guitars and to Sweetwater for being a great place to purchase them.
