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Taylor 618e Acoustic-Electric Guitar - Antique Blonde

6-string Acoustic-electric Guitar with Sitka Spruce Top, Figured Maple Back and Sides, Maple Neck, and Ebony Fingerboard - Antique Blonde
3 Write review Item ID: 618eAB
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Taylor 618e Acoustic-Electric Guitar - Antique Blonde
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Grand Orchestra with Maple Back and Sides

The massive tone of maple meets a spruce top with the Taylor 618e Grand Orchestra acoustic-electric guitar. Taylor's Grand Orchestra body shape, Taylor's largest, boasts Taylor's boldest, richest voice yet, one that blends low-end power with surprising balance. The solid Sitka spruce top, Big Leaf maple back, and maple sides create a clean tone that really projects. And Taylor's ES2 electronics give you authentic acoustic tone any time you need to plug in. The Taylor 618e Grand Orchestra has a robust output, dynamic range and sensitive response for all types of players.

Related Videos: 618e Acoustic-Electric Guitar - Antique Blonde

Choice tonewoods — Sitka spruce meets Maple

The 618e Grand Orchestra, is a prime example of the high-quality tonewoods Taylor selects for their guitars. It features solid Sitka spruce as its top, which gives you wonderful projection with the perfect amount of sparkle, and the Taylor 618e's Big Leaf maple back and sides give it an extra bright and snappy tone. This guitar also features bracing that gives you better tone, response, and sustain. Take it from guitarists at Sweetwater — the Taylor 618e will give you s lifetime of great performance.

Taylor Expression System 2 electronics deliver superior sound onstage

If you play plugged in, then you're going to love the Taylor Expression System 2 (ES2) electronics built into your 618e acoustic-electric guitar. The key to this fantastic system is the 3-section proprietary pickup located behind the saddle. Because of where it's positioned and how it's integrated into the Taylor 618e's saddle, the ES2 pickup provides you with remarkably clear and accurate sound. In addition to a master volume control, a pair of tone controls let you tweak your highs and lows to get the sound you need, and a discreet phase switch offers vital onboard feedback suppression.

Taylor 618e Grand Orchestra Acoustic-electric Guitar Features:

  • Grand Orchestra body shape has a bold, rich voice
  • Solid Sitka spruce top with Big Leaf maple back and maple sides offer big tone and powerful projection
  • 600 series advanced performance bracing offers better vibration transfer and tone
  • Onboard Taylor Expression System 2 electronics give you natural sound even when plugged in live
  • Loud performance and uniformly responsive lows and highs

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

Additional Media

Acoustic Guitar Buying Guide

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Tech Specs

  • String Type: Steel
  • Number of Strings: 6
  • Left-/Right-handed: Right-handed
  • Body Shape: Grand Orchestra
  • Back & Sides Wood: Figured Maple
  • Top Wood: Sitka Spruce
  • Finish: Gloss
  • Color: Antique Blonde
  • Body Bracing: V-Class
  • Binding: Maple/Koa
  • Neck Wood: Maple
  • Fingerboard Material: West African Ebony
  • Fingerboard Inlay: Mother-of-Pearl/Ivoroid Mission Pattern
  • Number of Frets: 20
  • Scale Length: 25.5"
  • Nut Width: 1.75"
  • Nut/Saddle Material: Black Graphite/Micarta
  • Bridge Material: Ebony
  • Tuning Machines: Taylor Nickel
  • Electronics: ES-2
  • Strings: D'Addario XS Phosphor Bronze, .013-.056
  • Case Included: Hardshell Case
  • Manufacturer Part Number: A603023011000060262

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Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5

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Awesome Quality Instrument!

A work of art! Playing guitar for 45 years. I am a Martin guy. I own a beautiful D-28 that I was finally able to obtain last year after wanting one most of my life. I played this 618e shortly after buying the D-28. I was hooked! The Martin's are known for being cannons as everyone knows. This guitar has an incredible feel to it. Fingerings are extremely easy! I love the silky tone too! I am very blessed! You will be too! Buy it!! You will love it!! TJ was awesome as always to work with! Great sales engineer! Look him up. A+++++
by Bill Engle on
Music background: 45 years of playing guitar and bass. Praise and Worship Leader.

Amazing

I just got mine. This is the nicest looking and sounding guitar I've ever held in my hands. The pictures do not do it justice. The case that comes with it is amazing on its own.
Well done and Sweetwaters customer service is unmatched.
by Randy Nicholson from Lebanon Oregon on
Music background: 2011 Texaco country showdown winner

Wow. Just... wow.

The short version: This is an absolutely stunning instrument. I paid for a setup for my preferred gauge of strings, and so a near perfect guitar became perfect for me. The big leaf maple makes it absolutely sparkle. Think acoustic guitar equivalent of a grand piano. Fans of rosewood might be better advised to try this guitar's close relative, the Taylor 818e, but if you are a fan of maple as a tone wood, then this instrument straight cannot be improved upon, for any amount of money. The V-Class bracing system produces a tone, sustain, intonation, sustain, and dynamic range that exceeds any guitar I have ever played. Highly recommend. I wish I could rate it six stars, it's that good.

The long version: Ask any luthier why they use traditional style X-bracing for the guitar's top, the answer you will get will likely be some version of, "Because it's always been done that way". It's true, too. A traditional X-brace with a pair of lower bout tone braces and an upper bout transverse brace is a design that dates back hundreds of years. It's so old nobody knows who invented it. Martin does it this way, Gibson does it this way. The thing is, just because something is traditional does not mean that it's optimal.
Master builder Andy Powers decided to examine how a guitar top vibrates using a very high speed camera- and the conclusion that he came to is that traditional bracing, which is asymmetrical, sort of divides the soundboard into four soundboards, due to the location of that X-brace. Each one kind of vibrates independently of the others, and so the overall effect was that the guitar top vibrates in a "very disorderly way" (Andy's words). This chaotic vibration lowers volume, projection, dynamic range, reduces sustain, and tends to cause harmonic overtones to compete in a way that results in intonation problems.
So he redesigned the bracing from scratch with this in mind. Tone braces and the transverse brace were entirely eliminated. Instead of an X-brace, he uses a V shaped brace that starts at either side of the strap button, goes through the bridge plate, along both sides of the sound hole, and stops just short of the shoulders of the upper bout. This design allows the top to vibrate more as a single unit- for the first time, there was a design that allows the soundboard to get out of it's own way. Because it does not set up a system where individual parts of the top are competing against one another, all of the intonation issues in the harmonic overtones just go away. It's also a lighter bracing system- which makes sense, because we can cut bracing that is near perfectly flat in the modern world, and glue technologies have advanced significantly since the X-bracing design was invented. Ever experience a barre chord high up on the neck that, while not quite out of tune, was not quite in tune either? That's your bracing system behind your soundboard pulling your intonation out in the higher frequencies- and it cannot be fixed, because it's a design flaw. It has nothing to do with tuning or string length.
The effect this new bracing design has on overall guitar quality was is so superior to traditional designs that Bob Taylor made Master Builder Andy Powers the third partner and co-owner of Taylor Guitars- and that is a serious testament to incredible advancement that the V-Class bracing system represents. It increases volume and projection, and it makes for perfect intonation no matter what chord position you choose. For me, the most stunning part was how responsive this guitar is to a light touch- any playing style will work with this instrument. Anyone who knows about guitar bodies will tell you that a grand orchestra style (jumbo) body is great for strumming heavily, but not so good for fingerstyle and light touch playing styles- and that is simply not true with this guitar. I strongly suggest that anyone in the market for a new instrument take the time to compare a traditionally braced acoustic guitar to a Taylor with V-Class bracing side by side, because the difference is obvious, and quite jaw-dropping. Sustain for days. Truly, this is one of the most superior acoustic guitars that money can buy, no matter how deep your pockets may be.
by Robert Scott from Virginia on
Music background: Guitar player for 40 years

As one of the nation's top Taylor Guitars dealers, Sweetwater receives regular on-site training from Bob, Andy, and the rest of the Taylor crew. We're also, many of us, Taylor players ourselves, and we're happy to steer you in the right direction once you're ready to make the leap. New to Taylor? Our Find Your Fit guide simplifies Taylor body shapes, woods, and series. Longtime player? Our Taylor Custom Shop, annual limited editions, and in-house mods offer a level of exclusivity you won't find in stores. Whatever your pleasure, Sweetwater's climate-controlled warehouse and 55-point Inspection ensure your Taylor guitar arrives ready to play just as the manufacturer intended.

See also: 6-String Guitars, Taylor, Taylor Acoustic / Electric Guitars, Taylor 6-string Acoustic Guitars
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