Taylor’s Gold Label Grand Pacific at Its Most Refined
The Taylor Gold Label 917e elevates the golden-era sound of the Gold Label lineup with the aesthetic grandeur of Taylor’s 900 series. As befitting an instrument informed by the legendary vintage guitars of the ’30s and ’40s, this acoustic-electric’s tonal foundation is built upon the king of all top woods: Adirondack spruce. This premium strain of spruce was the go-to choice for the greatest acoustic guitars of the vintage era for its unparalleled projection and crisp tonality, and Taylor even torrefied the top to deliver a responsive, broken-in timbre from your first strum. Combined with fanned V-Class bracing and Honduran rosewood for the back and sides, the Gold Label 917e is a cannon of a 6-string that performs with a robust low-end rumble, classic Taylor clarity, and an unabashedly old-school-inspired drawl. Next, a gleaming assortment of shell, mother-of-pearl, and paua inlays enwraps this Taylor from top to bottom, from the binding on the ebony fingerboard to the purfling, multi-ring rosette, and headstock. A fast-playing Standard Carve mahogany neck with Taylor’s Action Control Neck joint, Gotoh 510 tuning machines, and LR Baggs electronics round out the Taylor Gold Label 917e’s exquisite appearance with effortless playability and stage-ready performance.
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Gold Label collection’s latest addition
For much of Taylor’s half-century history, the brand has served as a beacon of 6-string progress. From their innovative advancements in bracing to their time-tested bolt-on neck joint, Bob Taylor, Andy Powers, and the rest of the Taylor crew lay claim to many of the most lauded acoustic enhancements since the prewar era of acoustic guitar building. However, what if Taylor were to turn back the clock to the 1930s and 1940s, incorporating elements of those trailblazing instruments with its own boundary-pushing approach to guitar building? That’s the philosophy behind Taylor’s Gold Label Collection, within which a deep-bodied version of its round-shouldered dreadnought — the Grand Pacific — adopts new fanned V-Class bracing and an Action Control Neck with a long-tenon neck joint.
The aforementioned traits are only the beginning of the Gold Label Collection’s golden-era appointments, as their distinct aesthetic personalities showcase a fresh new headstock shape, a reimagined Taylor logo, a Curve Wing bridge, and (of course) a golden label laid into the soundhole. The result is a stunning series of instruments that proudly borrows both sonically and visually from the age of prewar flat tops, mandolins, banjos, and archtops, then elevates it with over 50 years of Taylor’s uncompromising and cutting-edge approach to acoustic craftsmanship.
Treasure-grade tonewoods abound
Armed with a torrefied Adirondack spruce top, the Gold Label 917e is a veritable cannon of an acoustic guitar. Adirondack spruce is revered among tonewood connoisseurs for its sheer sonic power — it was the tonewood of choice on the most treasured acoustics of the vintage era for a very good reason. Far stiffer than Sitka spruce, Adirondack is legendary for its tendency to develop and enhance in sound over time. Plus, this top underwent Taylor’s torrefaction process to draw out every excess bit of moisture and to deliver all the broken-in vibe of a vintage acoustic right out of the box.
Honduran rosewood, used for the back and sides, is a sinuously figured tonewood with a distinctive and coveted sound characterized by its low damping factor, which gives it a richly layered harmonic response with lush, resonant overtones. Boasting clear, bell-like trebles and robust bass-register weight, Honduran rosewood’s creamy, authoritative voice is an ideal match for the Gold Label 917e’s Adirondack spruce top.
Cutting-edge Action Control Neck joint
Taylor has led the charge in neck joint technology for decades, from Bob Taylor’s earliest bolt-on experiments to the dawn of the easily adjustable NT Neck at the turn of the 20th century. Under the leadership of Andy Powers, Taylor has once again pushed the boundaries of steel-string design with the Action Control Neck, a trailblazing bolt-on system that allows you to adjust the neck angle without requiring removal of the neck or strings.
From fine adjustments to optimizing the neck’s pitch over the top, the Action Control Neck gives you the power to set your string height from shred-ready specs to a higher, strum-friendly action with the turn of a bolt. Moreover, it also transforms repairs that generally require major surgery on traditional glued-in dovetail joints (such as neck resets) into a straightforward, routine procedure. Best of all, the Action Control Neck’s long-tenon joint protrudes well into the heel to properly mate your guitar’s neck and body, increasing the stiffness of the heel and resulting in a deeper tone with greater low-end resonance, even on higher notes.
Voiced with the LR Baggs VTC system
LR Baggs VTC electronics capture the kind of amplified acoustic tone you’d expect from a world-class audio engineer working overtime. At the core of the VTC system lies an LR Baggs Element pickup with Tone and Volume controls — a unique build that tracks the guitar top’s vibrations instead of string attack. VTC technology saturates amplified tone with extra harmonic content and analog warmth that’s natural sounding yet noticeably better than a standard acoustic pickup. Additional dynamic automatic EQ handles problematic frequencies as they arise, with touch-sensitive compression that works with your playing for a more authentic amplified tone that’s tough to beat.
Taylor Gold Label 917e Features:
- Taylor’s old-school-inspired Gold Label Grand Pacific, treated to top-of-the-line 900-series appointments
- Torrefied Adirondack spruce top with fanned V-Class bracing booms with muscular low-end rumble and a crisp, punchy focus
- Honduran rosewood back and sides temper the brawn of the top with dense overtones and shimmering clarity
- Neotropical mahogany neck in Taylor’s Standard Carve neck profile affords speedy navigation of the Crelicam ebony fingerboard
- Action Control Neck joint allows you to dial in your action with the turn of a bolt
- Exquisite 900-series adornments throughout, including shell/paua/MOP inlays across the neck, headstock, body, fingerboard extension, and rosette
- Gotoh 510 tuning machines ensure top-shelf tuning stability
- Under-saddle LR Baggs Element VTC electronics provide plug-and-play acoustic-electric performance
- Additional Gold Label appointments include bone bridge pins with green abalone dots, a “script” Taylor logo, an engraved pickguard, and a Continental Deluxe headstock inlay
- 1.75-in. nut width provides a roomy playing experience that accommodates strummers, fingerpickers, and flatpickers with equal aplomb
