214 Review

It's a modestly priced, solid-wood guitar with tonal qualities and resonance approaching that of a premium acoustic guitar ? an incredible value.

Features:	10
Sound:	10
Action:	10
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.3
Reviewer rating:	10
Users rating:	8.6
Votes:	48

Reviewed by: unregistered, on september 03, 2005

Features: The Taylor 14 is a modestly priced, solid-wood guitar with tonal qualities and resonance approaching that of a premium acoustic guitar ? an incredible value. It's solid Sapele body, Sitka spruce top, and ebony fretboard and bridge makes the solid-wood Taylor experience more accessible than ever. // 10

Sound: The tone on this guitar is incredible. If you play a chord, you hear all the nuances of it, rather than just the bass and some middle like on Martins. The sound is a beautiul mixture of full rich bass and just enough treble to cut through, without being unpleasant. I play Folk, rock, blues, and it's been good for all. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The action on the guitar is low and easy to play, the intonation's quite good as well. The fretwires are set in the fretboard with room allowed for wood swelling due to humidity. The finish isn't anything special, but if you take care of it, it's perfectly adequate. The neck has absorbed enough hand oil that I don't need to worry about sweat seeping in. I would recommend cleaning the neck after you play it until the wood becomes sealed though. // 10

Impression: I love this guitar. It's got a great tone, great action, great versitility, great balance, easy to change strings, two access points for the truss rod, a great bridge, and once again, incredible tone. It sounds better than even the $2,400 Martins, and honestly, I can't justify spending $3,200 on a top of the line Taylor, because this one sounds just about as good for 1/4th the price. // 10

Comments

[pottsy]

i second your motion! i have recently purchased one for £700! i did i did repeated blind tests with another taylor worth double and i seriously felt this one was better with an east action and full tonal qualities! i would highly recomend this beautiful piece of craftmanship

[RichCrisler]

I bought my 514CE in June of 2004 when the price was $2374. I put it in layaway and started to pay on it for the next 1 1/2. I then came the the realazation that I would not be able to pay for it and was tired of waiting for it. I had payed $1374 total, so I asked the shop to trade down to something worth that and I ended up with the 214E. I was happy with it though disapointed from not getting the 514CE. I was happy with the sound and the way it played. But I have 2 things about it I didn't like one is that the batterie is deep inside the guitar for the electric's and not easy to get to, 2 is there is no way to control the sound of the guitar when in electric because there is no tone, volume, or EQ. This was very disapointing.
Now on to the big problem with (my) guitar. Two weeks after I bought it I was in College and had moved to the US for studys and the apartment I had rented the landlord told me I owed rent even though I had never moved in and payed in advance from Japan. So I had to pawn my 214E 2 week after I got it to pay rent. Now fast forword to 2007 when I payed the pawn in June 13 2007 and then was waiting for the shop to send it to me. After some time I called the shop where I bought it at and he said he would send it to me. He went and picked up the guitar and then ended up taking 4 months himself to send it after I sent $450 more for shipping to Japan. Well Long story short I'm happy with my 214E, but the problem I have is I payed intrest when it was in pawn. I bought it for $1374, and $30 a month intrest+ I payed $540 Japanese yen for the $450 to ship it here and then when it got here I had to pay another $41 So I looked on the net and seen that now the guitars go for $799 and even $749 in some cases. In total I payed $2600 all up for my guitar and it's now worth $799 so for what I payed for it I could have bought the 514CE or 3 214E's. My B-day was Jan 16th and I'm 35 so I guess this was my happy birth day. Even with all I went through I love this guitar and I will never put it in pawn or sell it again. I just got it Jan 18, 2008 9:30am after paying and waiting for 3 years and 7 months.
I guess the old saying is true good things come to thoughts who wait. I should have waited for my 514CE and saved myself a hole lot of trouble, and money. Oh just one point the 514CE I was going to buy for $2400 is now selling for around $4000 good lesson to learn, I really should have waited not only would I have got my guitar, but I would have save money and got a guitar thats worth more then I payed for it and thats always a good thing.

[RichCrisler]

One other problem I have with it is I just found out yesterday the top of the guitar is very soft and I will have to go to a luther to get a light coat of clear put on it. I was wipeing it with "Axe Wax", a Japanese guitar cleaner, and my nail touched the top and I scrached it with my nail. I was very surprised to see how soft the top of this 214E was. I think it's made of pine or ballsa wood. Regardless of either of these I think it is not wise for Taylor to not have clear coated the top of the 214E.

[RichCrisler]

Got another one I found out that the bridge nut is plastic not bone I'm going to have to have one made and I'm puting some brass string pins in and with those, the clear coat on the top, and bone bridge the sound will change alot on this Taylor 214E. I'm also going to get a sound hole cover for it, it feeds back alot with no controls for the EQ, tone, and Volume on it!

[RichCrisler]

I think I'll add a fernandez sustainer in it with a pic up controler and then add some pot's to it to control the sound. This guitar has great sound and plays well so I can build with what I have and I payed way to much for it not to try and make it the 514(C)E I wanted even though the C is out of the question because it's not a cut away guitar!

[jv_music]

is it just me or is the review kinda wrong. the taylor 214 has a Sitka Spruce top, indian rosewood back, sides, and fingerboard. the guy said ebony fingerboard and sapelle body.

[dilithium]

Prior to 2007, the Taylor 214 and 214e were made of solid spruce tops and solid - not laminate - sapele back and sides, with ebody fingerboard, just some of the reasons, aside from the distinctive Taylor sound, for making this guitar such a great value.

Post 2007, the 214 and 214e are made with solid spruce tops and indian rosewood laminate back and sides, and rosewood fingerboard. The review is correct for any pre-2007 production model, and was definitely correct at the time of posting.

[guitargeant]

I think all must use their ears to pass final judgement.

[Song_man]

I purchased a 214 in 2008 and your right about it being laminate on the sides and back from those dates
you indicated,I have not played a 214 with the roeswood sides but would assume the instrument has a better sound,thou I think the sound of my 214 laminate is almost as good as my Martin D-35 for the price difference if your going for sound Ill take my Taylor 214,does this make the laminate a composite guitar?

[seabury]

I purchased a used 214 (Pre-2007) two years ago, and absolutely love it. The satin finish is definitely the weak point with this guitar- I let a student play it, a heavy strummer- and the top was instantly scratched- I recently found another on Craig's list for $350, and couldn't resist. Great guitar for the money.

[islandblueser]

just bought a 214cc - spruce top, rosewood sides - clear balanced tone across the strings, the electronics are even and easy to control. Plays good with 11-52 or 12-54 strings. I can strum or pick and it's balanced. Came outta the box pretty sweet but the action is a bit high at the 12+... I'm gonna take her in and touch it up a bit rather than messi'n with it myself. All in all for under $900 I think I did pretty good.

[acousticpedia]

post 2007 taylor 214 specs

http://www.acousticpedia.com/guitar/100/...

[1ton]

the laminate ones aren't special and feel cheap.not only because of the laminate but the fake wood grain printed/embossed over it. very disapointed when i went to buy one, very over priced for what you get (U.K.)
there's far superior guitars about in this price range, shame on you Taylor.

[Patrick P]

I tested one yesterday!
Very impressed. TRied some 400/500 series too, but this one was fantastic.
Next week gonna test a Martin D16GTE.
But the Taylor was very good.

[columh]

Bought a new one in 2005 and it was excellent out of the box. 8 years later with a lot of playing it's gotten so much better. Top is a little bit soft and easily marked, but not too bad.
The best thing about the guitar is that it reverberates like a drum! It really benefits from a solid back and sides - you can feel every vibration from the back. You can also see from the how the careful design of the bracing elements inside make the guitar a star. My sons grew up learning on this guitar and it has to be the best money I've ever spent.