NGD! Taylor Academy Acoustic (Cheapest *real* Taylor)
Posted: Wed May 08, 2024 5:44 pm
Disclaimer - Zzounds sent this to me to try out for a few weeks and then send back to them. Not sponsored and not paid.
The Taylor 814CE is that acoustic I've been drooling over for years but I've never had a good enough reason to drop $4500 when my $2700~ish Martin and even cheaper Godin get the job done but it got me curious. How good is the absolute cheapest guitar that Taylor makes that's not a mini or baby sized instrument?
I am legit impressed. I've played quite a few sub-$1000 acoustics at stores over the years and either they've played bad, had terrible setups, poor fretwork and just overall weak output and a thin sound. I was firmly in the mindset that you needed to spend upwards of $2000 to get a great sounding acoustic mainly because every $1700+ acoustic I picked up just had such a louder and bigger and more full sound, regardless of their type (Dreadnaught, concert, etc) and cheaper guitars in those same sizes/styles were lacking in comparison.
For the most part though, this Taylor subverted some of those notions. While it's not as full bodied and loud as my Martin, it projects nicely and clearly, plays REALLY well and has pretty low action... about where the action was on my Martin before I adjusted it to get it a bit lower.
IMO, for the player who rarely or occasionally wants to pick up an acoustic or needs a solid inexpensive beater/backup acoustic, this is a solid instrument.
As for the Fishman rare earth blend pickup, it's outstanding. It's got a bit of an upper midrange push going on but nothing that can't be EQ'd out. The punchier upper mids helped stand out a bit in the mix when playing live but it was really touchy when it came to controlling the feedback. I had a soundhole cover plugging most of the sound hole but still had to not turn anywhere near the fishman loudbox I was using or else it would still feedback.
The Taylor 814CE is that acoustic I've been drooling over for years but I've never had a good enough reason to drop $4500 when my $2700~ish Martin and even cheaper Godin get the job done but it got me curious. How good is the absolute cheapest guitar that Taylor makes that's not a mini or baby sized instrument?
I am legit impressed. I've played quite a few sub-$1000 acoustics at stores over the years and either they've played bad, had terrible setups, poor fretwork and just overall weak output and a thin sound. I was firmly in the mindset that you needed to spend upwards of $2000 to get a great sounding acoustic mainly because every $1700+ acoustic I picked up just had such a louder and bigger and more full sound, regardless of their type (Dreadnaught, concert, etc) and cheaper guitars in those same sizes/styles were lacking in comparison.
For the most part though, this Taylor subverted some of those notions. While it's not as full bodied and loud as my Martin, it projects nicely and clearly, plays REALLY well and has pretty low action... about where the action was on my Martin before I adjusted it to get it a bit lower.
IMO, for the player who rarely or occasionally wants to pick up an acoustic or needs a solid inexpensive beater/backup acoustic, this is a solid instrument.
As for the Fishman rare earth blend pickup, it's outstanding. It's got a bit of an upper midrange push going on but nothing that can't be EQ'd out. The punchier upper mids helped stand out a bit in the mix when playing live but it was really touchy when it came to controlling the feedback. I had a soundhole cover plugging most of the sound hole but still had to not turn anywhere near the fishman loudbox I was using or else it would still feedback.
