The Taylor 214: A Good-Sounding $750 Guitar From Taylor
Written: Oct 16 '03 (Updated Oct 25 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good tone; excellent responsiveness and sustain; loud enough to compete with the big boys
Cons: sound not as liquid and refined as more expensive guitars
The Bottom Line: The Taylor 214 is a surprisingly good guitar for $750.
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| Horswispr's Full Review: Taylor 214 |
The 214 must be a new model for Taylor. I'd never seen one until the other day, when I was in the back room of Guitar Center, playing a Taylor 614CE I have my eyes on.
Eventually, I picked up the 214 and gave it a play.
What is the 214? It's a humble-looking grand auditorium style guitar with solid sapele back and sides and a solid spruce top. What is sapele? A tropical hardwood often used in flooring. That's about all I could find on Google. Must be less expensive than mahogany.
The 214 has the same shape as Taylor's other -14 series guitars. It has a rounder, more feminine appearance than the familiar dreadnought shape, and is said to be more suited for fingerpicking than flatpicking. The neck of the 214 differs from the neck of the 314 and other Taylor -14 series guitars in that it is only 1 11/16" wide at the nut, rather than 1 3/4, leading to slightly easier playing for novice guitar players or those used to electrics, contemporary dreadnoughts, OOOs, or their sister's old Takamine.
Like the Taylor 314 and 414, the 214 has a high quality ebony fingerboard and a solid spruce top. The large pearloid dots of the 314 and 414 are also there on the 214. The top of the 214 is finished matte, like the rest of the guitar. The 314 and 414 have gloss tops. Retail price of the 214 is about $999, but you can get one at Guitar Center for about $750. A hardshell case is included.
The first thing I noticed upon picking up one of these guitars is how light it is. Although not as light as the Martin D-15 and OOO-15, it is noticeably lighter than the Taylor 314, and also lighter than the Martin DX-1, which were on hand for direct comparison.
The second thing I noticed is how loud this guitar is. In that way, it reminded me of some of the less expensive Tacoma guitars I've played. A boldly played G-chord was much louder than with the (over $2000) Taylor 614CE. The 214 was also louder than the Martin DX-1 (except perhaps in the deepest bass notes), and slightly louder than its bigger brother, the Taylor 314.
The sound was good for a guitar in this price range: punchy, and with good sustain. It was actually a lot like a louder and slightly coarser Taylor 314. As with most Taylors, the sound tended toward the bright, but bass tones also came through well. But it was not quite as refined or subtle sounding as a Taylor 314.
Playability of the 214 was typical Taylor, though the action of the two samples I played differed somewhat: one was set with low action, while the other was set with medium-low action. The 1 11/16" neck at the nut made for fast playing, but I actually slightly preferred the wider (1 3/4") neck of the 314 for fingerpicking. Intonation was good on both samples I played. Responsiveness to a light touch was very good.
I brought a fingerpicking friend of mine to Guitar Center to hear the 614CE, which I'm considering buying for gigs (I'm tired of dealing with microphones). Just for kicks, I detuned the 214 to drop-D tuning and played "Children's Dance," an Alex DeGrassi tune that my friend and I are both learning. You have to capo up five frets for this tune, so it's a good test not only of sound, but of a guitar's intonation up the neck. The 214 was not as smooth and liquid sounding as the 614CE, nor was its intonation absolutely perfect when I first put the capo on. A bit more tweaking was necessary. But my friend was impressed with the sound overall (as was I). It was lively and satisfying, with good overtones. Yes, you can fingerpick a Taylor 214.
The Taylor 214 is in an interesting price range, and faces some stiff competition from a handful of my inexpensive favorites: the Martin DX-1 (about $500), Martin OOO-X1 (about $500), Martin D-15 (about $650), Martin OOO-15 (about $650), and Larrivee D-03 (about $650). If you're looking for a guitar in this price range, I'd recommend you play a sample or two of each and see which is to your liking. The Martin OOO-X1 is still my favorite on a value basis, but it's a fairly quiet-sounding guitar. The Larrivee D-03 may be the most liquid-sounding of the instruments listed here, but it is also quieter, and lacks the Taylor's punchiness. If you're going to be singing or bluegrass jamming with other folks, the Taylor 214 might be the way to go. And if you fingerpick, and don't mind punchiness over liquidity, you might be happy with the 214 as well.
As always, I recommend you play the particular instrument you're interested in before purchasing. There is considerable guitar-to-guitar variability, as there is with any model. But overall, I was impressed with the Taylor 214.
Recommended:
Yes
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