Taylor Gold Label: The Most Remarkable Taylor Guitar?
Published on 13 March 2025
You know all about Taylor guitars, right? Every guitar fanatic does! Contemporary shapes, modern decorations, exquisitely precise construction and a clean, bright sound. Taylor guitars are the definition of ‘today’s acoustic guitar’.
Or are they?
Today, I’ll introduce you to some new Taylor guitars that will perhaps subvert that notion. Released recently at the Winter NAMM show (though we got a sneak early peak, which I’ll show you soon), this is Taylor, but not as you know it…
Contents
The Mystery Begins
Back in late November of last year, I was invited to talk with Taylor CEO Andy Powers online about a highly secret new project. Suitably intrigued, I jumped at the chance to have a direct conversation about it, especially with the man who has been so instrumental (sorry) in defining what today’s Taylor guitars are. These opportunities aren’t to be missed!
In addition to this, a package arrived at the office from Taylor guitars in San Diego with a request to not open it until I was on-camera with Andy! Now, this is unprecedented stuff! A large part of my role as an interviewer is to research and prepare, so that I can come into the conversation with not only a sense of understanding for the subject, but also to enable me to offer some value to the event by knowing what I’m talking about!
However, I also can’t resist a good mystery, and so I happily agreed to the request. None of us were told anything at all! The time of the interview came around soon enough. I brought the unopened case onto the desk, and I awaited my shared moment with Andy.
If you want to know what happened next, please watch the video right here!
The Taylor Gold Label
Did you watch the video? Well, now you’ve seen (though maybe not heard) a new Taylor Gold Label guitar. Okay, so what is the Taylor Gold Label? Much of that was discussed in the video conversation, but for those looking to read the facts, let’s get into them!
So far, the Gold Label is a single model - the 814e - and it is available in two wood varieties. The aim of the guitar is to provide a different voice and vibe to a ‘typical’ Taylor guitar, without losing the essence of what that brand is all about. Neither a retro reissue nor a future-forward design, the Gold Label 814e is a little bit of both: one foot in the past and the other in today.
Why? Well, put succinctly, almost all guitarists agree that there is something very special about what we call ‘Pre War’ acoustic instruments. These are guitars from the 1920s and 30s, whose timbers have long since dried out, seasoned and been played with for almost a century. Something happens to that timber in the process, and also: certain shapes and build practices from back then combine to make beautiful sounding guitars. Such instruments are very rare and rightly coveted.
Now, Taylor already make beautiful sounding guitars, this is true. What they don’t have - since they began building in the 1970s - is a Pre War heritage. There are no ‘century old’ Taylors in existence, and so this Gold Label series has Powers and the Taylor team looking back to that golden era (hence the series name) and taking inspiration from those original Pre War guitars, bringing them into the current day, and merging them with Taylor’s cutting edge practises. It’s a guitar for now, with a sound and vibe that mixes past references with Taylor’s own rich heritage.
The idea is to advance this concept in the future with more Gold Label guitar models, but for now, there is the 814e…
Taylor Gold Label 814e
So, this Taylor Gold Label 814e is designated as a ‘14’ in its title. This number usually designates a Grand Auditorium body, but keen Taylor aficionados will see that this isn’t exactly the case here. The Gold Label’s body is slightly longer and a little bit bigger. Taylor call this a Super Auditorium body, a new thing entirely, but still smaller than their Grand Symphony and Grand Orchestra shapes.
There are a number of differences to the build, all of which help to bring out that upper mid-heavy, pre-war voice. Let me run these down for you:
- Torrefied Spruce top: you’ll likely know about torrefaction by now, but if you aren’t, it’s a process of extracting all moisture from timber (in this case, the guitar’s top or soundboard) in a high-temperature environment. This process changes the molecular structure of the wood, turns it a nice caramel colour and crucially gives it very similar tonal properties to guitars that are a century old.
- The neck join is new for Taylor, with a longer tenon (the part you don’t normally see) for greater tonal transference. It’s also much more adjustable than traditional long-tenon necks, so the Taylor innovation shows up here!
- The bracing is a new fanned version of the proprietary Taylor V-Class bracing. This new bracing enhances volume and projection.
- The larger Super Auditorium body shape adds bottom end warmth.
In addition to the torrefied Spruce top, the 814e is made with two options of body timber: one is Hawaiian Koa, and the other is Indian Rosewood. Koa presents a rich warmth with lots of midrange punch, and the rosewood option brings that time-honoured ‘scoop’ and strident power that has made the combination so well-loved. Both sound incredible, so it’s a matter of personal preference as to which you lean towards.
In addition, the neck itself is made with mahogany, whilst the fingerboard utilises Crelicram ebony, sourced and cut by staff is Taylor’s own West African facility. This is a sustainable resource from Crelicram in Cameroon, and is an example of Taylor’s commitment to sustainable wood use.
A New-Old Look for Taylor
In addition to the structural and design innovations onboard the Gold Label 814e, there are also some newly appointed visual treats to take in. As befitting a guitar that straddles the old world with the new, these are timeless and yet somewhat ‘new antique’ in nature: take a look at the carved decorative motif on the pickguard, for one example. Next, check out the headstock - a new shape entirely, with a very different logo compared to standard Taylor instruments! You’ll also see newly designed mother-of-pearl inlays on the fingerboard, which are all part of this Gold Label identity.
The goal here was to offer an alternative take on Taylor’s style that is informed by classic pre-war acoustics, but not to simply copy them. These still look like brand new Taylors, they just don’t look like any other brand new Taylors. It’s almost an ‘alternate dimension’ situation, but with both realities available together!
Best of Both Worlds
So, this guitar is the first bold step on a new path for Taylor. Powers and his team have taken on board the best elements from heirloom acoustic guitars and built them into a whole new Taylor experience, complete with all of the functionality, reliability and performance you’ve come to expect from high-end Taylor guitars.
They certainly have their own voice, and it’s one that is simultaneously sweet and strident. I highly recommend connect with one at your earliest convenience, and seeing what it can do for your own playing.
Click to View the Taylor Gold Label 814e
