Taylor Gold Label 814e

Andy Powers’ latest design brings a classic American flattop tonality to the Taylor line.

January 29, 2025

Over the course of its 50 years in business, Taylor Guitars has achieved something that every budding luthier hopes for: a signature sound. Taylor has refrained from trying to capture the sound of classic instruments, and instead has offered an alternative sound featuring excellent tonal balance, brightness, and an even response that has found countless fans. With the introduction of Taylor’s V-Class bracing in 2018, the characteristic Taylor sound became even more refined, resulting in an almost hi-fi–like quality that offers excellent precision, improved balance, a smooth bass sound, and excellent volume. Now, with the new Gold Label models created by Taylor designer and CEO Andy Powers, Taylor has introduced the company’s first line of guitars whose sound is inspired by vintage tonalities, while at the same time introducing several advanced construction elements. The resulting instruments have little in common with classic “Golden Era” flattops in their looks or how they’re built, yet their sound is bound to bring you back to an earlier era of guitar building. I had a chance to check out the new Gold Label 814e, and was also able to compare it side-by-side with a Builder’s Edition 814ce.

Taylor’s 814 model is the company’s most successful model, and while the new Gold Label 814e has the same designation, it is a completely new guitar. Its Super Auditorium body is slightly larger than Taylor’s popular Grand Auditorium, and it has different proportions and curves. The guitar has a new “long tenon” neck design that allows angle adjustment on the fly via a bolt accessible through the soundhole, and its new “Fanned V-Class” bracing, featuring six radial braces in the lower bout, is different from both traditional X-bracing and Taylor’s existing V-Class design. The Gold Label 814e also features the first new peghead shape in Taylor’s history, a new pickguard shape, and an L.R. Baggs Element VTC pickup system instead of Taylor’s own ES2 electronics. The guitar has a torrefied Sitka spruce top and is available with Honduran rosewood or koa back and sides, as well as with natural or sunburst finishes. It’s noteworthy that the instrument has an ebony fingerboard and a Honduran rosewood bridge. While rare on steel-string guitars, this is a standard combination on classical guitars and allows the bridge material to be chosen for weight and density rather than as a match for the fingerboard wood. Our demo guitar is the natural-finish Honduran rosewood version, and all the woods are of the superb quality that you’d expect from a high-end Taylor, with some particularly gorgeous sapwood used for the sides. The guitar’s appointments include an abalone rosette surrounded by two inlaid wooden circles, wooden purfling, and Taylor’s “Continental” fingerboard inlay pattern in mother-of-pearl. The pickguard is made from a two-layer ivoroid/tortoise material. Overall, the Gold Label 814e successfully brings a bit of vintage vibe to the clean Taylor aesthetic.

I had a chance to play some prototypes of the Gold Label guitars during a visit to the Taylor factory last fall, so I knew what to expect with the Gold Label 814e. But even so, picking up a Taylor and having it sound so much more like a classic 1930s flattop than anything previously made by the company was a surprise. The guitar’s complex overtones and warm harmonic character are immediately apparent, with an elastic dynamic range and great power that creates a very appealing overall sonic imprint. Played side-by-side with the Builder’s Edition 814ce (which has standard V-Class bracing, Honduran rosewood back and sides, and a sinker redwood top), the difference was striking, though I think that the sound a player prefers will ultimately come down to personal preference. While the Builder’s Edition has the highly controlled, precise, and somewhat compressed Taylor sound, the Gold Label has a much looser, open quality that ultimately sounds warmer and, for lack of a better term, vintage-like. The Gold Label 814e still has Taylor’s famous neck shape, superb setup, and fabulous playability as well as remarkably even note reproduction throughout its range, resulting in a guitar that players who may have previously dismissed the Taylor sound should check out.

Andy Powers says that he has thought about many of the elements that went into the Gold Label 814e since before his time at Taylor, when he was an independent luthier. Clearly, the pondering of the design has paid off. The guitar is not only a wonderful addition to Taylor’s catalog, its combination of ultra-modern construction and back-to-the-roots tonality fills a unique niche in the acoustic guitar market in general. I sure enjoyed playing the Gold Label 814e, and I hope the line will be expanded with other models!

Taylor Gold Label 814e Specs