Taylor is set to cause a stir in the hugely competitive entry-mid level acoustic guitar market with its brand new Academy series, with US prices, revealed today, starting as low as $500.
The new series — featuring the Dreadnought A10e, Grand Concert A12e and nylon-string Grand Concert A12e-N — are claimed to deliver all the most important qualities a developing player needs to enjoy a rewarding guitar experience — playing comfort, appealing acoustic tone, performance reliability, and the ability to easily maintain it for many years. The series even features a simple armrest on the guitar’s lower bout to enhance the playing comfort.
‘A beginner in many respects deserves the best-playing guitar,’ says Andy Powers, Taylor’s Master Guitar Designer. ‘An experienced player can make almost anything work; they’ll just appreciate a good guitar more. But when you’re starting out, you need everything going for you.’
Available at retail beginning March 2017, the Academy Series models feature ‘layered’ sapele backs and sides, solid Sitka Spruce tops, the patented Taylor Neck, mahogany armrests and matte finishes, ES-B acoustic electronics featuring a built-in digital chromatic tuner with an LED display and a Taylor gig bag complete what is likely to be a very popular package.
Also new is a an addition to the popular GS Mini family, the GS Mini Bass, a small-scale acoustic bass that incorporates a pair of breakthrough design features: custom bass strings with a nylon core and phosphor-bronze wrap wire developed by D’Addario, and a new Taylor-patented, dual-pronged bridge pin. The result, Taylor says, is a compact, ultra-playable acoustic bass with surprisingly rich and deep tone for its size.
Available at retail beginning March 2017, the new bass also features Taylor’s ES-B pickup, which includes an onboard preamp with tone and volume controls and a built-in digital chromatic tuner with an LED display, as well as layered sapele back and sides, solid Sitka spruce top, matte finish and GS Mini Bass hard bag.
Finally, Taylor Guitars has added the new 800 Deluxe Series to its 2017 guitar line. The series builds on the success of Taylor’s critically acclaimed rosewood/spruce 800 Series, which was redesigned in 2014 with an array of tone-enhancing and aesthetic refinements.
The 800 Deluxe Series boasts three additional premium upgrades: a new, rounded radius armrest to enhance the playing comfort; Adirondack spruce bracing, which turbo-charges the tonal output; and chrome Gotoh 510 tuners for finer tuning precision.
The series is currently available and features three new Deluxe models: the Dreadnought 810e DLX, the Grand Concert 812ce 12-Fret DLX, and the Grand Auditorium 814ce DLX.