Early one Saturday morning I found myself searching for “taylor acoustic” on dallas.craigslist.org. Little did I know I would stumble on a lot of guitars that a guy was needing to sell quickly. He had three Taylors I was interested in, but only two were in my price range: 814CE (2017) and 712CE (2012). They were both amazing instruments, and I would have been happy with either one. I chose the 814 because it was larger and was more of what I was originally looking for. It was crazy clean; not a mark on it and still had the factory strings. It was basically a new guitar that was $1,200 less than the going price. How could I not buy it?!
Anyway, I’ve now been the proud owner of this guitar for a couple months now. Apart from the aesthetics of the instrument, may favorite thing about it is the sound. Yes, it plays amazing like all Taylors, but there’s a clarity and high-fidelity to the sound that I couldn’t get with my last acoustic. In fairness my last one had a cedar top and this Taylor doesn’t match the warmth that guitar had, but I’m enjoying the contrast. I can hear a lot more in the lower and higher frequencies when strumming open chords.
This one doesn’t have the new v-bracing like the 2018 models. I’m sure that’s a worthy improvement, but I don’t feel the need to upgrade and own the latest. This is a better guitar than I am a player. :)