Ben Harper Performs “Emotional Arson” on His Gold Label 512e Special Edition

The acclaimed singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and three-time GRAMMY Award winner has a new tool well suited for his playing technique and musical style, which has taken on a stripped-down acoustic intimacy over his last few studio albums.

Harper’s relationship with music started early, forged inside the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California—the shop his grandparents opened in 1958. He was immersed in instruments from around the globe and the music of players passing through. Harper has called it his second home, and it’s easy to hear why.

There, absorbing a constant swirl of sound, he developed a passion to play and create his own music. Ultimately, it was country blues singer and fingerpicker Mississippi John Hurt who inspired Harper to learn how to play the guitar. Harper studied and obsessed over the work of blues guitarists such as Reverend Gary Davis, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie Johnson. Later, he connected with John Lee Hooker, Chris Darrow, David Lindley, Brownie McGhee and Taj Mahal, who invited Harper on tour to play lap steel with his band.

The wide world of sound he absorbed at the Folk Music Center shaped the genre-blending strain of roots music that Harper continues to explore, perform and record. His seventeen studio albums explore a kaleidoscope of genres, including blues, folk, reggae, rock, hip-hop, soul, funk and gospel.

For years, that voice has lived across a wide range of guitars. Harper’s introduction to Taylor came in 2017 when he picked up an Indian rosewood/spruce 810 dreadnought at a music store. Soon after, he gravitated toward a pair of Taylor Grand Pacific (round-shoulder dread) models—a mahogany/spruce Builder’s Edition 517 and an Indian rosewood/spruce Builder’s Edition 717. Taylor’s designer-in-chief, Andy Powers, had recently introduced the Grand Pacific, featuring new voicing architecture, and Harper was immediately drawn in by its inspiring feel, sound and expressive potential.

“The Grand Pacific guitars,” Harper said in a previous interview, “seem to resonate even when not being played. My favorite instruments tend to do this.”

That sensitivity—to resonance, to response, to the way a guitar reacts before it’s even fully engaged—not only underpins Harper’s soulful musical storytelling but also influenced the design of his new Taylor guitar. Andy Powers approached the project with Harper’s fingerstyle technique in mind.

“He’s not digging in hard,” Powers says. “He’s relying on nuance, touch and often amplification to carry the sound. When he plays, you hear both hands—right and left. He uses techniques similar to steel players, like pick blocking and muting notes quickly to create space between them. It gives his playing a thoughtful, deliberate quality. Every note has space around it. So a guitar built to support Ben’s style needs quick response, warmth and clarity.”

That blend of responsiveness, warmth and clarity is a hallmark of the sound of the Gold Label Collection—a family of guitars designed to produce a traditional flavor of acoustic tone reminiscent of old-school flattops. The collection’s heritage-inspired tone marks a major departure from the high-fidelity articulation that’s often been associated with the Taylor sound. Gold Label models yield a warmer, deeper, more robust and muscular sound than any other Taylor.

Powers developed a range of innovations for the Gold Label Collection, including new body styles, a new neck design and a new bracing pattern. The newest addition to the collection is a non-cutaway Grand Concert body style with deeper body dimensions. Powers thought Harper’s nuanced touch and melodic rhythms would be perfectly suited for the deeper-body Grand Concert. Designed by Bob Taylor and introduced in 1983, the original Grand Concert has always appealed to fingerstyle players due to its intimate proportions and responsiveness to a delicate touch. Now, the added depth creates greater sonic push, producing a warmer, more powerful sound with slightly blended notes and enhanced low end—all while preserving the intimate feel and balance Grand Concert players expect.

While Powers and Harper collaborated on the design, Powers derived ideas about tonewood choices directly from Harper’s style of play.

“Ben comes from a background that includes Weissenborn-style playing and lap-style techniques,” says Powers. “There’s a built-in preference for direct, forward sound, more like mahogany than rosewood.”

The Ben Harper Gold Label 512e Special Edition features solid mahogany back and sides paired with a torrefied Sitka spruce top, yielding a broad dynamic range with a dry, woody midrange focus and a played-in character.

For the fretboard and bridge, Powers suggested Honduran rosewood because it transmits even more of the strings’ complexity and character into the soundboard than ebony. With Harper’s soft touch, Honduran rosewood allows the guitar to respond in an even more personal and expressive way.

Harper had grown accustomed to playing bigger-body Taylors and admits he had initial doubts about the compact Grand Concert’s sonic capabilities. As he recalls, those doubts were quickly put to rest.

“I love my Builder’s Edition 517 and 717,” says Harper. “I love my 810. So, I was really concerned about this guitar not being able to have the volume or sustain available to me. Then I heard Andy play it. There is sorcery in this guitar. From the size of the sound chamber, this guitar should not be this loud or resonant. I wanted this guitar to be exactly how it turned out.”

One other choice Harper made for his Gold Label model was the inclusion of Taylor’s new Claria™ System electronics, featuring a redesigned undersaddle pickup and a proprietary preamp with soundhole-mounted tone controls that make it easy to shape the amplified sound for virtually any live setting.

“Under-saddle pickups typically can be a pain,” Harper says, “but Claria is a game-changer for me. I tour a lot—the mid-contour control really helps me dial in a sound that I can adapt and tailor to any venue I might play in.

The deeper-body Grand Concert joins an expanding range of body shapes that contribute to the Gold Label Collection’s old-soul sonic personality, including the Super Auditorium and two deeper-bodied dreadnought-style shapes: the round-shoulder Grand Pacific and square-shoulder Dreadnought.

These distinctive body shapes are built with fanned V-Class™ bracing and Taylor’s patented Action Control Neck™, making up the sonic recipe that defines every Gold Label guitar. A variant of Taylor’s patented V-Class voicing architecture, fanned V-Class bracing unlocks greater sonic warmth, resonance and power while preserving the pitch accuracy of the original design. The groundbreaking Action Control Neck allows for quick string height adjustments, enabling players to dial in their preferred action with unprecedented ease and precision—without having to remove or even detune the strings.

Together, these elements redefine how each Gold Label guitar feels in the hands as much as how it sounds in the room. In the case of Harper’s Gold Label model, the payoff is clear. The guitar responds quickly to a light touch and holds onto warmth as notes sustain—qualities that mirror the way he plays.

Taylor has released two additional Grand Concert models in its Gold Label Collection. Players who prefer the deep lows and zesty trebles of Indian rosewood’s sweeping frequency range should consider the Gold Label 712e. Those who appreciate mahogany’s earthy midrange but favor a natural top and ebony fretboard should check out the standard Gold Label 512e.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Ben Harper Gold Label 512e and his connection to this new Grand Concert.