Setting the Gold Standard
Throughout 2024, Taylor Guitars is celebrating its 50th anniversary. This is not just a milestone birthday, but a tribute to the innovative spirit that has always driven the company forward.
American Dreamers
n 1974, Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug, two ambitious guitar enthusiasts from San Diego, embarked on a journey that would transform the world of acoustic guitars. They met at a guitar-making shop called the American Dream, and their passion led to the founding of Taylor Guitars.
The journey was challenging, and Bob and Kurt had a lot to learn. “Things were hard for a really long time,” Kurt recalls. “We had to learn everything. How to build guitars. How to sell guitars. How to build a business.”
Relentless Innnovation
Despite the steep learning curve, innovation was a core value from the beginning. In 1976, Bob Taylor introduced an early version of Taylor’s soon-to-be-famous slim-profile, bolt-on guitar necks. This design was a departure from the bulky neck profiles common at the time and made neck resets easier.
Musicians were impressed by the slender neck profile and low action, making Taylor’s guitars remarkably easy to play. Notable artists such as Neil Young, Prince, Dan Crary, and Leo Kottke have played Taylor guitars, contributing to their reputation.
Taylor was also the first acoustic guitar company to adopt computer-numerical-controlled (CNC) mills, introducing these machines in 1990 for precise cutting, pocketing, and shaping of complex guitar components.
The Birth of the Grand Auditorium
In 1994, Taylor introduced the Grand Auditorium, a body shape with refined dimensions between a Dreadnought and Taylor’s small-bodied Grand Concert. This versatile acoustic voice offered remarkable balance across the tonal spectrum, suitable for strumming, picking, and fingerstyle playing.
The Grand Auditorium’s medium-sized body redefined the acoustic guitar to better meet the needs of modern players. Its versatility made it a popular choice among session musicians and gigging players, becoming Taylor’s best-selling body shape.
To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Taylor is releasing a collection of limited-edition guitars that highlight the best from their line over the past five decades.
The all-purpose Grand Auditorium takes center stage in this commemorative collection.
Several models are now available at authorized Taylor dealers, including the 50th Anniversary Builder’s Edition 814ce LTD, 314ce LTD, and AD14ce-SB LTD.
Builder's Edition 814ce LTD
The 50th Anniversary Builder’s Edition 814ce LTD is an ultra-refined version of the popular Builder’s Edition 814ce (released in 2023). It retains comfort-enhancing elements from the original, such as a beveled armrest, beveled cutaway, chamfered edges, and a Curve Wing bridge. A solid sinker redwood top and solid Indian rosewood body offer a harmonious blend of rich lows, sparkling highs, bold projection, and dynamic range. Features include an abalone rosette, mother-of-pearl inlays, maple binding, maple purfling, and Gotoh 510 tuners.
Street Price: $4,999.
314ce LTD
One of the best-selling U.S.-made acoustic guitars, Taylor’s 314ce gets a premium upgrade with the 50th Anniversary 314ce LTD. Taylor’s special roasting process has been applied to the solid Sitka spruce top, offering aged-in depth and sweetness from day one, along with enhanced soundboard stability and responsiveness. Paired with solid sapele back and sides, this guitar delivers a rich and versatile sonic profile with Taylor’s signature warmth, clarity, and balance. Eye-catching aesthetic touches include a tobacco shaded edgeburst and a bold firestripe faux-tortoise pickguard.
Street Price: $2,799.
AD14ce-SB LTD
The 50th Anniversary AD14ce-SB LTD combines workhorse versatility with neo-vintage aesthetics. Featuring a Sitka spruce top and walnut body, it offers a pronounced midrange with a balanced blend of warm lows and clear highs, ideal for fingerpicking and strumming. This model harks back to Taylor’s early guitars, many of which were built in the shop where Bob and Kurt met.
Street Price: $1,999.
All three Grand Auditoriums feature V-Class bracing, a groundbreaking sonic “engine” developed by Andy Powers, Taylor’s Chief Guitar Designer (and President and CEO). Andy, who joined the team in 2011, ensures that innovation continues to be a central focus.
Each guitar in the collection includes celebratory appointments, such as a commemorative 50th Anniversary label, ebony bridge pins with gold acrylic dots, and gold tuning machines and buttons.
You can explore Taylor’s full 50th Anniversary Collection of guitars here. All models are available exclusively at authorized dealers.
Plus, check out Taylor’s 50th Anniversary Timeline to learn more about the history of innovation and some of the amazing artists who have played their guitars over the past five decades.
Designed and crafted by SeymourDuncan’s VP of Engineering Kevin Beller, these Jazzmaster pickups employ a patent-pending triple-coil system. With two outer coils canceling hum while an inner coil captures the unmistakable Jazzmaster sound, they offer pure, authentic vintage tone with plenty of punch and warmth, but with absolutely no hum.
Plus, the visible Alnico 5 pole pieces maintain the classic Jazzmaster look, so you get hum-free sound with an unaltered, vintage feel.
Enjoy the classic offset sound with a warm, punchy Jazzmaster neck tone and a bright and tight Jazzmaster® bridge sound with plenty of snap. Our Vintage Jazzmaster Silencer pickups are a drop-in replacement for any Jazzmaster®-sized pickups. Perfect for surf-inspired riffs, shimmering indie textures, modern pedal-driven explorations, and more, the Seymour Duncan Vintage Jazzmaster® Silencer pickups maintain bold presence without interference—just pure sonic clarity.
The Vintage Jazzmaster Silencer is a noiseless pickup that retains the bright, punchy neck tone and tight, snappy bridge sound that defines the Jazzmaster. Clean or overdriven, the Vintage Jazzmaster Silencer's vintage-voiced tone is perfect for shimmering indie textures, surf-inspired riffs, and modern pedal-driven explorations. No more hum holding you back—just the pure, classic Jazzmaster® tone you love.
The Hot Jazzmaster Silencer neck pickup has a crisp, full-bodied tone, adding extra warmth in the low end, while the bridge pickup brings sharp definition and sustain for solos that cut through any mix. Designed as a drop-in replacement for any Jazzmaster-sized pickups, this noiseless set lets you dive into gritty surf riffs, glimmering melodies, grungy fuzzed-out rock, reverb-drenched shoegaze, and beyond. With boosted output and zero hum, it’s everything you love about the Jazzmaster, amped up.
The Hot Jazzmaster Silencer pickups offer iconic Jazzmaster tone with powerful output and zero hum. Their patent-pending triple-coil design cuts unwanted noise while enhancing the rich, gritty Jazzmaster sound. Enjoy clear, punchy highs and warm, solid lows, perfect for distortion or clean tones. Get the classic Jazzmaster sound with boosted output—without the hum.
Kirk Hammett’s Top Three Guitars (Yes, Greeny Is One of Them)
Photo courtesy of The Collection: Kirk Hammett, Gibson Publishing
In a lavish new coffee table book from Gibson, The Collection: Kirk Hammett, Metallica’s lead guitarist shares some of his most spectacular vintage instruments and the stories that go with them, as well as his love of Hawaii.
There’s a good chance that if you’re a guitar fan, you’ve seen Nathaniel Murphy’s gear demos—either on his Instagram account, where he goes by @zeppelinbarnatra, or on the Chicago Music Exchange page. His solo arrangements of classic tunes display his next-level technique and knack for clever arranging, and he makes our jaws drop every time he posts. When we learned that the Irish guitarist is a huge fan of U2’s The Edge, we knew he had to be our expert for this episode.
Together with Nathaniel, we’re decoding our favorite eras of the Edge’s tones—from his early Memory Man days through his expanding delay rack rig, into his 1990s Achtung Baby sounds, and all the way through to his Sphere rig. How does he get those amazing delay tones? And what are those cool picks he uses?
