Taylor 815e Legacy Acoustic Electric Guitar – New

You can’t blame Taylor for promoting their latest models, but with all the improvements and innovations they’ve developed in recent years one simple fact has been largely ignored: Bob Taylor & crew were making great sounding and playing guitars 50 years ago, and when those models have enjoyed reasonable care over the years they still play and sound exceptional. These Legacy models offer you a chance to get the sound and vibe of the original Taylors, with some contemporary tweaks than even the most hardened originalist will agree are improvements that Bob would have included back then if he could. The 815 was Taylor’s Jumbo competitor to Gibson and Guild models that were commonly used in folk-rock groups and by soloists who needed a big, powerful acoustic. This Legacy 815e has that stage-worthy capacity, but is also excellent in smaller settings when a room-filling sound is needed but the player doesn’t want to bash their guitar to get it.

The Legacy 815e stands alone in the Taylor line as a Jumbo, non-cutaway acoustic-electric that blends elements of Bob Taylor’s original designs with subtle upgrades to provide a modern feel. This model is crafted with back and sides of solid Indian rosewood paired with a Sitka spruce top in a big, powerful body that yields a commanding voice. Featuring the traditional X-bracing pattern favored by Bob in the early days, the 815e serves up a warm, richly textured sound with clear trebles, throaty lows and a slight scoop in the midrange, all complemented by beautifully blooming overtones. A modern Taylor neck profile offers a hand-friendly feel and relaxed fretting, while older elements like the mustache bridge and a “straight-ear” peghead silhouette capped with a rosewood veneer. Finished off with the sleek appointments Bob furnished for his original builds, this model sports white binding, a three-ring rosette in green abalone, ebony bridge pins with green abalone dots, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard, a gloss-finished body and neck, and non-engraved Large Diamond fretboard inlays in mother-of-pearl. It includes a special Legacy interior lable and an LR Baggs Element VTC undersaddle pickup with volume and tone controls mounted inside the soundhole. It ships with a deluxe hardshell case.