Taylor Unveils Grand Pacific Line of Dreadnought Acoustic Guitars

Taylor Guitars are re-known for the modern take on acoustic tone— and their new range is no exception with the introduction of the brand-new Round-Shoulder body shape — The Grand Pacific, developed by master guitar designer Andy Powers and leveraging Taylor’s new sonic engine, V-Class bracing, the round-shoulder dreadnought adds a dramatically different tonal personality to the Taylor line. As an alternative to what many consider to be “the Taylor sound,” the Grand Pacific adds a new voice to a dreadnought category defined by traditional, legacy models. The new body shape will be available in three new models: the Builder’s Edition 517, Builder’s Edition 717 and the entry level 317.

The entry-level 317e, which pairs sapele back and sides with a sitka spruce top, and the two Builder’s Edition models, the 717 and 517, use rosewood and mahogany for back and sides respectively and torrefied sitka spruce for the tops.

Each of these different woods offers a very different personality,” explains Andy. “[The 517 is a] Builders Edition guitar so it’s roasted spruce with Honduran mahogany back and sides. That has a very unique characteristic… a warm and dry, fundamental strong sound. [Then] we’re building a rosewood flavour, and the rosewood has a lot more harmonic content for each note. So it’s a very rich, lavish sound. We’re building a 317 as well using sapele on the back and sides with a spruce top and in some ways that’s like a mix between the two. It’s a clear but broad-ranging kind of sound. A real general purpose sort of a sound. So those three personalities, they’re instruments that are all good in their own way but they do have distinctly different voices.”

For more info, visit the Taylor Guitars Website