The Taylor 514ce Next Generation is a premium all-solid electro-acoustic guitar that combines the warmth and touch sensitivity of Western red cedar with the dry, woody character of solid neo-tropical mahogany.

Its versatile Grand Auditorium body responds beautifully to fingerstyle playing, controlled strumming, vocal accompaniment and expressive songwriting. Cedar produces a warm, rounded attack with exceptional sensitivity beneath a lighter touch, while mahogany adds focused midrange presence, clear fundamental notes and a naturally balanced response.

Taylor’s latest Next Generation features elevate both sound and practicality. Scalloped V-Class bracing adds richness, power and open-string resonance, while the Action Control Neck provides easy, precise string-height adjustment. The Claria Acoustic Pickup System completes a professional instrument with adaptable amplified tone for live performance and recording.

At A Glance

Specification	Details
Brand	Taylor
Model	514ce Next Generation
Series	Taylor 500 Series
Finish	Natural
Guitar Type	Steel-string electro-acoustic guitar
Body Shape	Grand Auditorium
Top Wood	Solid Western red cedar
Back and Sides	Solid neo-tropical mahogany
Bracing	Scalloped V-Class with relief rout
Neck Design	Taylor Action Control Neck
Neck Wood	Neo-tropical mahogany
Fingerboard	West African Crelicam ebony
Electronics	Taylor Claria Acoustic Pickup System
Cutaway	Venetian
Condition	Brand new
Main Appeal	Warm, responsive cedar tone with focused mahogany clarity
Best For	Fingerstyle, songwriting, vocal accompaniment, recording and live performance
Skill Level	Intermediate, advanced and professional players

What’s Included?

• Taylor 514ce Next Generation electro-acoustic guitar
• Brown Taylor Deluxe hardshell case

Why Choose the Taylor 514ce Next Generation?

Warm and Responsive Western Red Cedar Top

The solid Western red cedar soundboard gives the 514ce an immediately warm, expressive and touch-sensitive response.

Cedar requires less playing force than many spruce tops to produce a full and colourful sound. This allows subtle changes in finger pressure and picking dynamics to be heard clearly, making the guitar particularly rewarding for players with a controlled or lighter touch.

Its tonal qualities include:

• A warm and rounded initial attack
• Exceptional sensitivity to gentle playing
• Rich harmonic colour
• Smooth upper frequencies
• Fast response beneath the fingers
• A mature and open character from new

Cedar has a lower volume ceiling than spruce, so the 514ce is at its best with nuanced fingerstyle work, controlled strumming and expressive accompaniment rather than consistently aggressive rhythm playing.

Solid Neo-Tropical Mahogany Back and Sides

Solid neo-tropical mahogany gives the guitar a dry, woody and focused tonal foundation.

Mahogany places greater emphasis on the fundamental note than highly overtone-rich woods such as Indian rosewood. This helps individual notes remain clearly defined and prevents complex chord voicings from becoming overly crowded.

Mahogany contributes:

• Strong midrange presence
• Warm and controlled bass
• Clear fundamental notes
• A direct, woody response
• Controlled harmonic overtones
• Excellent vocal accompaniment
• Natural clarity within a recorded mix

Combined with the cedar top, mahogany creates a warm and expressive guitar that remains focused and articulate.

Taylor Grand Auditorium Body

The Grand Auditorium is Taylor’s flagship mid-sized acoustic body shape.

Its comfortable proportions sit between a smaller Grand Concert and a larger dreadnought, providing enough internal air volume for satisfying projection without becoming bulky or excessively bass-heavy.

The 514ce is well suited to:

• Fingerstyle arrangements
• Open-chord accompaniment
• Contemporary acoustic music
• Folk and country
• Worship performances
• Singer-songwriter material
• Studio recording
• Controlled flatpicking
• Live acoustic performance

The shape provides an even response across the bass, middle and treble frequencies, allowing the character of the cedar and mahogany to remain clear.

Scalloped V-Class Bracing

The Next Generation 514ce features Taylor’s scalloped V-Class bracing with a relief rout.

Selected material is removed from the braces to allow the cedar soundboard to move more freely. This produces greater warmth, low-frequency presence and open-string resonance while maintaining the sustain and harmonic consistency associated with V-Class construction.

The updated system contributes:

• Greater acoustic power
• Increased warmth and richness
• Stronger open-string resonance
• Long, musical sustain
• Clearer chord voicings
• Accurate pitch relationships
• Improved note-to-note consistency

This gives the soft-touch character of cedar additional strength and projection without sacrificing its natural responsiveness.

Taylor Action Control Neck

Taylor’s Action Control Neck uses a long-tenon joint that increases the contact area between the neck and body.

This improved tonal connection helps transfer string energy more efficiently, adding warmth, resonance and low-frequency depth.

The neck also incorporates Taylor’s shimless action-adjustment system. A trained technician can alter the string height through the soundhole without removing the neck, detuning the strings or carrying out a traditional neck reset.

Key benefits include:

• Fast and precise action adjustment
• Easier seasonal setup changes
• Simple adaptation to different playing styles
• Improved long-term serviceability
• Greater control over the feel of the instrument
• No conventional neck-joint shims required

This is a particularly valuable feature for working musicians who need their guitar to remain comfortable and dependable in changing environments.

Taylor Claria Acoustic Pickup System

The Taylor 514ce Next Generation is equipped with the Claria Acoustic Pickup System.

Claria combines a redesigned undersaddle transducer with Taylor’s proprietary preamp, producing a clear and adaptable amplified signal for stage performance and recording.

Three discreet soundhole-mounted controls provide:

• Volume
• Mid-Contour
• Tone

The Mid-Contour control allows the amplified guitar to be shaped for different musical situations.

Turning it below the centre position reduces the midrange for a warmer, more open strumming sound. Turning it above centre increases midrange presence, helping fingerstyle details, melodic passages and lead lines remain clear within a band mix.

The Tone control adjusts treble brightness, allowing the upper frequencies to be softened or opened up to suit the room, amplification system and playing style.

Comfortable Taylor Neck Profile

The neo-tropical mahogany neck uses Taylor’s Standard Carve profile.

Its satin finish supports smooth movement along the fingerboard, while the 1¾-inch nut width provides useful string spacing for fingerstyle technique, hybrid picking and more detailed chord voicings.

The neck remains approachable for conventional rhythm playing and delivers the consistent, modern feel for which Taylor guitars are known.

Venetian Cutaway

The softly rounded Venetian cutaway provides convenient access to the upper frets.

This makes the 514ce suitable for melodic acoustic playing, extended chord voicings and arrangements that move beyond the traditional open-position range.

The cutaway maintains the elegant curves of the Grand Auditorium body while adding genuine practical versatility.

Elegant 500 Series Appointments

The 514ce combines its warm, traditional tonewood pairing with a refined contemporary appearance.

Appointments include:

• Natural full-body gloss finish
• White body binding
• Black fingerboard binding
• Green abalone single-ring rosette
• Faux-pearl Meridian fingerboard inlays
• Matching Meridian peghead inlay
• Faux-tortoiseshell pickguard
• West African Crelicam ebony peghead veneer
• Taylor nickel tuning machines

The result is a premium-looking guitar that remains tasteful and understated.

What Makes This a Next Generation Taylor?

Taylor’s Next Generation specification introduces three significant performance features.

Scalloped V-Class Bracing

The revised bracing increases soundboard movement, producing greater warmth, power and open-string richness while maintaining clear intonation and sustain.

Action Control Neck

The long-tenon neck joint enhances tonal transfer, while the shimless adjustment mechanism allows quick and precise changes to the string height.

Claria Electronics

Taylor’s new pickup and preamp system provides soundhole-mounted Volume, Mid-Contour and Tone controls for adaptable amplified performance.

Together, these developments give the 514ce a warmer and more resonant acoustic voice, easier long-term adjustability and greater control when plugged in.

Why Choose a Cedar and Mahogany Guitar?

Cedar and mahogany form a particularly expressive acoustic tonewood combination.

Cedar produces sound quickly and responds clearly to subtle changes in attack. Mahogany adds focus, midrange presence and a dry, woody character that prevents the overall voice from becoming overly complex.

This combination works especially well for:

• Fingerstyle guitarists
• Singer-songwriters
• Vocal accompaniment
• Light and controlled strumming
• Folk and acoustic music
• Intimate solo performance
• Detailed studio recording
• Players who value warmth over maximum volume

Compared with spruce, cedar generally sounds warmer and more open from new. Compared with rosewood, mahogany offers a stronger midrange and fewer surrounding overtones.

The result is a guitar with an immediate, personal and highly musical response.

Who Is the Taylor 514ce Next Generation For?

Fingerstyle Guitarists

The cedar top responds quickly to a light touch, while the 1¾-inch nut provides comfortable string spacing.

Mahogany keeps individual notes focused, and the scalloped V-Class bracing adds sustain and open-string resonance.

Singer-Songwriters

The warm attack and controlled overtone response support vocals without competing for the same sonic space.

The guitar can provide a full accompaniment while leaving room for the singer’s natural tone and phrasing.

Studio Musicians

The focused mahogany response makes the 514ce easy to position within a recorded arrangement.

It delivers enough harmonic colour to sound rich on its own without creating excessive low-frequency or overtone build-up in layered productions.

Performing Musicians

Claria electronics provide flexible amplified tone, while the Action Control Neck supports quick setup adjustments and dependable long-term playability.

The Grand Auditorium body is versatile enough for solo acoustic sets, worship environments and full-band performance.

Players with a Lighter Touch

Cedar reaches its full tonal response with less playing force than spruce.

Players who use fingerstyle technique, a light pick attack or controlled dynamics will appreciate how easily the guitar responds.

Players Seeking a Warm Alternative to Spruce

The 514ce is an excellent option for musicians who find some spruce-topped guitars overly bright or stiff.

Its cedar soundboard produces a softer attack and more immediate warmth without losing clarity.

How Does the Taylor 514ce Next Generation Compare?

Taylor 514ce Next Generation vs Taylor 314ce Next Generation

The 314ce combines a Sitka spruce top with solid sapele back and sides. It produces a clear, direct sound with strong projection and additional headroom for energetic strumming.

The 514ce uses cedar and mahogany, delivering a warmer attack, stronger touch sensitivity and a drier, woodier midrange.

Choose the 314ce for broad all-purpose versatility and greater strumming headroom. Choose the 514ce for warmth, nuance and expressive soft-touch performance.

Taylor 514ce Next Generation vs Taylor 414ce Next Generation

The 414ce pairs spruce with Indian rosewood, producing deep bass, clear trebles and a broad overtone response.

The 514ce provides a stronger midrange, softer attack and more controlled harmonic character.

Choose the 414ce for spacious rosewood depth and treble shimmer. Choose the 514ce for focused warmth and a more intimate response.

Taylor 514ce Next Generation vs Taylor 514ce Red Ironbark

The red ironbark 514ce pairs a torrefied spruce top with solid red ironbark back and sides. It offers greater dynamic headroom, a muscular low-mid response and broader frequency balance.

The Next Generation cedar-and-mahogany model is warmer, softer in attack and more responsive beneath a lighter touch. It also introduces the Action Control Neck, scalloped V-Class bracing and Claria electronics.

Choose the red ironbark model for power, balance and strong strumming performance. Choose the Next Generation model for warmth, sensitivity and the latest Taylor features.

Taylor 514ce Next Generation vs Taylor Legacy 514ce

Both guitars use cedar and mahogany, but they express the pairing differently.

The Legacy 514ce draws inspiration from earlier Taylor designs and uses traditional X-bracing with LR Baggs electronics.

The Next Generation 514ce uses scalloped V-Class bracing, the Action Control Neck and Taylor Claria electronics.

Choose the Legacy model for a heritage-inspired response and traditional bracing feel. Choose the Next Generation 514ce for increased adjustability, sustain and amplified flexibility.

Fair Deal Quality Control Assessment

Before dispatch or collection, this guitar will be carefully checked by the Fair Deal Music team.

Our assessment includes:

• General cosmetic inspection
• Cedar top and mahogany body inspection
• Neck and fingerboard assessment
• String-height and playing-action check
• Fret and intonation assessment
• Bridge, nut and saddle inspection
• Tuning-machine and hardware check
• Claria electronics test
• Volume, Mid-Contour and Tone control test
• Output-socket test
• Final playability assessment

This helps ensure that your new Taylor arrives ready to play and perform.

Technical Specifications

General

Specification	Details
Model	Taylor 514ce Next Generation
Series	Taylor 500 Series
Number of Strings	6
Orientation	Right-handed
Finish	Natural
Guitar Type	Steel-string electro-acoustic
Body Shape	Grand Auditorium
Cutaway	Venetian
Bracing	Scalloped V-Class with relief rout
Electronics	Taylor Claria Acoustic Pickup System

Body

Specification	Details
Top Wood	Solid Western red cedar
Back and Side Wood	Solid neo-tropical mahogany
Back Configuration	Two-piece, no wedge
Top Finish	Gloss
Back and Side Finish	Gloss
Body Binding	White
Armrest	No
Rosette	Green abalone single ring
Pickguard	Faux tortoiseshell

Neck and Fingerboard

Specification	Details
Neck Design	Taylor Action Control Neck
Neck Wood	Neo-tropical mahogany
Neck Profile	Taylor Standard Carve
Neck Finish	Satin
Fingerboard Wood	West African Crelicam ebony
Fingerboard Binding	Black
Fingerboard Inlay	Faux-pearl Meridian
Scale Length	25½ inches
Nut Width	1¾ inches

Peghead

Specification	Details
Peghead Type	Standard Taylor paddle
Peghead Veneer	West African Crelicam ebony
Peghead Inlay	Faux-pearl Meridian
Peghead Binding	None
Peghead Finish	Gloss
Tuning Machines	Taylor nickel with nickel buttons

Hardware and Factory Setup

Specification	Details
Bridge	West African Crelicam ebony
Nut	Black TUSQ
Saddle	White Micarta
Bridge Pins	West African Crelicam ebony
Factory Strings	D’Addario XS Coated Phosphor Bronze Light
Factory String Gauge	.012–.053

Power Requirements

The Taylor Claria preamp is powered by one standard 9-volt battery housed in the guitar’s end-pin battery compartment.

A fresh battery provides approximately 150 hours of plugged-in use. Battery power is only required when using the electronics; the guitar can be played acoustically without a battery.

Remove the instrument cable after use to prevent unnecessary battery drain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Taylor 514ce Next Generation made from all-solid wood?

Yes. It has a solid Western red cedar top with solid neo-tropical mahogany back and sides.

What does Western red cedar sound like?

Western red cedar produces a warm, mellow attack with excellent touch sensitivity and rich harmonic colour.

It responds particularly well to fingerstyle technique and controlled playing dynamics.

What does mahogany contribute to the sound?

Mahogany adds a strong midrange, clear fundamental notes and a dry, woody character.

Its controlled overtones help chords and individual notes remain focused.

Is the 514ce suitable for strumming?

Yes, particularly for light and controlled strumming.

Players who consistently use a very heavy pick attack may prefer the additional headroom offered by a spruce-topped guitar.

Is the 514ce suitable for fingerstyle playing?

Yes. The cedar top responds quickly beneath a lighter touch, while the 1¾-inch nut provides comfortable string spacing for detailed fingerstyle technique.

What is the benefit of scalloped V-Class bracing?

The scalloped design allows the soundboard to vibrate more freely, adding warmth, richness and acoustic power while retaining sustain and pitch consistency.

What is the Action Control Neck?

The Action Control Neck is Taylor’s long-tenon neck design with a shimless string-height adjustment mechanism.

A trained technician can alter the playing action through the soundhole without removing the neck or strings.

How is Claria different from Taylor ES2?

Claria uses a redesigned undersaddle pickup and proprietary preamp.

It also provides a Mid-Contour control alongside Volume and Tone, allowing greater control over the guitar’s position within a live or recorded mix.

Does the Claria system include a tuner?

No. A separate clip-on, pedal or external tuner can be used.

Can the 514ce be used professionally onstage?

Yes. Its Claria electronics, adjustable neck and versatile Grand Auditorium body make it well suited to professional live performance.

Is the Taylor 514ce suitable for recording?

Yes. Its warm cedar response and focused mahogany midrange make it an excellent studio instrument.

It can be recorded with microphones, connected directly through the Claria system or captured using both signals.

Can the guitar handle alternate tunings?

Yes. Its 25½-inch scale provides clear string tension for many commonly used alternate tunings.

A professional setup may be beneficial when permanently using significantly lower tunings or a different string gauge.

Is cedar more delicate than spruce?

Cedar is generally softer than spruce and can mark more easily if struck by a pick or fingernail.

Using controlled technique and storing the instrument in its case when not in use will help protect the soundboard.

Fair Deal Music Verdict

★★★★★ 5/5

The Taylor 514ce Next Generation is an exceptional choice for players who value warmth, touch sensitivity and expressive tonal detail.

Its Western red cedar top responds beautifully to subtle playing dynamics, while solid mahogany back and sides provide the focused midrange and woody clarity needed for fingerstyle work, vocal accompaniment and studio recording. The Grand Auditorium body ensures that the guitar remains versatile without losing the intimate character of its tonewood pairing.

Taylor’s Next Generation features add meaningful practical improvements. Scalloped V-Class bracing produces greater richness and resonance, the Action Control Neck offers outstanding long-term adjustability, and the Claria system provides flexible amplified tone for professional performance.

For singer-songwriters, fingerstyle guitarists and musicians seeking a warm alternative to a traditional spruce-topped acoustic, the Taylor 514ce Next Generation is a beautifully balanced professional instrument.

Why Buy From Fair Deal Music?

Choosing Fair Deal Music means buying from a passionate team of musicians who genuinely understand the products we sell. Whether you’re purchasing your first instrument, upgrading your current setup or searching for something special, we’re here to help you make the right choice with friendly advice and expert support.

When you shop with Fair Deal Music, you can buy with confidence thanks to:

• Expert advice from knowledgeable musicians
• Carefully checked new, used, pre-owned and ex-display equipment
• Competitive prices on leading music brands
• Secure UK-wide delivery
• Flexible finance options available, subject to status
• Friendly support before and after your purchase
• A trusted independent UK music retailer with decades of experience

Trade In. Trade Up. Save More.

Thinking about upgrading? Your next piece of gear could cost less than you think.

We’re always happy to consider part exchanges and trade-ins on a wide range of musical instruments and equipment. Whether you’re moving on an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, amplifier, keyboard, drum kit or studio equipment, our team can offer a fair, no-obligation valuation and help you put the value towards your next purchase.

Contact our team or visit our Birmingham showroom to discuss your trade-in options.