Every 100 Series guitar starts from the same foundation: C-Class Bracing, Taylor's traditional internal bracing pattern used before V-Class existed, under a solid torrefied spruce top paired with layered sapele back and sides. Torrefaction roasts the spruce top under controlled heat before it's ever braced, driving out excess moisture and cellulose sugars so a brand-new 100 Series top already carries some of the openness and low-end warmth that untreated spruce typically only develops after years of being played. Layered sapele behind that top reads close to mahogany through the midrange — punchy and direct, with a bit more top-end sparkle layered in. None of that changes across the three models in the series, and neither does the electronics: every 100 Series guitar ships with Expression System 2, Taylor's three-sensor pickup system, standard rather than held back as an upsell reserved for pricier tiers above it.
What does change across the series is body shape, and that's where the 100 Series earns its reputation as Taylor's most genuinely capable entry tier rather than a stripped-down starter line. The 114ce ($799) uses the Grand Auditorium, Taylor's do-everything mid-size body, finished with a Venetian cutaway that opens up upper-fret access for lead lines, capoed arrangements, and solo work. The 117e ($799) trades that cutaway and mid-size footprint for the Grand Pacific, Taylor's round-shouldered dreadnought silhouette and — per Taylor's own comparison across the catalog — the most powerful and robust body shape it builds, delivering more low-end push and volume under a full chord strum than the Grand Auditorium supplies. The 150ce ($899) breaks from both by moving to 12 strings on a standard Dreadnought body with its own Venetian cutaway, built around a wider 1-7/8-inch nut that keeps six extra strings from crowding a fretting hand used to a standard 6-string neck, delivering the chiming, doubled-string shimmer only a 12-string can produce.
Choosing between them is a question of what a player actually needs from the instrument, not a ranking of quality — all three sit at the identical build tier and share the same tonewood pairing and bracing. A guitarist working through fingerstyle arrangements, capoed singer-songwriter material, or anything that climbs past the twelfth fret benefits from the 114ce's cutaway and balanced Grand Auditorium voice. A player who wants more low-end weight and volume under a full rhythm strum, without stepping up to a 300-and-above V-Class instrument, hears that difference directly in the 117e's Grand Pacific body. And a player chasing the specific 12-string texture — layered recording tracks, open-tuned work, or the shimmer a standard 6-string simply cannot produce — has no substitute for the 150ce.
Every Taylor that leaves The Acoustic Shoppe completes the same full 23-Point Professional Inspection our in-house techs run on every instrument we sell, regardless of price point or series tier — a genuine pre-sale quality check, not a routine setup. All three 100 Series models sit under our $1,000 Dread-Not Guarantee threshold, so none of them carry that package's 30-day in-home trial, 1-year 90% trade-in credit, or free humidity monitoring kit. The inspection itself isn't tiered by price, though: a $799 114ce clears the same 23 checkpoints our techs run on an $8,000 Builder's Edition before either one ships.
See the full model-specific detail on the 114ce, the 117e, and the 150ce, or browse the complete Taylor lineup in our Taylor Guitars collection.
The Acoustic Shoppe is an Authorized Taylor Premier Dealer and Gold Label Advantage Dealer. Every instrument ships after a full 23-point professional inspection by our in-house repair tech. As a nine-time consecutive NAMM Top 100 Dealer, we handle warranty concerns directly on your behalf.
