The Grand Pacific is Taylor's round-shouldered take on a traditional dreadnought silhouette, and its extra depth compared to the Grand Auditorium translates directly into more low-end output and a fuller, rounder bass response. Paired with Indian rosewood's already-deep low end and stacked overtone complexity, the 217e Plus leans further into a warm, full-bodied voice than any other guitar in the 200 Series. The rounded shoulders, as opposed to a square-shouldered traditional dreadnought, also soften some of the sharper midrange edge a dreadnought can carry, giving the low-end power without quite as much boom in the upper-mids. Going without a cutaway means the lower bout stays fully intact and unbroken, which some players and builders consider marginally better for resonance and sustain than a cutaway body, at the cost of upper-fret access above roughly the 14th fret.
The Grand Pacific's added depth does come with a slightly heavier, bigger-bodied feel in the lap than the Grand Auditorium, though Taylor keeps the same standard nut width and neck profile across both shapes, so fretting-hand technique carries over directly between the two. A player moving from a Grand Auditorium Taylor to the 217e Plus will notice the bigger body against their torso well before they notice any difference in how the neck plays. The sunburst finish is also unique to this model within the 200 Series — every other model in the line ships in a natural or standard gloss finish, so the 217e Plus is the one model here built for a player who wants a more traditional, vintage-styled look to match its rounder, dreadnought-rooted voice.
The most direct comparison in the series is against the 214ce Plus — the two guitars share an identical price, top wood, and back-and-sides wood, so the entire difference comes down to body shape and cutaway. The 214ce Plus's Grand Auditorium body is Taylor's most balanced, all-purpose shape, equally comfortable strumming or fingerpicking, with a cutaway for upper-fret access. The 217e Plus trades that versatility and cutaway access for a deeper, more low-end-forward voice better suited to rhythm guitar, strumming, and flatpicking where low-end weight and projection matter more than reaching the highest frets. A player deciding between the two is really deciding how much low end they want and how often they play above the 14th fret, not choosing a better or worse guitar.
At $1,399, the 217e Plus clears The Acoustic Shoppe's $1,000 Dread-Not Guarantee threshold and ships under the full guarantee. That starts with a 30-day in-home trial, followed by a full year during which you can trade it in toward anything else in the store for 90% of your purchase price back in credit — on this guitar, that's roughly $1,259 in credit, so your real downside exposure over that year is only about $140. The guarantee also includes professional inspection and setup by our certified in-house tech before it ships, plus a free humidity monitoring kit to help keep the solid rosewood back and sides stable through seasonal humidity swings. Every instrument we sell, regardless of price point, also completes the same full 23-point professional inspection — a genuine pre-sale quality check, not a routine setup, and one our in-house techs stand behind directly if warranty questions come up down the road.
For the rest of the line, see our Taylor 200 Series collection, and for the complete range of Taylor models we carry, visit 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.
