Cedar and spruce start from different physical properties, and that difference is what defines how a guitar feels to play, not just how it sounds on a recording. Spruce is stiffer and denser, which means it takes more string energy — a harder pick attack or a stronger fingerstyle touch — before the top really starts moving and the guitar opens up. Cedar is softer and lighter, so it responds to less energy: a light fingerstyle touch produces a fuller, more present tone immediately, without needing to dig in. That's usually described as cedar having a faster response, and it's the reason fingerstyle players have gravitated toward cedar tops for decades — the top does more of the work at lower playing volumes.
The tradeoff historically was headroom: a cedar top pushed hard by a strong strummer compresses and can lose definition sooner than spruce does. Pairing cedar with Indian rosewood back and sides is a deliberate answer to that tradeoff, not an accident of the model number. Rosewood's dense cell structure generates a wide stack of overtones and a deep, ringing low end that most builders reserve for their most harmonically complex instruments — laying that resonance underneath cedar's immediate, responsive top gives the 714ce Next Generation both halves of the equation: the touch-sensitivity a cedar top delivers at low volume, and the low-end weight and sustain rosewood adds as the player digs in harder. Scalloped V-Class bracing with a Relief Rout reinforces that further, redirecting the top's vibrational energy for more even response across the whole fretboard and adding headroom that a standard X-braced cedar top wouldn't have.
That combination is built specifically for fingerstyle players — anyone working close to a microphone or a pickup, who needs a guitar that responds to dynamics and touch rather than requiring a hard strum to sound full. It's a different priority than the 600 Series' maple-driven transparency or Gold Label's vintage-adjacent mahogany warmth: the 700 Series is built around immediacy and depth together, not clarity in a mix or a specific vintage voicing.
See the 714ce Next Generation model page for full specs, or browse the complete Taylor Guitars collection for the rest of the lineup. Every 714ce Next Generation that leaves The Acoustic Shoppe ships under the Dread-Not Guarantee and our full 23-point professional inspection.
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.
