Taylor Guitars · Buyer's Guide

Every Taylor Model Number Is a Code

Three digits tell you what a Taylor is made of, how many strings it has, and what body shape it is — before you ever pick it up. Learn to read them and you can walk a wall of guitars and know what you're looking for.

814ce — solid Indian rosewood, six strings, Sitka spruce top, Grand Auditorium, Venetian cutaway, electronics.

How to Read the Number

Taylor's naming convention has held for decades. Once you know what each position means, the number stops being a product code and starts being a spec sheet.

Series & Tonewood

The first digit is the series, and the series tells you the back and side wood — and whether it's layered or solid. This is the single biggest driver of both price and voice. Everything from the 300 Series up is all-solid wood, which means the guitar opens up and genuinely sounds better the longer you play it.

Strings & Top Wood

The second digit answers two questions at once: six strings or twelve, and a softwood top or a hardwood one. Softwood tops — spruce and cedar — are dynamic and responsive. Hardwood tops in mahogany or koa are warmer and slightly compressed, which flatters percussive playing and sits beautifully behind a vocal.

Body Shape

The third digit is the body, and body is what you feel before you hear it. It sets how the guitar sits against you, how much air it moves, and how it responds to a light touch versus a hard flatpick. Two guitars with identical woods can feel like different instruments if the shapes differ.

First Digit: The Series

Woods below reflect Taylor's current 2026 line. Every series links to what we have in stock.

Digit	Series	Back & Sides	What It Means for You
1	100 Series	Layered sapele solid spruce top	The honest entry point. Real Taylor neck feel and tuning stability, built to shrug off weather and travel.
2	200 Series	Layered walnut or koa	Looks that punch above the price. The step up in projection and polish before all-solid territory.
3	300 Series	Solid sapele	Where all-solid wood begins — and where the guitar starts improving with age instead of just holding steady.
4	400 Series	Solid Indian rosewood	Sparkling highs over deep, piano-like lows. The working player's rosewood guitar.
5	500 Series	Solid neo-tropical mahogany	Smooth and seasoned, often with a cedar top. Rewards a light touch and fingerstyle players.
6	600 Series	Solid big leaf maple	Clear, focused and quick. The guitar that holds its own in a band mix or under a studio mic.
7	700 Series	Solid Indian rosewood	Rosewood dressed down — vintage-leaning appointments, heirloom tone, none of the flash.
8	800 Series	Solid Indian rosewood	Taylor's flagship. The 814ce is arguably the most-recorded acoustic of the last decade.
9	900 & Legacy	Solid Honduran rosewood	Ebony and abalone appointments over Taylor's finest bracing. The top of the mountain.

Second Digit: Strings & Top Wood

Only four values ever appear here. Two of them mean twelve strings, which catches most people by surprise the first time.

Digit	Configuration	Typical Top	What It Means for You
1	6-string, softwood top	Sitka spruce or cedar	The classic recipe. Dynamic and responsive, and great-sounding the day it leaves the box.
2	6-string, hardwood top	Mahogany or koa	Warmer, drier, slightly compressed. Flatters strumming and sits behind a vocal without crowding it.
5	12-string, softwood top	Sitka spruce	Octave pairs shimmer like a built-in chorus pedal. One strum fills a whole room.
6	12-string, hardwood top	Mahogany or koa	All the twelve-string sparkle, with hardwood warmth rounding off the edges.

Third Digit: Body Shape

Body shape is the decision most players get wrong by shopping on looks. Widths below are at the lower bout — the widest point.

Digit	Shape	Size	Who It's For
0	Dreadnought	16" wide · 20" long	Flatpickers and bluegrass players. Big, punchy, with a low end that pushes back.
2	Grand Concert	15" wide · 19½" long	Fingerstyle players, smaller frames, and anyone who plays sitting down for hours.
4	Grand Auditorium	16" wide · 20" long	Taylor's signature shape and its best-selling body. Balanced everywhere — when in doubt, it's a 14.
6	Grand Symphony	16¼" wide · 20⅝" long	Players who want the guitar to sound cinematic. Lush and orchestral, with real low-end bloom.
7	Grand Pacific	16" wide · 20" long	Round-shoulder dreadnought. Notes blend instead of bark — warm and already broken-in.
8	Grand Orchestra	16¾" wide · 21¼" long	The biggest Taylor. Piano-like bass and enormous range for players with a strong attack.

The Letters After the Number

Two letters do almost all the work. A 814ce is an 814 with both.

Venetian Cutaway

The scoop in the upper bout that lets your hand reach the top frets. Worth having if you play above the 12th fret — invisible to your tone if you don't.

Onboard Electronics

A pickup system fitted at the factory. Which system depends on the guitar: Expression System 2 on the 100 and 200 Series, Taylor's newer Claria through the 300–900 Series, and L.R. Baggs Element VTC on Gold Label and Legacy models.

The Taylors That Break the Code

Not every Taylor wears three digits. These lines are named rather than numbered, usually because they're built to a different brief entirely.

Gold Label models are built on deeper bodies than the standard line — Taylor lists them as Deep Body Dreadnought, Super Auditorium and Grand Pacific (Deep Body) — and they're voiced to sound older than they are. They also carry L.R. Baggs electronics rather than Taylor's own. Legacy models revive discontinued shapes and specs from Taylor's back catalogue, right down to the older Taylor neck joint and shapes like the Tapered Dreadnought and Jumbo that the numbering system no longer covers. Builder's Edition guitars are the comfort-first flagships — bevelled armrests and chamfered edges, built around how the guitar feels against you over a long session. And the GS Mini, Academy and Baby Taylor families are designed around scale length and portability instead of the series structure.

Gold Label Legacy Builder's Edition Koa GS Mini Academy Baby Taylor

Why Buy Yours Here

Knowing the Number Is Half of It

The other half is who sets it up, who inspects it, and what happens if you get it home and realise you picked the wrong shape. Every Taylor we ship over $1,000 carries the Dread-Not Guarantee.

One year, 90% trade-in value. Trade toward anything else in the store within a year of purchase and we credit 90% of what you paid. On a $2,800 guitar that's $2,520 in credit — your real exposure is $280 over a full year. Buy the shape you think you want; if you were wrong, it costs you almost nothing to correct.

Benefit 01

30-Day In-Home Trial

A full return window to live with the guitar in your own room, not a showroom.

Benefit 02

1-Year 90% Trade-In

Trade toward anything in the store within a year, credited at 90% of purchase price.

Benefit 03

Certified In-House Inspection

Our 23-Point Professional Inspection by a certified tech before it ships — not a courtesy once-over.

Benefit 04

Humidity Monitoring Kit

A Bluetooth hygrometer so a dry winter never quietly damages your investment.

Common Questions

What does 814ce mean?

The 8 is the 800 Series, so solid Indian rosewood back and sides. The 1 means six strings with a softwood top — Sitka spruce. The 4 is a Grand Auditorium body. The c is a Venetian cutaway and the e is onboard electronics. Put together: a rosewood Grand Auditorium acoustic-electric with a cutaway.

What does the first number in a Taylor model mean?

It's the series, which determines the back and side wood and whether that wood is layered or solid. Higher numbers use more premium tonewoods and appointments. The 300 Series and above are all-solid wood.

How can I tell if a Taylor is a 12-string from the model number?

Look at the middle digit. A 5 or a 6 means twelve strings — a 5 with a softwood top, a 6 with a hardwood top. So a 854ce is a twelve-string Grand Auditorium, while an 814ce is the six-string version of nearly the same guitar.

What's the difference between a Grand Auditorium and a Dreadnought?

The Dreadnought has square shoulders, a shallower waist and a bigger low end — it rewards a flatpick and cuts through a bluegrass jam. The Grand Auditorium has a tighter waist and a more balanced response, which is why it records so well and why it's Taylor's best-selling body. If you play a mix of styles, the Grand Auditorium is the safer first guitar.

What do the letters c and e mean on a Taylor?

The c is a Venetian cutaway, giving you access to the upper frets. The e means the guitar has factory-fitted electronics so you can plug in. A model with neither letter is a straight acoustic with no cutaway.

Why don't Gold Label and Legacy models follow the numbering system?

Both lines sit outside the standard series structure. Gold Label guitars use a different neck joint and a deeper body voiced for a broken-in, vintage character, and Legacy models revive discontinued shapes from Taylor's history. They carry model numbers, but the series logic that governs the 100–900 range doesn't map cleanly onto them.

Which Taylor should I buy first?

If you're buying one guitar to cover everything, a Grand Auditorium in the 300 Series or above is the most defensible choice — all-solid wood that improves with age, in the most versatile body Taylor makes. That's the 314ce, and it's popular for a reason. Call us at the shop and we'll talk through your playing style before you commit.

Now Go Read a Wall of Guitars

You know what the numbers mean. Here's everything Taylor we have in stock, and our team in Springfield is on the phone if you want a second opinion before you buy.

Shop All Taylor Guitars About the Dread-Not Guarantee

The Acoustic Shoppe is an Authorized Taylor Premier Dealer and Gold Label Advantage Dealer. Nine-time consecutive NAMM Top 100 Dealer, Springfield, Missouri.

Decode Any Taylor Model Number