The Next Generation 514ce breaks from the spruce-and-rosewood formula that defines most of Taylor's catalog and pairs a solid Western Red cedar top with solid neo-tropical mahogany back and sides instead. Cedar is a softer, more responsive top wood than spruce — it moves more easily under a light touch, so the guitar produces a fuller-sounding note at lower volumes. Mahogany trades rosewood's shimmering overtones for a drier, more focused low end, and together the pairing leans toward a warm, midrange-forward voice rather than the scooped-mid, high-headroom character of the spruce-and-rosewood 400 Series models.

That combination rewards fingerpicking and light strumming more than it rewards a hard flatpicking attack — the cedar top responds fast to a soft touch, and the mahogany keeps the low end tight instead of washing out under a capo. Scalloped V-Class bracing with a relief rout adds back some of the volume and sustain a cedar top can lack on its own, so the guitar still holds up in a full-band mix without losing the intimacy that makes cedar attractive to a singer-songwriter or a fingerstyle player working close to the mic.

A long-tenon Action Control Neck adds a touch of low-end presence and simplifies string-height adjustments, while a green abalone rosette, Meridian fretboard inlays, and a tortoise pickguard dress the natural gloss finish. Taylor Claria electronics carry that same warm, focused voice to the board with a Mid-Contour control for shaping the midrange live. Every 514ce, Next Generation ships under our Dread-Not Guarantee — a 30-day in-home trial and a full year to trade it in for up to 90% credit toward anything else in the store, backed by a free humidity monitoring kit. For a player who wants a warmer, more intimate voice than a standard rosewood dreadnought or Grand Auditorium, the 514ce is built for exactly that.

Photos shown are manufacturer stock images — this unit's own in-house photos will replace them once photography is complete.

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 twelve-time consecutive NAMM Top 100 Dealer, we handle warranty concerns directly on your behalf.