TAYLOR Builders Edition 517e

The Builder's Edition 517 acoustic guitar represents Taylor's Grand Pacific design and concept. It is a Dreadnought Round-Shoulder shaped instrument in the Builder's Edition series, which brings together high-end guitars with many luxurious design features including patented V-Class ribbing.

Compared to the modern acoustic sound of Taylor guitars, Grand Pacific instruments offer a wide warm sound across the entire frequency range with musical cleaner bass that also doesn't stand out at the expense of other frequencies. Unlike standard Dreadnought models, they are not so musically tied to a particular sound and playing style - combining the power and character of bluegrass guitars with the pure tone and playing comfort that songwriters and guitarists who prefer fingerstyle playing will appreciate.

The 517e's body is constructed with a solid Sitka spruce front and solid tropical mahogany back and sides. The soundboard has undergone a torefaction process, a heat treatment whereby it takes on the characteristics and sound of decades of seasoned wood in a relatively short period of time. The patented V-Class ribbing improves the guitar's performance in three aspects - increasing the instrument's volume, extending sustain and improving intonation.

The composite mahogany neck profile, transitioning from a subtle V-shape at the zero fret to a more rounded C at the foot, is shaped to give players the most comfortable movement and grip across the entire neck/fretboard surface. The rolled edges of the ebony fretboard frets offer a comfort that can be felt on both sides of the neck. Orientation across the fingerboard surface is facilitated by decorative inlays made of imitation ivory.

Other styling features include beveled body edges with African ebony binding, a simple rosette composed of maple and sapele lines, a new headstock design with rounded edges and ebony pegs, a black graphite fretboard, nickel hardware and the company logo on the headstock.

The guitar is fitted with high quality company electronics. The Taylor Expression System 2 uses three specially designed independent piezo pickups located behind the fingerboard. Unlike conventional pickups, they do not sense the up and down movement of the board, but the natural back and forth vibration of the fingerboard. This makes the sound much more natural, colourful and pleasing, and more responsive to the dynamics of your playing. At the same time, the new preamp makes the signal 25% stronger. Of course, feedback is eliminated and you can adjust the volume, bass and treble.

The instrument comes in a deluxe carrying case.