Taylor 414mace

This is my 2000 Taylor 414mace. The "414" in the name is one of Taylor's model designations. The "ma" means maple, the "ce" stands for cutaway electric.

The body has a "Grand Auditorium" shape which means the shoulder area of the guitar body is smaller than that of a full size dreadnought. This shape makes it very comfortable to play.

*Features*
*Body Style*	*Grand Auditorium*
*Top*	*Solid Sitka Spruce*
*Sides*	*Solid Big-Leaf Maple*
*Back*	*Solid Flamed Maple*
*Neck*	*Maple with Ebony Fingerboard*
*Bridge*	*Ebony with Tusq saddle*
*Hardware*	*Grover Tuning Machines*
*Electronics*	*Fishman Prefix Blender (upgrade)*

I bought this guitar in early 2001 after trying out nearly every acoustic guitar in Lexington. Gibson Hummingbirds & J45's, Martins, Larrivees - I tried 'em all. This guitar stood out because of its balanced even sound, bright overtones, and superb playability. It was only later, after I got it home that I found out it was part of a limited run and is considered rare.

There were only 370 of these guitars made with about half going overseas. The sides and back of the model 414 are usually made of ovankal, which is an African rosewood. In this limited production called "Legends of the Fall", Taylor made these few guitars with maple sides and back.

This was in an email from Taylor Guitars in response to my inquiry of how many guitars like mine were made:

" In the Fall of 2000, we issued a run of Limited Edition models, many of them based on prior designs. Each model had a Fall 2000 Limited Edition "squiggle" inlay on its back, two different variations of this inlay were used. The koa was a special "300 grade", as was the maple, and the Brazilian rosewood was a B-grade (with L-grade Engelmann tops). Otherwise, the guitars were basically the same as their standard-model counterparts."

310k (310 with koa back/sides, $1,348 U.S. Retail) - (340) pcs.
310kce (310ce with koa back/sides, $1,748 U.S. Retail) - (600) pcs.
314k (314 with koa back/sides, $1,474 U.S. Retail) - (320) pcs.
314kce (314ce with koa back/sides, $1,874 U.S. Retail) - (700) pcs.
410MA (410 with Big Leaf maple back/sides, $1,548 U.S. Retail) - (170) pcs.
410MAce (410ce with Big Leaf maple back/sides, amber stain, $1,998 U.S.Retail) - (300) pcs.
414MA (414 with Big Leaf maple back/sides, amber stain, $1,748 U.S.Retail) - (160) pcs.
414MAce (414ce with Big Leaf maple back/sides, amber stain, $2,148 U.S. Retail) - (370) pcs.
810b (810 with B-grade Brazilian rosewood back/sides, L-grade Engelmann spruce top, $3,268 U.S. Retail) - less than (100) pcs.
810bce (810ce with B-grade Brazilian rosewood back/sides, L-grade Engelmann spruce top, $3,668 U.S. Retail) - less than (100) pcs.
814b (814 with B-grade Brazilian rosewood back/sides, L-grade Engelmann spruce top, $3,508 U.S. Retail) - less than (100) pcs.
814bce (814ce with B-grade Brazilian rosewood back/sides, L-grade Engelmann spruce top, 3,936 U.S. Retail) - less than (100) pcs.

The logo at the heel of the neck signifies that this is a limited LOTF guitar.

The pickup system for the Fishman Prefix Blender features a Fishman Matrix under-the-saddle transducer and an internally mounted Fishman condenser microphone. These two different sound receptors are combined together with the onboard mixer to create a very natural amplified acoustic sound.

The headstock has a 3/32" overlay of Indian rosewood. The tuning machines are ultra-smooth Grovers.