The Guitars
With it’s all-solid maple back, sides and top, the AD27e Flametop introduces a totally new flavor of acoustic tone to the Taylor line. Often thought of as a bright tonewood, maple now benefits from some subtle touches from Andy Powers that add more warmth and low-end presence. In this Grand Pacific model, the all-maple construction yields an earthy, rustic tone that matches its dark-hued visual character, offering players a distinctive voice that’s unlike anything else you’ll hear from a Taylor guitar.
Our Builder’s Edition models showcase player-friendly features not found in our standard models. With the 717, the pairing of rosewood and torrefied spruce, together with our Grand Pacific body contours and V-Class bracing, take the natural harmonic complexity of rosewood to another level. Every note resonates with thick, rich power. A new compound-carve neck profile with rolled fretboard edges naturally complements your hand position for smooth playing comfort.
Mahogany’s strong fundamental focus and midrange presence, together with the played-in sound of a torrefied spruce top, add up to an inspiring mix of warmth, clarity and tonal balance on this Builder’s Edition Grand Pacific. V-Class bracing enhances mahogany’s dry, woody character, while the refined contouring of the neck, body edges, and bridge serves up a player-friendly feel that will coax expressive acoustic tone from the hands of any style of musician.
For players craving the tonal warmth and power of the Grand Pacific in its most accessible form, the sapele/spruce 317e delivers. Sapele’s voice occupies the sweet spot between rosewood’s rich overtones and mahogany’s dry, woody sound. With our V-Class bracing, this Grand Pacific makes a dynamic and versatile guitar that’s perfect for performance with vocals or other musicians.
A Dreadnought for a New Era
Andy wasn’t interested in simply building another version of an existing dreadnought guitar. The Grand Pacific makes sounds that are familiar to dreadnought players, with important improvements made possible by V-Class bracing.
Between V-Class bracing and the subtle contours of the Grand Pacific body, Andy eliminated the problematic low-end muddiness often associated with dreadnought-style guitars. The Grand Pacific produces clear low-end power, which means the bass frequencies are more musical.
One of the sonic problems with many traditional X-braced dreadnoughts is that they create their low-end power at the expense of other frequencies. With the Grand Pacific, you’ll hear smooth, warm, powerful notes consistently across the frequency spectrum.
The Grand Pacific isn’t musically confined the way a dreadnought can be. It blends the power of a bluegrass guitar with the clarity and playing comfort that singer-songwriters and other types of players will love. Its all-around utility makes it a fantastic workhorse guitar.
How V-Class Paved the Way
When Taylor design architect Andy Powers developed V-Class bracing, he knew that beyond its fundamental sonic improvements—stronger volume, longer sustain, more accurate intonation—V-Class offered a flexible new platform for shaping an acoustic guitar’s tonal character in dramatic new ways.
The Builder’s Edition Grand Pacific
The design philosophy of our Builder’s Edition guitars is to create the ultimate blend of sound and feel. With two new Builder’s Edition Grand Pacific dreadnought guitars, we’ve brought premium, player-friendly features like a compound carve neck profile and smoothly contoured body and fretboard edges, elevating the playing comfort in inspiring new ways.
From the Factory Podcast: Building the Grand Pacific
Learn more about the process behind the Grand Pacific in a special episode of the Taylor From the Factory podcast.
Where to Find Grand Pacific Guitars
Grand Pacific guitars are now available at Grand Pacific Featured Dealers near you.
Contact our experts with your questions about Grand Pacific guitars.