V-Class guitar bracing controls the top’s flexibility, creating a more orderly rocking motion across both sides of the top. The controlled flexing movement produces greater volume.
V-Class bracing maintains stiffness along the middle of the guitar, in the direction of the strings. That rigidity keeps the strings in motion, producing notes that resonate longer before fading out.
V-Class bracing makes the top more in tune with the vibrating strings. This eliminates much of the interference that causes some notes to waver and sound slightly out of tune. As a result, notes and chords played anywhere on the neck are more consistent and in tune with each other.
Music industry veterans respond to the V-Class experience
The Taylor Builder’s Edition K14ce with V-Class bracing is quite simply the best acoustic guitar we’ve ever played.
As one of the first V-Class models, it’s a glimpse into Taylor’s future, and with its great sound and snazzy looks, it’s bound to have great appeal among players looking for a contemporary high-end flattop.
The Taylor Builder’s Edition K14ce is in a class by itself, not only for its impeccable craftsmanship and out-of-this-world tone, but for its revolutionary V-Class bracing that will forever change the way you hear and play an acoustic.
Overall, the Builder’s Edition K14ce is clearly the beginning of a new era for Taylor, and players in search of an ultraprecise musical tool will definitely want to check it out, along with the other new Taylor V-Class models.
It features Taylor’s revolutionary V-Class bracing, which boosts volume evenly across the tonal spectrum, increases sustain, and enhances the guitar’s natural intonation by creating a more synergistic response from the soundboard.
Played fingerstyle, the guitar has a great response and is able to produce room-filling acoustic volume. Strummed with a pick, it produces a huge voice that would be especially suited to solo performers.
We celebrate the debut of V-Class bracing with Builder’s Edition, a next-level concept guitar developed by master guitar designer Andy Powers. The new V-Class sound is matched by ergonomic body contours that make this the most player-friendly guitar we’ve ever built.
Since guitar bracing is hidden inside the guitar, we’ve included a distinctive black graphite nut (with a new formula for smoother tuning) and a new interior label, a design that features Andy Powers’ signature for the first time.
Listen as Andy Powers, master guitar designer for Taylor, talks more about V-Class bracing on our exclusive From The Factory podcast.
Use our dealer locator tool to find the authorized Taylor dealer nearest you.
Contact our experts with your questions about V-Class bracing and guitars.
Each guitar bracing pattern will have a different set of characteristics and is designed to achieve a different result. V-Class bracing was designed to remove the obstacles that interfere with a guitarist’s expression. Other patterns may achieve other goals, but V-Class bracing is the only design that resolves the tension between sustain and volume while also improving a guitar’s intonation.
Yes. A V-Class guitar is no more susceptible to damage than an X-braced guitar, and its design is both strong and responsive. This is how it can produce long-sustaining notes and stronger volume.
The materials used in the construction of a V-Class design are very similar to those used with conventional X-braced guitars.
No. Weight is a result of heavier parts, and V-Class guitars don’t use parts that are heavier than any other guitar.
Not yet. New developments like V-Class bracing take time and effort to integrate into Taylor’s product line, so the new pattern will be made available on more guitars as we build the necessary equipment to build them.
They do! The improved intonation afforded to players by V-Class bracing is not related to altered scale length, fret spacing, or compensation to create a different tuning temperament. This means that alternate tunings will enjoy the same harmonic coherence as standard tuning.
Because of the uniformity of the notes, the tone will amplify well. It’s a more usable sound. The amplified sound is consistent up the neck. There are no hot spots to contend with.
Nothing needs to change about the way you play, although the V-Class design tends to enable a more musically expressive range, which leads most players in new creative directions.
Different players will pick up on different aspects of the V-Class sound. Some will notice the sonic balance first; others will notice the volume, sustain or projection. Many will notice the sound of improved intonation and harmony between the notes, which is a characteristic that is significantly different than other designs.
Yes, and with any other type of musician, since you’re not trying to use a different tuning system. You’re just bringing a better level of harmony to the guitar itself.
No, you’ll still want to retune. That’s because of the different physical diameter of each string and how far it has to travel in relation to the others because you’re not able to individually adjust the pressure for each string. Typically when you use a capo, the low strings will be sharp, and the high strings will be pretty close. But it’s not uniform from string to string. It’s just a mechanical problem. When you play notes, you have a much better degree of physical feedback and control, so you tend to even out the amount of pressure you use to fret the strings. You typically don’t press the low strings harder than top ones; you only press a string down until it’s clear. So usually we’ll play a little more in tune than a mechanical clamp.
Another attribute that players—and especially listeners—will hear is increased projection. Because V-Class bracing creates a more orderly wave form, the guitar is not only louder, it also projects farther without as much volume drop-off over distance as an acoustic guitar normally has. Andy Powers explains why: “Each note has a clearer identity and the notes have more harmonic coherence. In other words, the frequencies the guitar generates agree more with each other. The wavelengths line up with each other in phase — picture wavy lines nestled together traveling the same way — and strengthen each other. Because those waves have the strength of multiples, they can travel farther.”
This may be an impossible question to answer, since we can’t know why someone didn’t think of something. But in reflecting on how he conceived of the V-Class design, Andy credits the treasure trove of books and other information resources provided by builders, guitar repair technicians, writers, players and others who have shared their many discoveries about acoustic sound, woodworking, and instrument making over several centuries. Andy’s natural passion and curiosity led him to consume as many of these resources as he could find, which certainly helped inform his thinking about guitar design and synthesize these ideas into something new. His experiences and musical needs as a pro-level player also influenced his thinking. Andy also credits the innovative manufacturing culture of Taylor Guitars, which has provided a supportive environment and tooling resources for ongoing design improvements. Taylor’s production capability also has enabled guitars to be built with incredible precision and on a large scale. This has allowed Andy to explore the outer frontiers of guitar design, push the proverbial envelope, and discover the limitations of existing materials and methods.
