Leading the way for our newly redesigned Grand Symphony body shape, the Builder’s Edition 816ce highlights the transformative Taylor design philosophy with lovingly crafted contours, an expansive acoustic tone, and player-focused enhancements. The ultimate playing experience begins with Indian rosewood back and sides paired with a Lutz spruce top, offering all the low-end warmth and sparkle you’d expect from the classic rosewood/spruce combination with additional bloom and resonance added by V-Class bracing. But this Builder’s Edition model truly shines in the details, starting with its most significant innovation: the soundport cutaway. Crafted to resemble a partial Florentine cutaway, the design keeps the guitar’s full back intact while still allowing easy access to the high-register frets. The additional soundhole adds a truly new dimension of acoustic sound, creating a wide-angle sound that would fit as well in a classical orchestra as it would a rock band or a fingerstyle solo act. For aesthetics, we’ve appointed this model with a host of our most player-centric features, including figured maple binding with chamfered edges and rosewood edge trim, a single-ring rosette in green abalone, Windansea inlays in shell and mother-of-pearl, and ultra-precise Gotoh 510 tuners in antique gold. The guitar ships with ES2 electronics in a deluxe Taylor hardshell case.
Specifications
Body
Body type: Taylor Grand Symphony
Cutaway: Soundport Cutaway
Top wood: Solid Lutz Spruce
Back & sides: Solid Indian Rosewood
Bracing pattern: Taylor V-Class Bracing with Relief Rout
Body finish: Silent Satin Finish
Orientation: Right-Handed
Neck
Neck shape: Taylor Standard Profile
Nut width: 1-3/4" (44.5 mm)
Fingerboard: Genuine West African Ebony
Neck wood: Tropical Mahogany
Scale length: 24-7/8"
Number of frets: 20
Neck finish: Satin
Electronics
Pickup/preamp: Expression System 2 Professional Audio-Grade
Brand: Taylor
Configuration: Behind-the-Saddle Transducer with Adjustable Sensors
Preamp EQ: Volume, Active Bass and Treble
Feedback filter: Onboard Phase Switch
Tuner: None
Other
Headstock overlay: Genuine West African Ebony
Tuning machines: Gotoh 21:1 Antique Gold Tuners with Gold Buttons