All-new body shape will be offered across three different models.
Builder's Edition 717e WHB
NAMM 2019: Taylor has announced the Grand Pacific round-shoulder dreadnought, which the company is touting as a brand-new body shape that “adds a dramatically different tonal personality to the Taylor line.”
Developed by master guitar designer Andy Powers, the newly-designed acoustic guitar is being offered in three iterations: Builder’s Edition 517, Builder’s Edition 717 and 317e. All Grand Pacifics feature Taylor’s V-Class bracing for greater volume, projection and sustain.
Said designer Powers: “I wasn’t interested in building another version of an existing dreadnought. Those guitars already exist. This guitar makes sounds that are deeply familiar yet unattainable with any other guitar. With the help of our V-Class bracing architecture, we’ve captured everything we love about a venerable acoustic guitar sound and added other sonic improvements that we think will appeal to a wide array of players. ”
Builder's Edition 517
The Builder’s Edition 717 and Builder’s Edition 517 guitars boast rosewood and mahogany bodies, respectively, and torrefied Sitka spruce tops. Other features include a compound carve neck profile that transitions from a slight V at the nut to a rounded C, a rolled fretboard edge, chambered body edges and a new “curve wing” bridge shape.
Grand Pacific 317
The entry-level Grand Pacific 317, meanwhile, boasts Sapele back and sides and a Sitka spruce top, as well as 300 Series appointments such as black binding, Italian acrylic Gemstone inlays, satin-finish back and sides with a gloss-finish top and, on the 317e, Taylor Expression System 2 electronics.
The 717 and 517 will be available starting at street prices of $2,999 and $2,799, respectively. Both models will be offered with natural or burst tops as well as with and without electronics. The 317 will be available starting at a street price of $1,699 and will be offered with and without electronics.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
