The best-sounding tonewood you’ve never heard is destined to become a player favourite
Taylor has a long history of introducing compelling new tonewood flavors to the world, and they are excited to debut a stunning new entry — red ironbark — as the new featured tonewood of the reimagined 500 Series. Sourced in Southern California through Taylor's urban wood initiative, they are calling the wood Urban Ironbark. After exploring and falling in love with its acoustic properties, master builder Andy Powers has paired ironbark back and sides with a torrefied spruce top and deployed a new voicing recipe — shaped by V-Class bracing — to bring another uniquely enticing tone profile to the Taylor line.
The Tone
Imagine the sonic depth and richness of Indian rosewood pushed to another level. Red Ironbark’s hardness and density are comparable to ebony, and together with a roasted spruce top, produce a sound that’s loud, muscular and sweet, with piano-like fidelity, complexity and depth across the entire frequency spectrum. Notes jump out of the guitar, producing a natural amplifying effect that will fill a room with sound. Any player who appreciates the sonic virtues and versatility of Taylor's flagship rosewood/spruce 814ce will love the Grand Auditorium 514ce, while the other new 500 Series entry, the Grand Concert 512ce, also produces remarkable volume and dynamic range, blending the responsiveness of a smaller body with bold projection that also makes it an inspiring strummer.
Appointments
In a nod to the classic heritage of Taylor’s 500 Series, the new appointment package preserves a traditional aesthetic, updated with subtle decorative touches to complement the new wood pairing. The back and sides feature a stain that deepens ironbark’s natural reddish and golden-brown hues. The body and neck also feature a lightly shaded edgeburst, with a gloss-finish body and satin-finish neck. Other details include new Aerial inlays in Italian acrylic, faux tortoise binding and pickguard, a single-ring abalone rosette with maple and black purfling, and Taylor nickel tuners. Both models feature a Venetian cutaway and onboard ES2 electronics and ship with a Taylor deluxe hardshell case.
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