Taylor 812CE Grand Concert Acoustic Electric Guitar

Taylor’s rosewood/spruce Grand Concert is all about articulation and intimacy. It’s a fingerstyle favorite for its balanced and focused response and makes a perfect recording guitar, as it fits well with other instruments. The revoicing of the 800 Series has brought out extra midrange warmth in this body shape, and the new custom-gauge HD Light strings add boldness to the treble notes, with impressive volume and dynamic range for a smaller guitar. A Venetian cutaway offers easy access to the upper register, while Taylor Expression System 2 electronics serve up exceptional amplified tone. Premium appointments include maple binding and back strip, rosewood top edge trim, and a rosewood pickguard.

Grand Concert
A smaller-bodied guitar ideally suited for fingerstyle.

Sitka Spruce Top Woods
The soundboard choice for most guitars, Sitka spruce produces a broad dynamic range and accommodates a versatile range of playing styles.

Indian Rosewood Body Woods
The tonewood superstar. Popular, traditional, and versatile, Bob Taylor puts Indian rosewood among the greatest tonewoods ever.

Expression System® 2 Electronics
The Expression System® 2 captures more of a guitar’s dynamic properties using a breakthrough behind-the-saddle design. The Taylor Expression System® 2 (ES2) is a revolutionary pickup design that delivers the latest in Taylor’s ongoing innovation in acoustic guitar amplification. The heart of the Expression System 2 is Taylor’s patented behind-the-saddle pickup, which features three uniquely positioned and individually calibrated pickup sensors. The location of the sensors enables a more dynamic range of acoustic sound to be captured than ever before. Together with Taylor’s custom-designed “professional audio”-grade preamp, this system produces exceptional amplified tone and responsiveness. On stage through a PA, plugged into your favorite acoustic amplifier, or direct into recording software, the Expression System 2 faithfully conveys the voice of your Taylor guitar.

Behind the ES2 Design: Rethinking the Piezo Pickup
For decades, piezo-electric transducers have been positioned under the saddle of a guitar based on the long-held belief that the string and top vibration cause the saddle to “bounce” up and down. But Taylor’s electronics team, led by developer David Hosler, discovered that the vertical movement is actually heavily restricted, and that the saddle gets “locked down” due to the string tension’s downward pressure. That’s why a traditional under-saddle pickup with piezo-electric crystals often responds with a sound often characterized as thin, brittle, brash or synthetic, especially with more aggressive playing.
The saddle’s natural range of movement as the guitar is being played is actually back and forth like a pendulum. That revelation led Taylor’s design team to relocate the crystals from under the saddle to behind it. The new positioning enables the crystals to respond more naturally to the guitar’s energy as it is transferred through the saddle. Three pickup sensors are installed behind the saddle, through the bridge, with three tiny Allen screws that calibrate the position of the sensors in relation to the saddle.
Like the original Expression System, the ES2 features the same volume and tone control knobs. The preamp is similar but with a slightly different gain structure. As a result it will be about 25 percent hotter, which is more in line with other pickups. This makes it plug-and-play friendly both for artists and live sound mixers.