NAMM 2025: Taylor is a brand that always goes big for NAMM, and this year has proven to be no exception.
The company chose the occasion to unveil its new Gold Label Collection, a line of acoustic guitars that it says possess “a sound and visual aesthetic unlike anything Taylor has ever offered.”
Featuring four models in total – one with Honduran rosewood back and sides, and one with Hawaiian koa back and sides; each available in either a natural or sunburst finish – the collection most notably features the debut of an entirely new body shape, the Super Auditorium.
The ’30s and ’40s-inspired Super Auditorium body design is said to build on the company’s Grand Auditorium body shape, but features a slightly longer body and wider lower bout.
Sonically, it aims to deliver room-filling resonance with even a light attack, while rewarding more spirited playing with a booming sound.
“The harder you play, the louder the guitar gets,” explains Taylor’s Master Guitar Designer, President, and CEO, Andy Powers.
“But, it naturally starts to compress the sound into a more controlled, focused tone rather than becoming mushy. Yet these guitars also respond to delicate articulation with a broadly rich voice. When you play a simple note softly, the guitar naturally amplifies it with surprising warmth and volume.”
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Whether you choose the Honduran Rosewood back and sides or Hawaiian Koa back and sides option, you get a torrefied Sitka spruce top and a neo-tropical mahogany neck – attached via Taylor’s own long-tenon neck joint – with a West African Crelicam Ebony fretboard sporting mother-of-pearl continental inlays.
Chrome Gotoh 510 tuners with ebony buttons and a distinctive, new-for-this-model pickguard design add to the visual flair.
Modern elements that balance out the guitar’s vintage inspiration include LR Baggs Element VTC electronics with soundhole-mounted controls, and a fanned variation of Powers’ trademark V-Class bracing system.
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We’re eager to see if the Gold Label design – particularly that new body shape – eventually makes its way down Taylor’s price range, but for now, it sits at just about the tip top.
The natural-topped Gold Label 814es are priced at $4,499 and $4,799 (for the Koa model), while the sunburst examples ring up at $4,699 and $4,999 (for the Koa model). Each guitar comes with a deluxe hardshell case with a British Cocoa exterior.
For more info on the guitars, visit Taylor.
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