NS74ce Grand Auditorium Cutaway Nylon-String Acoustic“Electric Guitar (2011 Model)

The Taylor NS74ce Grand Auditorium Nylon-String Acoustic-Electric Guitar boasts increased power, projection, and a haunting bell-like sustain with exceptionally smooth tone. The Taylor NS74ce has a western red cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides in a grand auditorium body style.

The NS74ce is the premier Taylor take on the classical guitar design, but with a bit of twist. Think of it as classical tone meets Taylor playability, beginning with a slim and fast 1 7/8" neck, and a cutaway body.

Taylor's ES-N piezo system offers high-fidelity amplified tone, unprecedented dynamic range, and extraordinary resistance to feedback and distortion. It enables all of the expressive subtleties of your playing to come through, just the way you intended.

When people talk about "the Taylor sound," knowingly or not they're probably describing the Grand Auditorium. Introduced in 1994 as a limited edition to commemorate Taylor's 20th Anniversary, the GA would go on to establish itself as a definitive Bob Taylor original.

Tonally, the guitar embodied the signature qualities of balance, clarity, and versatility that became hallmark Taylor traits. Visually, the shape gave the world an equally balanced and refined aesthetic of smooth curves. In both respects, the GA was at once big enough and small enough to cover a lot of ground.

The goal, he says, was simply to make a guitar that was big like a dreadnought, but without a dreadnought's traditionally boomy sound. "I was looking for a good, clear tone that had volume when you played fingerstyle, but then when you strummed didn't have too much bass."

The GA has the width and depth of a Dreadnought, but its tapered waist and contours give it the appearance of a smaller instrument, making it comfortable to play. The tonal balance means it's full in the lower register, present in the midrange, and sparkling on the treble strings.

The GA's tonal balance has made it a favorite among artists AND engineers. "You put a mic in front of the guitar and set everything to zero, you turn on the tape, and you play," Bob continues. "We had a lot of studio owners and engineers buy those guitars just to put in the studio, because when things started going bad with players' guitars during a session, the engineer would say, 'We can get this job done today if you just play this guitar.' So that was sort of what we had in mind with that. And a lot of it was the shape. We made a few bracing changes, but we depended on the shape to change that tone."

Play a GA if: You want the Swiss Army Knife of acoustics, capable of handling everything from fingerpicking to medium strumming to moderate flatpicking.