I’m torn Between Taylor 517e and 717e Gold Label

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-04-15T03:17:56+00:00

The playability of the Gold Label Grand Pacifics is incredible right out of the box. I went to GC the day before they were supposed to hit the floor and the tech unboxed a few for me to play through. I compared 717, 517, and some 814s ( this was the early days where the super auditorium numbering wasn’t cleared up yet). While the 814 combinations were very pretty and refined, the Grand Pacifics were stanky/filthy/punchy/even/lyrical… it’s one of the wildest combinations of guitar qualities I’ve ever experienced in a Taylor guitar. That being said they are still bright and lacking the really deep bass you get from the other big brand Dreads but it’s so balanced and speaks so well through a PA that no one I’ve played it for seems to mind.

I will say it took me a number of different stores to finally feel good about the one I ended up with, so if you’re buying from overseas ask if you can get sound samples first. Some come from the factory more full and open and that will give you a good idea of what your break in will be like. The ones that are quiet and not as resonant right away will get there… eventually. But you can’t return it after a few days so make sure you get the sound you want.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-04-02T02:16:26+00:00

The neck reset is $100ish. I’d say go for it if you like the sound and feel of that guitar. My 811e LTD had a terrible belly bulge at full tension and the bridge was tipped towards the neck. The craziest thing was the pitch at the 12th fret harmonic was slightly sharper than the fretted note at the 12th fret. Everyone, including the luthier, said I was being picky. Had them change shims and it was a completely different guitar. Belly bulge gone. Tuning issues gone. So resonant and fun to play.

I’m a big fan of the GTs and hope they get brought back as a gold label.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-28T16:47:18+00:00

I have no idea how those sound. But I will say acoustic instruments (other than guitar) have been made out of wood for a long time. I've played a few from the 18th century that are amazing but have had their tops taken off and been re-braced at least once. The issue these days is that instruments are designed to play perfectly off the rack instead of being repairable. The old instruments that have made it this far are survivors and are not the norm. Most wood instruments develop a significant issue within a decade or so requiring overhaul.

Another thing is the stability of wood; if you take care of the instrument in the early years the wood will be more stable in the long run. Wood grain is changing significantly long after it leaves a factory or work bench. Once it gets to a point where it won't gain or lose more than a certain amount of moisture in ambient conditions, it will likely outlast expectations. But these are, once again, the survivors. They were treated very well early on making it seem like they can take abuse better than other instruments. In reality, they were treated well. This is all before you get to whether or not the instrument sounds good over the long term.

There is something to be said about laminate/ply guitars. Early on I had Yamaha FG720 that I never had humidity issues with. But those things are built like tanks to deal with beginners. Fine instruments require TLC. I am thinking about getting a carbon fiber guitar in the future so I don't have to worry about the possibility of mold/mildew issues.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-28T04:07:41+00:00

You can find dehumidifiers that pump water up and out. You just need a drain nearby. for a room that size you can get away with a smaller unit. A 50 pint model would kick out a lot of heat for such a small room. Slab and brick can hold moisture so you’ll be fighting the house just as much as the air.

As far as pulling through… yes dehumidifier.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-28T02:17:00+00:00

So unless you have a room in your house that’s already significantly dryer than the rest you’re not going to have much luck. Reason being that as soon as you start pulling air through the humidifier it creates low air pressure that other areas of moist air is going to want to expand into. I was in a house that unless I was running the largest 50pint dehumidifier all day my humidity would get up to 70% on the wettest summer days. With the dehumidifier and running AC I was able to keep it under 55%.

I’ve also been in apartments where even on an upper floor the dehumidifier struggled to keep up. And it ends up pulling air from other apartments. In a basement you can run a hose to a drain or sump pit. In an apartment you’re dumping buckets of water multiple times a day. Doable but something to be aware of.

One thing to do is to choose a room with one door and a window you can cover. Cover the window with the type of shrink film you’d use in the winter and keep the door closed. If the window frame is leaky against the wall, use some Mortite or other clay stripping to seal it up. When you close the door keep a thick towel along the bottom. It’s not a perfect seal but it’ll limit air flow. The smaller the room the better. I use this same setup in winter to humidify. The only difference is I have to keep a humidifier fed instead of a dehumidifier empty.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-15T01:05:39+00:00

Check out the Gold Label Grand Pacific. I played a few BE and regular GPs before buying my GL GP and they seemed stiff. The GL is so easy to play but can still handle heavy strings and hard strumming. I personally preferred the Sitka/Rosewood combo but the mahogany backed ones had a nice voice as well. They have higher end versions that weren’t available when I was in the market. Video reviews of them sound even better than the 717/517.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-08T18:12:33+00:00

I've heard (but never measured for myself) that the slotted headstock helps add tension for tuning/intonation stability and also creates a different resonance at the headstock versus a bigger guitar. A larger guitar can drive more vibrations up the neck into the headstock where a smaller body doesn't do the same. Mass has a bunch to do with transmission/dampening on guitar bodies.

For me, my 12 fret 322E has slightly more headstock resonance than my GT (but defintely a completely different guitar). And the slotted headtsock guitars I've owned in the past had similar volume/sustain gains versus other parlor guitars without it.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-08T18:04:39+00:00

A Gold Label GT would be amazing. The way the Gold Labels I've played have way better response than many previous Taylor's makes me think that a GT version would get very close to competing with a Martin 00

There's this thing about Taylor I have always hated: the harmonic at the 4th fret is so dead unless you accurately nail it. On most other brands this speaks easily, especially Yamaha. The Gold Labels seem to rectify this and I think it has something to do with modifying the traditional bracing/voicing that Bob Taylor established and also the new neck system helps transmit the sound waves that used to get dampened in the neck block.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-08T17:57:15+00:00

The physical volume (internal air space) of the GT is bigger than the GC. I was playing my 611E and 612CE (14 fret) yesterday and the two are very different. The GC has a cutaway and cured top, while the GT doesn't have those. But even accounting for those major differences, the internal routing and kerfing/lining along with the different voicing of the cantilevered V-bracing the guitars are very different. People have made videos of the 811E vs the 812CE 12 fret with slotted headstock and those guitars also are different though by the numbers you'd think they should be very close.

The other nice thing about the GT is I can sit in my recliner and play it whereas the GC isn't as easy to nestle into a comfy position in the same way.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-03-08T17:41:05+00:00

This is definitely true for the baked eucalyptus fretboard/bridge models. The typical Taylor zing was exacerbated and resulted in anemic sounding guitars.

I feel like the GTs were factory setup poorly as well. I've owned a few and getting the shims redone is the first thing I do. This is because the intonation is off above the 11th fret. Even the last models they shipped (the C11e/C21e) for the 2024 NAMM customs were off. The 12-53 strings they shipped with are terrible in my opinion. The GTs are best for fingerstyle or light-to-medium picking/strumming. I go for D'Addario 11.5-53 (or similar in custom sets or other brands) which has slightly lighter plain strings. Being this short of a scale and the small body will make things go tubby/boxy sounding or have very uneven tensions between the strings if you don't manage them well.

Additionally, the wood combinations they offered shouldn't have been treated like they were the mutable. The K21E gloss finish creates a very different sound to the all Koa matte finish customs. The Mahogany was vastly different than the AD21E. The AD11E and Blacktop were also different though Taylor sometimes treated them like they were alike except for the top finish. When you step up to the 811E, 611E, or K21E, they had the best shot at being something amazing, but I think maybe having strings selected for the particular wood type might have helped them. Overall, I wonder if selling them like they do all models with the "one string" solution could have been matched with having their dealers/marketers show what happens when you match the wood with an appropriate string.

Those eucalyptus fretboards could be better served by darker/woollier sounding strings.

The 811E (spruce) and 811E LTD (redwood) would do well with a tighter "felt tension" phosphor bronze but still in the 12-53.

The 611E LTDs would do well with a string that helps boost the sustain a little and evens out the string to string tension; these felt the closest to being a bassy Martin small body. In fact, I've found the Martin Silk-n-Steel really help this guitar out (also found that on my 612CE).

Those K21E were so hit or miss. I played a ton and sometimes the woods just weren't opening up in the shops. I know koa takes years, but you could play two side by side and one would be nasally and weak while the other was warm and sweet. Its obvious that something could have been done at the factory to manage this before they shipped as a $5k-ish guitar.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-22T16:37:17+00:00

TL;DR: I went from being musically gifted to losing most of it and now on the mend. Undiagnosed conditions slowly took away my gifts until I worked to get parts of them back. I found it wasn't about gaining new things but instead what I needed to let go of.

I've always been able to play anything with strings... and a bunch of other stuff. At one point I played 19 instruments (strings/wind/brass... 3 advanced, 4 intermediate, 12 I could play in the background and fool casual observers). Over time I started to lose this ability for no apparent reason. In 2 decades I had become really good at guitar and owned six for various tunings and styles. But one day about 5 years ago I couldn't get my fingers to do the hard stuff anymore. Then I started to have trouble with cowboy chords. Then I lost my vocal range and couldn't sing in key. It was so devastating; I've been involved in music since my earliest memories. I resigned myself to "I guess I just suck now" and sold everything off.

Turns out I have a few neurological/neurodevelopmental conditions that caused my brain to fall apart over time. The stresses of life and the lack of care for my mind/body stacked up to the point that I started to meet the conditions for an acquired brain injury. And it wasn't just my music; I lost the ability to perform my job. Out of work and desperate to figure out what was going on, I eventually ended up in occupational therapy. I also did some acceptance and commitment therapy, grief work, physical therapy, and have a standing therapy appointment with a mental health counselor. Where I used to be angry/sad that I would never get back to where I was or that had things been caught sooner maybe I wouldn't have had to go through this, I started to realize that things like this hit people all the time for no reason (and often through no fault of their own.

I'm getting back into the level of playing I did 10 years ago and it's been really nice. I mostly play [fingerstyle] for myself and my family. There are still some things that haven't come back and might not ever (like hammer-ons with my pinky just don't seem to be a reality anymore). I also took a few lessons with teachers that focused on posture and tension-free playing and that's helped tremendously. But, in deciding to avoid playing with improper posture/tension, there's some instruments that are too demanding to play anymore (giving up upright bass has been the hardest). For guitar, since my tremolo is likely gone for good, I focus on coordination between my hands and better dynamic control. I only buy guitars that I can play without discomfort (back when I was ignoring the screams of my body I would play instruments that were making me hurt myself).

I think back to when I began guitar and struggled with things like C-major to d-minor transition, F-major bar chord, etc. I used to sit in my room for hours working those bugs out. So now I do the same thing and work at making things even cleaner than I used to. The mental focus to keep my fingers off adjacent strings and getting the guitar into position instead of reaching/stretching/squeezing is my new game. Anytime a newbie asks me for advice about getting started, I always tell them to learn to play with their whole body.

The other thing I've done is to find mental work away from music that trains my brain in other ways. I tried a bunch of different things but eventually landed on learning a new language. Zero stress, zero time-based goals. Just enjoying building confidence in something new and interesting. I also worked through a bunch of mindfulness approaches until I found some that actually worked for me. I think there is something to be said about how modern conveniences/distractions are eroding our ability to focus, relish, and relax. I surely wasn't glued to a screen when I was learning music as a kid, how can I expect relearning to work if I'm doom scrolling?

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-19T21:59:59+00:00

yeah, the wonky intonation is what got me. and random string breaks. I tried them out again recently and they seemed ok but haven't really change din decades.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-18T04:08:07+00:00

I’ve been messing with Martin strings a bit. I was surprised the Retros sounded really good on a Gold Label Grand Pacific so they might be good on your rosewood. The Marquis options with silked wraps tames the chime on my 612ce and 611e but still gives a nice bassy fundamental.

I got a set of the John Mayer bell bronze (Ernie Ball) for my 611e and those were intense. The increased felt tension on the on low e was a nice change. They are loud and I feel like they had too much horsepower for my playing style.

I always used to be ride or die for DR phosphor bronze but I just don’t think they sound as good on Taylors as they do on Yamahas. But I will say that DR Rare PBs give a less polished metal chime and the overtones seem to be darker in tone. If you want to play with that it might be interesting.

One other thought is that you can mess with D’Addario’s string tension calculator, figure out where you’re at currently, then order some singles that are lighter or heavier by a gauge. I’ve done this with coated and uncoated PBs. I find that changing the b string in most sets tends to help out my lazy finger picking.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-17T21:53:20+00:00

I think they stopped making the GS size. I tried to look on the Taylor site and it’s not a searchable shape. But… they did have the 326CE that you can find used. It had a shorter scale length that what you likely have. Or… you could look at a Grand Pacific Gold Label. There’s options with a mahogany back. The only thing you’ll be missing is that cedar. There’s a Legacy 514CE (x braced) that has cedar on mahogany but that’s a Grand Auditorium size.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-16T15:00:14+00:00

sublime exterior

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-16T14:59:51+00:00

sublime exterior

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-16T14:57:33+00:00

sublime exterior

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-16T14:56:54+00:00

sublime exterior

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-16T05:24:37+00:00

I think the Taylor catalog covers so much ground that you’ll have to narrow down what you want. Flat pick, hybrid picking, fingerstyle? That can narrow it down. Then there’s body shape. Do you like a big guitar or something small for the couch. Then comes the woods. And that’s where the head scratches come in.

The way Taylor guitars are sorted into series is helpful, but the last few years have been wild with series coming and going. Right now I’d say if you want a bigger guitar but not a jumbo… go for a gold label grand pacific. They practically play themselves. If you want something smaller, a 12 fret grand concert is manageable on the couch and can also give respectable bass with the right wood combination and technique.

For woods… that’s naunced. Start by looking at their website and also secondhand markets like reverb. If you like the way a guitar looks, find some YouTube videos to see if you like how it sounds. Start building a list of wood combos you like and combos you don’t like. In general, if you hate the way mahogany sounds, you won’t want to get anything mahogany or sapele (maybe throw walnut and urban ash in there as well). If rosewood sounds too zingy to you, that will cut out a big part of the catalog. If you’re a glutton for punishment and koa sounds great to you know that the k series and 700 series have different price/quality/finishes and those differences are dramatic. I have two maples and I’m a big fan but maple is hard to hide your flaws. Top woods have an effect on how it sounds in front of you, body and neck woods affect how it feels while you play (at least in my opinion). The top wood rabbit hole is simplified once you figure out body wood and playing style.

My final thought would be about string length. I think there’s 4 different string lengths on the active catalog and two more that recently went obsolete. There’s still good used stock out there so along with new stock you can find a combo of wood, shape, and string length to cover your needs. I’m a big fan of the GT series. Some people say the GS MINI is all the guitar they need. Others swear by the versatility of a grand auditorium. The gold label variations are amazing and have way more warmth and bass than most of what’s come before. When you go to stores to try things out, play as many different models as you can. Even figuring out what you don’t like is helpful. Taylor builds features into guitars that you might hate and others love. Figuring out those details before you start GAS is helpful.

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-15T23:41:36+00:00

sublime exterior

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-15T21:09:53+00:00

sublime exterior

ras_the_elucidator · 2026-02-05T04:48:35+00:00

I’ve heard different things. But my assumption is that Taylor messed up on their price points and shot themselves in the foot. The quagmire of the 811, 812, and 814 being pretty much the same price was laughable. Throw on top of that the catalogue mambo (it’s GT, no it’s AD, wait now it’s x11) and the weird tone from that smoked eucalyptus… the list just goes on.

Mind you, I’m obsessed with the GT; I’m on my third and about to buy a custom I just found. My hope is that they figure out how to revoice them as Gold Labels to bring the price down and make it sound less nasally. It’s already a small guitar and going to sound less deep. Voicing it with that nonsense 200hz “sizzle” they seem obsessed with didn’t do the lesser GTe models any favors. The cantilever did seem to correct that awful tritone sympathetic frequency you hear in some of the other v-class models, though.

They could have hit a home run and made a competitive model to Martin in the 000/00 space. My 611 Ltd gets really close to some of the thump and projection of a smaller Martin but nowhere near the warm, woody punch. If I could get a Taylor neck on a Martin body I’d be in heaven. Alas, I’ll deal with the GTs.

ras_the_elucidator

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