Taylor’s redesigned 500 Series, featuring Urban Ironbark, a brand-new tonewood that debuts as the back and sides of its 514ce and 512ce models.
The tonewood joins Urban Ash as the second tonewood in Taylor’s product line to come from Taylor’s urban sourcing initiative in collaboration with WestCoast Arborists, Inc. (WCA). The reimagined 500 Series models feature Taylor’s revolutionary, award-winning V-Class bracing system as well as a torrefied spruce top, yielding a sound that’s robust, muscular, and sweet.
Urban Ironbark, otherwise known as red ironbark eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sideroxylon), is one of more than 700 eucalyptus species found around the world. Taylor’s partnership with West Coast Arborists allows access to select urban trees from Southern California — part of a municipality’s managed public tree population — that are designated for removal after reaching the end of their life cycle or posing a safety risk to the community. Typically, these end-of-life trees are converted into firewood or mulch. However, Taylor’s innovative partnership with WCA allows the trees to live on as beautiful acoustic guitars.
The new urban tonewood has a physical density comparable to ebony while also delivering the sonic depth and richness of Indian rosewood, but pushed to another level. The voicing recipe for the new guitars include a torrefied (roasted) Sitka spruce top paired with Taylor’s V-Class bracing. The result can be described as a fresh variation on the classic spruce/rosewood sound with the help of Taylor’s modern acoustic engineering, and with the guitar’s enhanced volume and projection immediately evident, even with a lighter playing touch.
The appointments on the new 500 Series offer a nod to the classic heritage of Taylor’s 500 Series, which were previously mahogany guitars. The back and sides feature a stain that deepens ironbark’s natural reddish and golden-brown hues, along with a lightly shaded edge burst on the body and neck. Other details include new Aerialinlays in Italian acrylic, faux tortoise shell binding and pickguard, and a single-ring abalone rosette with maple and black purfling. Both models include onboard ES2 electronics and a mahogany neck with Taylor nickel tuners.
The 514ce and 512ce include a Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Case and can be found for $3299 at authorized Taylor dealers worldwide. For more information about the new models and the entire Taylor lineup, please visit taylorguitars.com.
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