Hello all. Just acquired a NOS 2008 414ce. I am a gigging player/singer and have been using my Martin HD-28 for years for that purpose. Recently I incorporated a Digitech Vocalist Live 3 into my gigs and found that I wanted a little more treble than the Martin produces. Having always heard that Taylors were brighter, I decided to try one and decided on a 414ce because I also wanted a cutaway to hit those high barre chords but I didn't really want to spend the bucks for a higher series.
The guitar I bought had been hanging in the store since new but other than a lot of finger prints and badly corroded high e/b strings, it looked great. I know that Taylor's ship with elixir nano webs but I have to admit that the concept of a coated string has never made any sense to me so I installed a set of D'dario light PBs. I must say that I initially hated the sound! There was no bass at all compared to the Martin and the high e was piercingly bright. I began thinking I had made a mistake and actually thought about putting it immediately on eBay!
However, as I played it, I found that I really liked the articulation compared to the martin. Inner chord voicing changes were much more apparent though the lack of bass was off-putting. And I really liked the way it played - though I will lower the saddle a slight bit for my own personal playing style/preference.
As I continued fooling with - we are visiting relatives so I can't spend too much time with the guitar - I found that after two days, the strings had settled or whatever and the sound had much improved. There was now some reasonable bass and, though not rivaling the D28, it was fine and tne high e was now able to cut thru but was not objectionable. For some reason, there seems to be a much greater difference in sound as the strings settle in on the Taylor than there is on the '28. Don't understand why but there clearly is - at least with D'dario PB strings.
Of course, I can't wait to try the Taylor live. I installed a kk pickup in the Martin last year to work with the digitech vocalist but, being a passive pickup, there is no easy control of the guitar sound. It'll be great to use the Taylor with its ES system!
All in all I'm quite pleased! I'll try some different strings after I get back home - maybe even some elixirs! I'll also adjust the action - probably make a new bone nut and saddle at that time - and I'll also polish the back/sides to glossy. Seems like a really nice guitar!
