Take Bob Taylor's masterful Grand Symphony body shape, add in the heirloom tonewood recipe of tropical mahogany top, back, and sides, and you have one gorgeous, musically excellent guitar. The Taylor 526ce 6-string acoustic-electric guitar has a warm, focused midrange projection that's bookended by a beefy low end and clear treble, while the top — bolstered by Taylor's Performance bracing — fortifies the instrument's sonic gusto. Music Experience guitarists love everything about this highly playable beauty, from its Venetian cutaway to its impeccable 500 Series appointments — not to mention the flawlessly amplified signal from the Expression System 2 electronics. The Taylor 526ce, this is the one you've been waiting for.
The body shape of the 526ce is called Grand Symphony — and it's not just a name. Just a bit larger than Taylor's Grand Auditorium body style, the wide lower bout of the Grand Symphony produces powerful low to midrange frequencies, and its narrow waist directs that melodic power through the soundhole to the listener's ear. The Grand Symphony shape is musically and ergonomically wonderful to hear and to play.
The warmth and richness of mahogany as a tonewood are copiously documented and widely revered. Taylor has gone all out with the 526ce, building its top, back, and sides of tonally resonant and visually inviting tropical mahogany with a dark, luxurious look and sound. The result is a great-sounding guitar with loads of bottom end and ever-present midrange luster.
Artists who play plugged in will appreciate the natural-sounding Taylor Expression System 2 (ES2) electronics onboard the 526ce. This system features a 3-section proprietary pickup located behind the guitar's saddle for clear and accurate sound reproduction. A master volume control and a pair of tone controls let you tweak your sound and output from the stage, and a discreet phase switch helps you squelch feedback before it starts.
The girthy lower mids produced by Taylor’s Grand Symphony shape are matched by mahogany’s natural midrange focus, resulting in a guitar with a great depth of sound that can be driven dynamically. On the 526ce, the mahogany top adds a bit of compression to the player’s attack, which tends to smooth out the response to produce a more linear output across the tonal spectrum. Voiced with Taylor’s Performance bracing, players can expect even stronger volume and tonal richness. Appointments include a vintage-look shaded edgeburst around the body and neck, faux tortoise shell binding and pickguard, a rosette of faux tortoise shell framed by grained ivoroid, and a grained ivoroid Century fretboard inlay. The guitar also sports a Venetian cutaway and Taylor’s natural-sounding Expression System 2 pickup and preamp.
The Taylor 526ce: You're going to love this guitar!
| Series | 500 |
|---|---|
| String Type | Steel |
| Number of Strings | 6 |
| Body Shape | Grand Symphony |
| Left-/Right-handed | Right-handed |
| Color | Shaded Edgeburst |
| Finish | Gloss |
| Top Wood | Tropical Mahogany |
| Back & Sides Wood | Tropical Mahogany |
| Body Bracing | Performance |
| Binding | Faux Tortoise |
| Neck Wood | Tropical Mahogany |
| Fingerboard Material | Ebony |
| Fingerboard Inlay | Ivoroid Century |
| Number of Frets | 20 |
| Scale Length | 25.5" |
| Tuning Machines | Taylor Nickel, 17:1 ratio |
| Bridge Material | Ebony |
| Nut/Saddle Material | Tusq Nut/Micarta Saddle |
| Nut Width | 1.75" |
| Body Length | 20" |
| Body Width | 16.25" |
| Body Depth | 4.625" |
| Electronics | ES2 |
| Strings | Elixir Phosphor Bronze Medium |
| Case Included | Hardshell case |
| Manufacturer Part Number | 526ce-VIN |
