Builder's Edition 652ce

An easy to play, easy to hold, in tune, versatile 12-String built for the 21st century player and stage / studio ready. With a silent satin finish that nearly eliminates incidental body contact noise - the Builder’s Edition 652ce, in shaded edge burst finish, adopts the smaller Grand Concert (GC) body shape making it super easy to hold. Taylor GC models have an inherent strength in their construction and this articulates well on a 12-String instrument, aiding a confident voice and punchy tone that, working together with the V-Class bracing, projects and carries as much volume and sustain as possible. With V-Class, soundwaves bloom in a more natural and cohesive way, offering great note separation - aided further by the double mounted string anchoring system that reduces conflict between the string pairings whilst also facilitating excellent intonation right along the neck. Reverse strung to offer a broader, punchier tone with more low end power and warmth - on the Builder’s Edition 652ce a torrefied sitka spruce top is paired with solid figured big leaf maple back to offer a focused and clear sound, articulate and responsive to the delicate touch but will surprise you at how loud it can be. Endlessly playable, the slightly shorter 24 ⅞ inch scale length with 12-Fret neck join ensures a slinky but responsive feel to the hands, with a pleasant mid range bump that further aids clarity. Like all Builder’s Edition models, the ultimate in player comfort is provided - with a double contoured cutaway providing easy access to the higher frets, a bevelled armrest for smooth strumming arm movement, chamfered body and fretboard edges, 21:1 high gear ratio Gotoh tuners for precision tuning and a smooth Curve Wing bridge that creates space for the hand. Scepter inlays in shell and mother-of-pearl provide refined aesthetics and the Builder’s Edition 652ce is preloaded with natural and expressive sounding ES2 electronics, shipping in a deluxe Taylor hardshell case.

Grand Concert

One of the smaller body shapes in the Taylor family, with a slightly shorter scale length – the Grand Concert is easy to both wrap yourself around and press down on the frets, due to a lighter string tension – making it perfect for fingerstyle playing, young people just starting out and those with smaller hands / seeking a lighter touch. As at home in the studio as it is being with you on the road, the clarity of tone a Grand Concert guitar provides makes it perfect to layer with instruments in the mix where more dominating tones may struggle to slot into place. An extremely efficient design, the smaller body frame is inherently stronger, requiring less energy to encourage the soundboard to react - so you’ll find it surprisingly easy to set the strings in motion and really sing.

Maple

For centuries, maple has been revered in the world of bowed instruments for its linear, transparent tonal response. Supremely responsive to the player, maple is traditionally known in the guitar world for having a bright, focused tone with a quick attack and fast decay. Revoiced for the Taylor 600 Series in 2015 to provide greater warmth, complexity, volume, sustain and responsiveness, Taylor's maple guitars retain naturally clear and linear qualities while offering the player even more tonal possibilities.

Sitka Spruce

Sitka Spruce is the most commonly used wood for guitar tops. Sitka generates a broad dynamic range and accommodates numerous playing styles from aggressive strumming to fingerpicking. As a guitar soundboard, Sitka spruce is the tonewood standard of the modern era. It’s used on 85-90 percent of the guitars that Taylor makes. Its combination of strength and elasticity translates into a broad dynamic range, yielding crisp articulation and allowing for everything from aggressive strumming and flatpicking to fingerpicking.

ES-2 Pickup

If you need to amplify your sound, you'll love the revolutionary onboard ES2 pickup system. The 3 individual sensors located behind the saddle combine with the pro-grade preamp to deliver an unmatched dynamics, perfect for live or studio.

V-class Bracing

Bracing is the internal framework of an acoustic guitar that plays a vital role in the way the instrument shapes the sound. Although X-bracing has been standard in acoustic guitars for over a century, it creates an innate conflict between two key elements of a guitar's sound: volume and sustain. The guitar's top (its soundboard) contributes significantly to both. The flexibility of the top generates volume (projection), while its stiffness generates sustain. And with X-braced guitar tops, here's where the trade-off comes in: when something is made stiffer, its flexibility is reduced (and vice versa). V-Class bracing changes all that. With Taylor's V-Class bracing, an acoustic guitar top can be both stiff and flexible — for more volume and sustain. V-Class bracing provides stiffness parallel to the strings for more rigidity and hence sustain. Flexibility on either side generates the air movement necessary for robust projection - so it's the best of both worlds. This groundbreaking innovation also improves intonation, not only producing notes that are louder and with longer sustain — but more in tune with each other. V-Class bracing also boosts volume evenly across the tonal spectrum, increases sustain, and improves the natural intonation of the instrument by creating a more synergistic response from the soundboard. This fosters a more harmonious relationship between the notes you play, helping chords to ring out in cohesive splendor. Pick up a Taylor with V-Class bracing and experience it for yourself.

Body

• Back Config : 2-piece No Wedge
• Rosette Size : Single Ring
• Back/Side Finish : Silent Satin
• Stain/Sunburst : Wild Honey Burst Top/Back/Sides/Neck
• Armrest : Yes
• Top Finish : Silent Satin
• Armrest Binding : Beveled, Neo-Tropical
• Rosette Material : Big Leaf Maple

Neck

• Neck Width : 1-7/8"
• Fretboard Binding/Edge Treatment : West African Crelicam Ebony
• Type of Neck Joint : Scarf
• Fretboard Wood : West African Crelicam Ebony
• Heel Length : 3-1/4"
• Fretboard Inlay : Scepter, Mother of Pearl
• Heel Cap Binding : West African Crelicam Ebony
• Neck/Heel : Hard Rock Maple
• Neck Finish : Satin

Peghead

• Peghead Finish : Satin
• Peghead Type : Standard
• Headstock Overlay : West African Crelicam Ebony
• Peghead Logo : Taylor Mother of Pearl
• Peghead Inlay : Scepter, Mother of Pearl

Other

• Bridge Pins : West African Crelicam Ebony
• Buttons : Gold
• Edge Trim : Maple
• Scale Length : 24-7/8"
• Bracing : V-Class Bracing
• Tuners : Gotoh
• Strings : Phosphor Bronze Light
• Body Width : 15"
• Nut & Saddle : Tusq Nut, Micarta Saddle
• Truss Rod Cover : West African Crelicam Ebony
• Number of Frets : 18
• Case : Taylor Deluxe Hardshell Brown
• Body Length : 19 1/2"
• Body Depth : 4 3/8"