The Taylor Guitars Legacy Collection: Recrafted to Reinspire
Throughout 2024, Taylor’s celebration of its milestone 50th anniversary has produced a steady stream of commemorative limited-edition model offerings across our entire guitar line, from the GS Mini to the Presentation Series. This fall, the festivities culminate with a special suite of five guitars that mark the debut of a separate historically inspired category: The Legacy Collection.
Taylor 810e Legacy Dreadnought Acoustic Electric Features:
- Dreadnought Body Shape
- Pays tribute to Bob Taylor's ingenuity and instincts for guitar-making
- A big, commanding sound full of warmth, sparkle and blooming overtones
- Solid Indian Rosewood back and sides
- Solid Sitka Spruce Top
- Tropical Mahogany neck with African Ebony fretboard
- Modern Taylor neck profile offering relaxed fretting and simple adjustability
- Legacy X Bracing
- LR Baggs Element VTC active electronics
- Soundhole-mounted controls
- Deluxe hardshell case included
Honoring the innovations of Taylor designs dating back to 1975, the Legacy 810e offers the sound, look and feel of the original Dreadnought acoustic-electric guitar with updates to select features that enhance the overall performance and aesthetic. Crafted with Indian rosewood back and sides paired with a Sitka spruce top, this model pays tribute to Bob Taylor's ingenuity and instincts for guitar-making with a big, commanding sound full of warmth, sparkle and blooming overtones powered by traditional X-bracing and Bob's flair for tonal sophistication. Subtle updates include a modern Taylor neck profile offering relaxed fretting and simple adjustability, along with a slightly newer version of the Dreadnought body that still dates back to Taylor's earlier days. Appointments recall the original details of early 800 Series guitars, including white binding, a three-ring rosette in green abalone, mother-of-pearl Large Diamond fretboard inlays, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard, and ebony bridge pins with green abalone dots. This Legacy guitar includes an undersaddle LR Baggs Element VTC pickup with soundhole-mounted controls. It ships with a deluxe hardshell case and sports a specially designed Legacy interior label.
The Design Approach: A Blend of Old and New
With previous Taylor milestone anniversaries, co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug were never inclined to celebrate the past with their anniversary model design. For years, as a company focused on guitar innovation, the view was always forward-facing because Bob felt there was more to be done to advance the design and performance of the company’s guitars.
Instead, such anniversaries often provided a springboard to launch a bold new design (e.g., the Grand Auditorium at year 20, the patented Taylor neck at 25). But 50 years is different; for the first time, Bob feels ready to reflect and acknowledge some notable guitars that put Taylor on the map — and that players have loved.
These guitars are not pure reissues: While the guitars in the Legacy Collection pay tribute to past models, they’re not intended to be 100% authentic replicas of the original versions. They’re “inspired by” or “reimagined.” The guitars will be “composite” designs featuring elements curated (by Bob) from different periods to offer players a better performing version of a classic guitar (e.g., the 810e features appointments from the ’70s, a slightly more refined version of our dreadnought shape that came years later, X-bracing, and our more modern, patented Taylor neck).
All Legacy Collection guitars will feature a specially designed “Legacy” label inside the guitar.
Origin/Inspiration
Three models trace back to some of Bob’s earliest guitars, which helped establish Taylor. They’re an essential part of our history, representing the first two body styles Bob made (dreadnought and jumbo shapes that Bob inherited from Sam Radding at the American Dream shop, which he and Kurt purchased to start Taylor) and featuring a 12-string jumbo, which Neil Young famously played in the Rust Never Sleeps concert film.
Bob wanted to preserve some of the original aesthetic elements he still loves to this day and capture the X-bracing sound that characterized the guitars for years, but with the more modern Taylor neck because it’s better. (Bob’s analogy: You couldn’t build a ’65 Mustang today because it wouldn’t pass today’s safety standards. So these guitars have that modern touch where appropriate.)
The Dreadnought is one of the most traditional acoustic guitar shapes. Taylor's version has been refined to blend its trademark robust low-end tone with a snappy midrange and brilliant treble notes, producing a pleasing balance of power and articulation. If you're a flatpicker or strummer who likes to dig in on lead or rhythm, the Taylor Dreadnought will serve you well.
A guitar's top is the primary filter and distributor of vibrating string energy through the guitar, which means it has a huge impact on its sound. Sitka Spruce is the most prevalent guitar top wood of the modern era.