Taylor 214ce or Martin Road Series?
 

I have the opportunity to purchase either a Taylor 214ce or a Martin Road Series for the exact same price. I'm a big taylor fan in general. What's making me consider the Martin Road Series is the all solid wood (sitka spruce top, sapele back and sides) vs. layered rosewood back and sides on the 214ce.

I'm interested in your thoughts. The Martin would seem to be a better deal considering all solid wood and I'd have to move into the 300 series to get all solid wood with a Taylor which would add signifcant $$$

Any build quality issues I should consider or anything else? What am I not thinking about?

It sounds like you enjoy the tone of the Taylor better than the Martin? If so I'd go with the Taylor for that reason, regardless of whether the back/sides are laminate.

You already have a Taylor so adding the Martin will give you some sound flexibility. I played a 000RSGT Martin a few days ago and really liked it. $999 would be well spent on a rig like that.

I'd select the one that sounds best to me or simply get both. It's really helpful to listen to each as an observer, while someone else plays a few of the same songs on each.

I have several Taylors including a 214ce and don't give a darn about laminate vs solid. The darn thing sounds great and it's personality changes nicely with different strings.

Since I have 5 Taylors, I personally would lean toward a Martin just to round-out sound/tone diversity -but that's just me. Your situation might be different.


Ray

One thing I have learned is forget about solid versus lam. Go by what you like and hear.

I have a D 16GT and I recently picked up an old Road Series DM, which has lam B/S and of course the D 16GT has all solid woods Both mahogany.

I like the DM better and am considering selling the D 16 if I can get the strength to do it. Now I would always go for the Martin Road Series over a Taylor. But those 214's are sweet guitars and one of these days I would sure like to own one. Between my DM and the 214 I would pick the 214 if prices were equal, but unfortunately they are not. You can get a DM, which they no longer make for less money. I came real close to picking up a 214 a couple weeks back that was stamped used. But they wanted 799 for it versus the 5 I paid for my like new DM. So there you have it.

My Daughter and I just happened to do a road trip today and hit up 3 different guitar shops and played around 30 different guitars under $1000 and both ended up choosing the Taylor 214ce as the best playing and sounding of the group.

Taylor 214's made prior to 2007 are made of all solid wood. Buy one of those used if it's important to you.

Taylor quality at that price cannot be beat. If you like the tone, the choice should be easy.


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The 200 Taylor series have got to be the best sounding laminate back and sided guitar going. Can you play them side by side? If not, go with your gut choice - you like the sound of Taylors.

I just saw that you already have a great Taylor. So maybe adding a Martin would add some more variety to your stable. Taylors and Martins are apples and oranges. A lot of people do like both.

I typically cheer Martin and Gibson in these threads, but the Taylor 214CE is a seriously great guitar, and a bargain, for this gigging musician. I owned one breifly. I ultimately ended up putting a K&K in my D35, so I use that mostly when I play out, but...

I spent a lot of time A/B this Taylor model against several Martin performing arts series, and the Taylor won for me hands down.

My two cents, either one is a fantastic guitar for the money.
Taylor has a great construction from top to bottom.
The Martin has the same.
Both are MIM, big deal? not really.
Martin comes with a hardshell case. Taylor, hard gig bag.
Playability, quality of tone, ergonomics are all very subjective.
That being said, the pickup componets do make a difference here.
I prefer the ES over the Fishman in this case.
I have a Martin DRS1, may of preferred the 000 size but, it works nonetheless.

The 214 and 000 sizes are great guitars, I don't see either one being greater by a large margin over another.

Same here. I like the Martin quite a bit, but my Larrivee fills the need of a warmer sound so I went with the Taylor. They are both great guitars

If you buy the deluxe you get the hard case and a few extra goodies like a gloss finish. It looks legit and makes a great stage guitar. After my brand new Fishman Aura + went belly up on a 2 week old Martin, I have more appreciation for the simplicity of the ES2 in the Taylor guitars.

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Last year, in March, I went to a few Guitar Centers looking to buy a guitar. I went in with around a $1,000 budget, give or take. So, the Taylor and Martin Road series was on the list to demo along with others.

I went in thinking that the Martin would be the better guitar. On paper it had the specs to beat the Taylors in that price range. The two I compared were the Taylor 214 series and the Martin 000RSGT. To my surprise, at every guitar center and with all the examples, the Taylor came out on top in my opinion. Not saying it was better built or anything, just saying the Taylor 214 series sounded better and played better to me.

I didn't end up with either in the end, as I found something unexpected at a lower price point. But If I was to pick one, it would have to be the Taylor .. and I might have even spent the extra for the deluxe model.. the gloss finish was very nice and the included hard case I think justified the increase.

I don't know what you can take away from that... Maybe just that you have to try them for yourself to really know which one works for you.

Without a doubt, get the Taylor.