Taylor 2022 AD17e American Dream Grand Pacific Acoustic-Electric Guitar Black

Born from adversity and built for value. The American Dream series by Taylor, like this 2022 AD17e American Dream Grand Pacific acoustic-electric guitar, was designed for premium performance and utility. Named after the shop that birthed Taylor Guitars in 1974, these guitars go back to the basics, to a time when Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug had a dream to purse their passion of building quality acoustic guitars that would inspire musicians to play and create music. At the heart and soul of Taylor Guitars is a desire to build the finest acoustic guitars that redefine sound, body shapes and playability, and the American Dream Series embodies these principles of innovation.

Facing an unprecedented global crisis, Taylor turned to what they know best, designing and building guitars. Andy Powers and Bob Taylor pushed themselves to create a new series of U.S.-made, solid-wood guitars that are distilled into the essential elements of premium musical performance, and deliver these instruments at an affordable price. The AD17e American Dream Grand Pacific acoustic-electric guitar features Taylor’s innovative Grand Pacific body shape, V-Class bracing, all solid-wood construction, chamfered body edges, eucalyptus fingerboard/bridge/peghead, a super thin matte finish, single-ring wood rosette and ES2 electronics. The AD17e American Dream Grand Pacific ships in Taylor’s AeroCase for maximum protection and portability.

Body Shape
The Grand Pacific brings a new flavor of sound to the Taylor line: warm and seasoned, with broad, round overlapping notes that blend into each other to create a unified harmony. It’s a departure from the focused, precise, clear and vibrant sound of Taylor’s Grand Auditorium shape, which helped define what players have come to recognize as “the Taylor Sound.” An important attribute of the Grand Pacific shape is the elimination of problematic low-end woofiness and muddiness (perceived as a “puff of air”) often associated with dreadnought-style guitars. This has been accomplished while retaining the usable, musical, warm power of bass response. Because of this, the Grand Pacific is especially microphone-friendly and suits flat-pickers, strummers and fingerstyle players alike.

Tonewood Pairing
Spruce is the most prevalent guitar top wood of the modern era. It blends stiffness and elasticity in just the right proportions, which translates into broad dynamic range with crisp articulation. The Natural finish version features walnut, an under-appreciated tonewood for acoustic guitars. Combining a brightness and transparency similar to maple with some of the dry warmth of mahogany, walnut helps single note lines cut, while keeping strummed “cowboy chords” big and vibrant. Tonally, ovangkol is famous for its punchy midrange and shimmery, articulate top end. Its pleasing depth and responsive bass range produce a broad balanced tone with a lot of punch. 

Electronics
Taylor’s ES2 is a revolutionary pickup design that delivers the latest in Taylor’s ongoing innovation in acoustic guitar amplification. The heart of the Expression System 2 is Taylor’s patented behind-the-saddle pickup, which features three uniquely positioned and individually calibrated pickup sensors. Because the pickup doesn’t sit under the saddle, the bottom of the saddle comes in full contact with the bridge, allowing all the nuance of the guitar’s tone to come through clearly whether playing acoustically or plugged-in. The location of the sensors enables a more dynamic range of acoustic sound to be captured than ever before while playing plugged-in. Together with Taylor’s custom-designed “professional audio”-grade preamp, this system produces exceptional amplified tone and responsiveness. On stage through a PA, plugged into your favorite acoustic amplifier, or direct into recording software, the Expression System 2 faithfully conveys the voice of your Taylor guitar. The Taylor Expression System 2 operates through a proprietary 9-volt battery compartment and easy-to-use volume, and active bass and treble controls.

V-Class Bracing
Taylor’s V-Class bracing is essentially a “sonic engine” that optimizes the response of an acoustic guitar in three key ways. It boosts volume, sustain, and largely resolves the intonation issues that have long plagued acoustic guitars. V-Class bracing creates purer, more orderly notes that don’t cancel each other out or sound “off”. They have clearer, more consistent response, and the whole fretboard is brought into greater sonic alignment for a more musical playing/listening experience. Guitars with V-Class bracing are easier to tune; the pitch sounds purer and more solid, and electronic tuners can easily locate notes for quick, precise tuning. Other benefits: harmonics ring more uniformly down the neck, notes are louder with more projection and sustain, and notes are more consistent, i.e., upper register notes don’t get choked out or swallowed. Fewer “sour” sonic qualities exist with chords; a more agreeable relationship is created between notes as they ripen, bloom and decay.