814ce

Lighter 11-52 gauge preserves Taylor 814ce feel for fingerstyle players with Elixir long life.

Rotosound's 80/20 acoustic alloy for Taylor owners wanting brighter attack with British QC character.

Factory-fitted on some Taylor models — the voice of modern Taylor.

D'Addario's answer to Elixir — thinner coating with warm PB voice.

Unconventional: Martin Retro Monel on a Taylor. Taylor builds its 814ce for modern acoustic clarity — the V-Class bracing, Taylor Expression System 2 pickup, and bright Sitka spruce top are all voiced around D'Addario or Elixir Phosphor Bronze rounds. Every 814ce ships from the El Cajon factory with PB, and Taylor's entire sonic signature leans into bright, balanced, recording-friendly top end. Martin's Retro Monel revives a pre-war alloy (nickel-copper) that Martin used in the 1930s-40s before phosphor bronze took over; it's the string typically loaded onto a vintage Martin 000-18 or D-18 to chase Robert Johnson or early Hank Williams tone.

Installing Retro Monel on a Taylor is a cross-brand heresy that serious fingerstyle players — Tommy Emmanuel fans experimenting, folk session players in Nashville, Taylor owners who love the guitar's playability but find it too modern — use to inject pre-war Martin warmth into Taylor's bright shimmer. What you gain: deep midrange woody complexity, rolled-off high shimmer, vocal-friendly tone under a microphone. What you sacrifice: the crystalline top Taylor is famous for, sparkling clarity under ES2 amplification, and that 'new Taylor smell' brightness.

Best for fingerstyle, vocal accompaniment, and players who bought a Taylor for feel but want Martin voice; skip it if you love the Taylor sound as-is.