New Tonewoods in the 400 Series

That's awesome Greg Ballantyne , super happy and excited for you to get this new Taylor into your hands. Hope everything is or works out okay with the apparent uncertainty of availability. But I'm sure Sweetwater has their proverbial ducks in a row to be able to get it for you. Looking forward to the NGD announcement and your impressions.

Great news, but the wait, the suspense.
 Sure it will be worth the extra wait, can't wait to see the photos, and read your review.

Greg Ballantyne,TonyKgull,CTGull,El Gull,RockyMtnGull,RobertW,Derick, Don't know if anyone is still paying attention to this thread, but I thought I'd let everyone know that Sweetwater has two 514CE LTDs for sale on their site with detailed pictures of the individual guitars. If you're in the market and they are within your budget I'd jump on these. Mine is the most stunning guitar I've ever played.

Greg Ballantyne, The 414CE-R was my very first Taylor and is what prompted me to sell my Zagers to get more Taylors. The 414 just blew me away with the quality of sound and workmanship. It has a stronger, more pronounced bass response and more shimmering treble with a less pronounced mid-range. It definitely fits the scooped mid-range description you hear about with rosewood and spruce combinations. It's very loud, sustains for days and is a beautiful strummer. To me it sounds very much like a dreadnought but is much more comfortable to hold and play. I play primarily finger style and the guitar is perfectly suited for that but anyone wanting a strummer would be very happy with this guitar also. I play a song by Preston Reed called Overture For Lily in open D, (he plays it on a 12 string two and a half steps down) which has a continuous alternating bass between the 6th and 4th strings. This song is actually difficult to make sound right on the 414 because of the volume of the bass, making it hard to project the melody on the rest of the strings. That might just be from my perspective with the guitar right by my ears though. That's the only song I've experienced this with though and probably has more to do with a lack of thumb control on my part. I just restrung my new Artist Cameo with heavy strings and tuned it the way Preston does to play that song and it works perfectly. To sum it all up, the 414 is just as stunning as the 514 LTD, just in a different, probably more familiar way. When it comes time to play it's actually hard to decide which guitar to pick up, I like both so much. That as a friend likes to tell me, is a high quality problem. I don't see ever parting with either one. The 414 will probably be a real mind blower after a couple years of playing her. For someone experiencing this level of quality for the first time it's a mind blower now.

Derick, They are palm muted for the first part of the song, then played open.

Greg Ballantyne, Well the GA body shape isn't what I would call a small body.  The lower bout has the same width and depth as the dreadnought.  That narrower waist just makes it sit a little lower depending on how you hold it.  I see some people rest the lower bout on their right leg instead of the waist so body shape probably makes no difference.  I have to hold the guitar in more of classical style with the waist on my raised left leg.  It's the only way I can get my short arms in a position to fret comfortably. 

Greg Ballantyne, I'm the same way.  Had many small guitars, but now I have a GA and a Dread.  I'm not a big guy, all of barely 5' 11" and 170 lbs now ( lost 15 lbs. since I started this job!  Very physical), but nothing beats a GA or Dread for me for sound and for being comfortable to hold and play.

So ya, for me, my GA is my "small" guitar as well.  It's amazing how close it is to a dread, but how much smaller it feels.  It's almost like magic.......almost.