Taylor Gold Label 517e Blacktop

Featuring a bold black soundboard finish, the Gold Label 517e Blacktop is a confident, road-ready powerhouse. Blending heritage aesthetics and a warm, muscular acoustic voice with old-school character, this model expands the Gold Label Collection in an inspiring new direction. Boasting a slightly deeper body than our original round-shoulder dreadnought design, this Grand Pacific produces extraordinary low-end power and projection. Solid mahogany back and sides are paired with a torrefied Sitka spruce top in a gloss-finish body, a time-tested tonewood pairing that serves up a woody, earthy voice with a thick midrange character. Our special soundboard roasting process contributes extra sweetness for a sound that’s even more reminiscent of older, more played-in acoustics. Inside, fanned V-Class bracing boosts volume, lengthens sustain and improves intonation along the entire fretboard. A long-tenon Action Control Neck™ joint enhances the connection between neck and body for enhanced tonal transfer while enabling easy and precise adjustments to string height for optimal playability in any scenario. 

Showcasing the Gold Label Collection’s unique design details, this model features a modified headstock with an angled back cut and script-style Taylor logo inlay. Exuding the classic styling of mid-20th-century acoustics, it features a cream-colored pickguard with a distinct shape that contrasts stylishly with its blacktop finish. The appointment package also includes a Honduran rosewood Curve Wing bridge with Indian rosewood bridge pins, cream-colored Crest inlays on the fretboard and peghead, cream body binding, and a cream single-ring rosette. Outfitted with Taylor nickel tuners and LR Baggs Element VTC electronics, the Gold Label 517e ships in a British Cocoa deluxe hardshell case.