The Taylor 552ce Grand Concert 12-string introduces a new tonewood flavor to the 12-string sound by combining a toreified Sitka spruce top with a red ironbark back and sides. Sourced in Southern California through Taylor’s urban wood initiative, red ironbark has the sonic richness of Indian rosewood, combined with the density and hardness of ebony, to push the sound to another level. Paired with a torrefied Sitka spruce top and Taylor’s V-Class bracing, the sound of the 500 Series is both muscular and sweet, with piano-like fidelity and strength across the entire frequency spectrum. The tone is as if the notes jump out of the guitar with a natural amplifying effect.

A new appointment package was created to preserve a traditional aesthetic, updated with subtle decorative touches to complement the new wood pairing. The back and sides feature a stain that deepens ironbark’s natural reddish and golden-brown hues. The body and neck also feature a lightly shaded edgeburst, with a gloss-finished body and satin-finished neck. Other details include new Aerial inlays in Italian acrylic and faux pearl, faux tortoise binding and pickguard, a single-ring abalone rosette with maple and black purfling, and Taylor nickel tuners. 500 Series models feature a Venetian cutaway and onboard ES2 electronics and ship with a Taylor deluxe hardshell case.

Body Shape
Taylor's Grand Concert is slightly smaller than a Grand Auditorium and yields controlled overtones and richness that is perfect for a 12-string guitar. The Grand Concert has a very balanced tone and offers an articulate voice with top-end chime. Its comfortable shape is suited for fingerstyle players and light strummers, though flatpickers are known to enjoy its tonal character too. Its intimate size makes it lap/couch-friendly, and a great fit for players who find smaller instruments more physically comfortable. The short-scale (24-7/8") and playable neck also makes fretting incredibly easy to play up and down the fingerboard. Premium features include silver side dots, grained ivoroid peghead logo and inlay, grained ivoroid "Century" fretboard inlays, tortoise pickguard, tortoise body and soundhole binding.

Tonewood Pairing
Imagine the sonic depth and richness of Indian rosewood pushed to another level. Red ironbark’s hardness and density are comparable to ebony, and together with a roasted spruce top, produce a sound that’s both muscular and sweet, with piano-like fidelity, complexity and depth, and with pleasing girth to the notes across the entire frequency spectrum. Notes jump out of the guitar, producing a natural amplifying effect. The Grand Concert 552ce, also produces remarkable volume and dynamic range, blending the responsiveness of a smaller body with bold projection that also makes it an inspiring strummer.

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. Onstage 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: by boosting volume, sustain, and by largely resolving the intonation (in-tune-ness) 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 more 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.