The Taylor DN-K Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar has a Sitka spruce top and Hawaiian koa back & sides. This rare and exotic tonewood is prized for its stunning golden hues, bold grain figure, and sweet tone. The visual allure of the koa is complemented with shimmering abalone trim around the top and Soundhole. Other features include Ivoroid binding on the body, fingerboard, soundhole and peghead, an ebony headstock overlay, and gold-plated tuners.The Taylor DN-k dreadnought is focused and assertive with plenty of presence and volume. The time-honored heritage of the dreadnought body style makes it the choice of the traditional guitarist.The traditional shape and sound have been refined to blend power with a more balanced response Bob Taylor launched his career crafting Dreadnoughts, working with shapes he inherited from Sam Radding, the owner of the American Dream guitar shop, where he and Taylor co-founder Kurt Listug got their start. The legacy of this shape carried a powerful, traditional sound that Bob gradually reworked into a refined Taylor tone and more smoothly contoured look. The rosewood/spruce 810 became a Taylor stalwart and was for many years Bob s preferred model, favored for its robust tone and understated, workmanlike aesthetic. In 2003 the Dread underwent a major revoicing to give it a more competitive identity among old school flatpickers. A cannon, it boasted 50 percent more volume (which also meant more dynamic range), yielded an appreciably stronger bass response, and let out a hearty growl when pickers dug in, all without upsetting Taylor s sonic balance. As Bob put it during the revoicing process: I want to be able to play a Dreadnought on the bass strings and then on these middle D and G strings and have it sound like the same guitar. Bob later applied some of his short-scale ideas to the 710ce-L9 limited in 2005, and it proved to be a winner. Like the short-scale GC, the slinkier feel allowed players to lighten up on their attack and play up the neck. It gave the Dreadnought more versatility than it had ever seen. Short-scale or standard, the Taylor Dreadnought delivers a vintage sound for the 21st Century. Play a Dreadnought if: You re a flatpicker or strummer looking for a potent, traditional sound.