Jacob Collier champions the five-string guitar revolution with two new Taylor signature models
Jacob Collier‘s playing style is anything but conventional, so it should come as no surprise that he champions unconventional instruments. The multi-instrumentalist and all-round music whizz has played five-string guitars for some time now, and even released a number of signatures, including headless models with Strandberg, and a signature five-string with Taylor last year.
Now, Collier’s five-string repertoire is expanding, with the addition of two new acoustics in collaboration with Taylor.
Collier’s new Academy 22e and GS Mini acoustic guitars are just as unique as the star himself. Binning off a sixth string, the guitars are tuned to Collier’s preferred DAEAD set up – and the result is a pair of guitars straight from his “dreams”.
“I dreamed of this guitar tuning for many, many years before it existed,” he explains. “I asked Taylor, ‘how would you feel about putting five-strings on a six-string neck, tuned in a very strange way, with exactly the same range as a normal guitar, but with a different set of intervals?’ They said yes, which changed my whole life.”
In a 2024 interview with Guitar.com, Collier explained his love of a five-string over a six-string. “Back in 2016, I figured out a way for guitar to make sense to me – it was by ripping one of the strings off a six-string guitar and leaving only five,” he recalled. “And I tuned it in a very unusual way. I did this for the first time on the day of a gig, and then I played it on the gig, which was a very funny experience.”
“I sat there and found this language in front of all these people,” he continued. “It felt like they were holding me to it. It was like, ‘Okay, Jacob. If you’re going to do that, do it right.’ But it was actually an amazing experience.”
The Academy 22e boasts a walnut Grand Concert body, as well as a comfortable bevelled armrest to take off some pressure. The bridge and fretboard adopt a smoked eucalyptus bridge and fretboard, and it comes with Academy Series bracing and Fishman Presys VT electronics. This one serves as the pricier of the pair, sitting at £1,099.
Credit: Taylor Guitars
On the flip side, the GS Mini boasts a more colourful design. It feels like the essence of Collier is trapped within the spruce top, with its vibrant, geometric rosette. This model boasts a mahogany and West African ebony neck and fretboard, with no electronics for a truly natural sound and a lower price point of £749. Each guitar comes fitted with a custom Jacob Collier label.
Of course, both models sit at a far more accessible price than Collier’s original Taylor Signature, which costs £2,799.
Credit: Taylor Guitars
“Each guitar is so distinct in [its] own right,” Collier notes in a press release. “For them to be accessible to more people, while maintaining the same spirit that inspired the original designs, is a wonder. I’m so looking forward to more folks having the opportunity to discover this 5-string world and make their own magic with it.”
The introduction of these new Jacob Collier 5-strings is also notable in that they now make up what’s a pretty small signature guitar lineup from Taylor, only with other models from Taylor Swift and Jason Mraz.
To find out more, head to Taylor Guitars.
