The Story Behind Taylor Swift’s Rare Koi Fish Acoustic Guitar

This beautiful and rare guitar was used on the Eras Tour.

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I recently wrote an article at Guitar.com about the guitars that Taylor Swift had been using on the Eras Tour. I wanted to dig a bit deeper into one of those guitars here – a rather rare and unique acoustic from Taylor Guitars called the Grand Symphony “Living Jewels” Series.

The “Living Jewels” Series was the brainchild of an artist named Pete Davies Jr., who worked at Taylor Guitars with his father and mother. Unfortunately, Davies passed away in 2014 in a motorcycle accident. But his artwork lives on in the Taylor Living Jewels Series guitars and the Liberty Tree Series (we’ll do an article on that series as well because they are really cool).

The Living Jewels Series was part of Taylor’s Gallery Series and consisted of three sets of 100 guitars each. The three sets depicted very ornate and beautiful inlay work based on Davies’ designs. One set featured artwork depicting sea turtles, another featured Gray Whales, and the third featured Koi Fish.

The Living Jewels Series Koi Fish guitars were constructed of Big Leaf Maple on the back and sides with a high-quality Bearclaw Spruce top. The entire body was finished with an aqua-blue transparent finish. The Sea Turtle and Gray Whale versions featured a natural finish. The inlays on all three models surround the sound hole and continue up the fretboards. The fretboards are ebony, as are the bridge and bridge pins.

The Koi Fish series may be the most well-known, thanks to one popular owner named Taylor Swift. It is unknown where Swift obtained her Living Jewels guitar, but she started using it around 2011-2012 while out on the Speak Now Tour to perform hits like “Last Kiss.” She brought the guitar out again in 2022 for the music video “Anti-Hero.” After that, it was resigned to the Country Music Hall of Fame until it was removed in 2023, presumably for use on the Eras Tour where it was used to perform several songs during the set.

Swift has been a longtime user of Taylor Guitars and even has a signature guitar through the iconic brand. So, it is very possible that she may have gotten her Koi Fish Acoustic directly from Taylor rather than on the secondhand market. Many collectors have been working towards owning a guitar from each of the three sets. Although they retain their value quite well, they still fetch nearly $10,000 on the used market if and when you can find them. They are typically snatched up fairly quickly.

Even without the fact that Taylor Swift plays one, the Living Jewels guitars serve as an intriguing footnote in the history and vast collection of amazing guitars produced by Taylor through the years. They remind us of the stunning artistry of the departed Pete Davies Jr. and the naturally inspiring beauty the world has to offer, both above and below the surface of the lakes and oceans that keep our planet thriving.