Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars

The Taylor logo.
Company type	Private
Genre	Guitars
Founded	1973
Founder	Bob Taylor
Headquarters	El Cajon, California , USA
Number of employees	over 550
Website	www.taylorguitars.com

Taylor Guitars is an El Cajon, California‐based luthier, specializing in hollow-body acoustic guitars, as well as semi-hollow and solidbody electric guitars. It was established in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug and is still operated under Bob Taylor today.

History

In 1972, at age 18, Bob Taylor began working at American Dream, a small guitar-making shop owned by Sam Radding, where Kurt Listug was already an employee. During their first year at American Dream, Taylor and Listug made a few guitars, but mostly did repairs. When Radding decided to sell the business in 1974, the employees split into rival purchasing groups of two, each team jockeying for position while trying to figure out how to come up with the requisite capital. Finally, a triumvirate of Taylor, Listug, and Schemmer bought the American Dream. Euphoric with ambition, they renamed it the Westland Music Company. By the time the fledgling company hoisted its new banner, Taylor and Listug had a pretty clear idea of how their guitars would differ from others on the market. Their first few instruments certainly functioned well enough, but they weren't exactly things of beauty. Needing a more compact logo suitable for the guitars' headstock, the founders decided to change the name to Taylor as it sounded more American than Listug and because as Kurt Listug put it, "Bob was the real guitar-maker." Listug became the businessman of the partnership for which he was to prove well suited while Taylor concentrated on design and production. After selling a few prototypes at the workshop, the partners decided to take their wares directly to dealers. In 1976, Listug loaded some guitars into Bob Taylor's van and headed for the music stores in Los Angeles. "They liked them, and I actually came home with checks in my hand," Listug says. One of the first dealers to buy a Taylor guitar was the venerable McCabe's, in Santa Monica. John Zehnder, who today is the store's chief repairman, director of its music school, and banjo and mandolin instructor, remembers those first Taylors. In 1977, Taylor Guitars linked up with a distributor in the hope of boosting sales but it would prove to be an unproductive move. Taylor and Listug ended their affiliation with the distributor in 1979, but for years, the company remained fixed at a plateau of making 10 guitars a week and not seeing a profit. Because they were unable to break into any new markets, newly finished guitars just lay, unsold, around the shop. Bills went unpaid. In 1981, Taylor Guitars took out a bank loan to purchase equipment that would enable them to smooth out some production wrinkles. But without the benefit of marketing, unsold guitars continued to pile up. A year later, they sold a number of guitars to a single dealer, and used the cash to put Listug on the road in a quest for new dealers. Taylor and Listug expanded their small shop into a major guitar manufacturing company while maintaining creative control and ownership. As of 2008 Taylor Guitars has more than 550 employees. The factory is located in El Cajon, California with worldwide distribution. A second plant has been opened 40 miles away in Tecate, Mexico where the entry-level guitars of the Taylor line (the Baby, Big Baby, 100, and 200 series) are made along with the Taylor guitar cases. All other Taylor guitars are made in El Cajon, California. Taylor's corporate office is located in El Cajon, California.

Innovations

Starting in January 1999, Taylor guitars are made with a patented bolt-on neck; the NT neck (new technology). It differs from other necks, whether bolt-on or glued, by supporting the fretboard all the way to the 19th fret with a continuous piece of wood. The standard practice is to support the fretboard up to the fourteenth fret with the unsupported portion being glued to the constantly moving soundboard. The NT neck fits into a pocket on the top of the guitar body with the desired angle being achieved by small, accurately milled neck spacers (shims). After time, some guitars require the neck angle to be realigned (referred to as a neck reset). This process is greatly simplified by allowing the replacement of different sized neck spacers to return the neck to the required angle. Prior to 1999, Taylor Guitars had a simpler bolt-on neck. These guitar necks allow for simple adjustment later if needed. Traditional (Non-Taylor) guitars with a glued neck with a dovetail would need to be disassembled to be adjusted.

Taylor's proprietary pickup system, the Expression System, consists of a patented humbucking induction pickup mounted in the neck and a pair of dynamic soundboard transducers wired to an on board preamplifier designed by Rupert Neve. The entry-level 100 and 200 series use an externally similar system known as ES-T, which utilizes a single under-saddle pickup and no soundboard transducers. The first generation system was powered by a pair of AA batteries. Starting in 2007 the electronics use a 9-volt battery similarly to common piezoelectric and microphonic pickup systems in other guitars.

Taylor also produced their famous "pallet guitar" , a high quality guitar made from old pallets, demonstrating the importance of construction over expensive, exotic woods. The finger-board inlay humourously features a picture of a fork lift truck.

Artists who play and played Taylor guitars

Singer-songwriter Val Emmich playing a Taylor guitar.

Unlike many guitar manufacturers, Taylor does not pay artists to promote their instruments. Musicians who play Taylor guitars include John Frusciante, Joe Anthony Stone, Kyle Williams, Lindsey Buckingham, Travis Meeks of Days of the New, Taylor Swift, Miyavi, Augustana, Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, John Denver, Robin Williamson, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Matthew Bellamy, Tom DeLonge, Marc Broussard, Ryan Cabrera, Michelle Branch, Jackson Browne, Aleksandr Rozenbaum, Hall & Oates, Robb Johannes, Mike Keneally, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Jewel, Paramore, Rise Against, Martin Sexton, Billy Simons, Sons of Maxwell, Larry Stewart, Doug Stone, Val Emmich, Paul Westerberg, Neil Young, Tyler Hilton and Papa Roach. Bassists Bryan Beller, actor/musician Jeff Bridges, Stanley Clarke, Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Sheehan, Claudio Sanchez, Sting, Meg Frampton, Taylor Hill, Victor Wooten, and Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge also use Taylor's AB-series acoustic bass guitars that were built from 1996 to 2004. A Taylor guitar features in the song "United Breaks Guitars".

External links

• Taylor Guitars
• 2009 Taylor Guitar Guide
• Distributore Italiano