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 Listung and is still operated under Bob Taylor today.

History

In 1973, 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. In 1974 Sam Radding decided to sell the business. Taylor and Listug became partners along with Steve Schemmer and bought American Dream which they renamed Westland Music Company hoping to conjure the image of a larger company in the minds of the public. 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. 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.

R Taylor

In 2005, Bob Taylor started a new line called R Taylor which is dedicated to making a small number of ultra-premium acoustic guitars available via a few select dealers within the US. The R Taylor workshop is located on the campus of the Taylor factory in El Cajon.

Construction

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.

Artists Who Play

Unlike many guitar manufacturers, Taylor does not pay artists to promote their instruments. Musicians who play Taylor Guitars include Taylor Swift (in which the guitars can be seen in most of her music videos), Augustana, Bryan Adams, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Blink-182, Marc Broussard, Jackson Browne, Hall & Oates, Robb Johannes, Mike Keneally, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Jewel, Paramore, Martin Sexton, Billy Simons, Sons of Maxwell, Larry Stewart, Doug Stone, Paul Westerberg, Neil Young, and bassists Bryan Beller, actor/musician Jeff Bridges, Stanley Clarke, Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, Billy Sheehan, Sting, Matthew Bellamy, Meg Frampton, and Victor Wooten who use Taylor's AB-series acoustic bass guitars that were built from 1996 to 2004. Other artists which use a taylor guitar are Tyler Hilton and Papa Roach.

External links

• Taylor Guitars
• Taylor Guitars on Fretbase Specs, photos and videos of all Taylor models
• 2009 Taylor Guitar Guide
• United Breaks Guitars Internet Video Sensation (Taylor Guitar)