Time: 1985 | Place: “Any Guitar Shop, USA” | Event: Acoustic guitar shopping
A salesperson at “Any Guitar shop, USA”: Taylor? We don’t carry them, but I’ve heard of them. Have you seen that Purple Jumbo in the new Prince Video? That’s a Taylor guitar. I think they are made at a Hippy commune in El Segundo. Don’t worry--we pride ourselves on our selection! We carry 3 or 4 popular brands and stock almost a dozen acoustic guitars. Keep walking past the massive electric guitar hanger and look for the sign in the back that reads “Acoustic Guitar Closet.” I’ll be right over to help you. Need a pick?
Time: 1967 | Place: Lemmon Grove California | Event: Bob Taylors first guitars
By all accounts, young Bob Taylor was a natural-born engineer with aptitude far beyond his age. It’s an accepted truth that curious kids love to disassemble anything from toys, expensive tech, and even the carriage bolts that support Dad’s favorite chair.
Curiosity is a great teacher, and Bob Taylor had an extreme case of “the curiosities.” Risking dangerous punishment by disassembling his dad's favorite chair wasn’t risk vs. reward worthy of young Bob Taylor’s active mind and inquisitive nature. Bob needed to unlock the secrets of something much more complex, like the Taylor family’s Grandfather clock. It must have been a relief for Bob's parents and a satisfying experience for the young boy when the familiar ticking sound returned to the Taylor household.
Bob grew up in Lemmon Grove, San Diego, entering his early teens around the time known today as the “Summer of Love.” It’s easy to understand how the guitar served as a significant influence on the young man. In 1967, Bob's got his first guitar as a 12th birthday present. Bob recalls it to be a Fedmart (now Costco) brand electric guitar with a single pickup. Bob’s first acoustic guitar came along soon after- A Coronet branded guitar that Bob later recognized as a “Hummingbird” style import.
The Guitar itself was much more than simply a means of musical exploration for the impossibly curious young man. The guitar (especially the acoustic guitar) represented an extremely challenging puzzle that guards its secrets jealously. The greater you understand the flattop's complex nature and Bob Taylor’s need to know what makes something tick, the easier it is to understand his fascination with the guitar.
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A single pickup electric guitar (Made by Teisco) like those sold at Fedmart/Costco
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A late 60’s Teisco (aka Coronet) Flattop GSO*, loosely based on a Hummingbird
Time: 1971 | Place: Lemmon Grove California | Event: Bob Taylor’s first self-made acoustic guitar
Bob Taylor’s self-built 12 String Guitar
The Real Taylor Guitars Origin Story:
Bob rose to the challenge using only his God-given skill set, willpower, instincts, and a textbook on building Spanish-style guitars. The experience was so rewarding that he immediately set out on his next “built from scratch” acoustic guitar- then another. Bob taught himself essential design and problem-solving skills far beyond his 16 years. Most importantly, the projects were a labor of love that set Taylor’s life direction in motion. The quiet young tinkerer discovered his strength, confidence, and inner faith alongside his first builds. This statement may seem dramatic, but not when you consider they are the very first Taylor guitars of millions to come, with no end in sight.
Time: 1972 | Place: Lemmon Grove, San Diego | Event: The American Dream in action
Time: 1974 | Event: Taylor Guitars is born
As Radding’s “American dream” ends, Taylor and Listug's Dream is just beginning. The first decision the 19-year-old Taylor and 21-year-old Listug had to make was to settle on a name. “Westland-Musical Instrument Company?” No. It's too large for a readable logo. “How about Listug?” Nah-too harsh. Taylor has a nice ring to it! Even Kurt Listug agrees.
Full-on “Hippy Look” Kurt Listing
Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug are two kids with plenty of heart but lack worldly knowledge, business experience, or a formal apprenticeship in Lutherie. Bob Taylor stated,
"I’d seen all the big stars playing what I knew were great guitars on TV, but I didn’t know anything about them. I’d seen the Johnny Cash show, but I didn’t know the big Black Guitar Johnny played was a Martin. I’d never even heard of Martin, Gibson, Fender, or Guild ‘till long after I worked as a builder.” Taylor also states, “Because I didn’t know anything about them, is why Taylor is different. I simply didn’t know any better. I only knew what Sam Redding taught me. Things just went from there. Our trade dress, shapes, the bracing, the way we put on necks, the tone….it’s all different. Taylor is not like a Martin, Gibson, Guild…It’s my ignorance. My Ignorance going into building is the key to our unique style.” Kurt Listug adds: “We only knew what we could figure out ourselves, and what we learned from Radding, who was building his versions of Jumbo Gibson’s, and Martin Dreadnaughts…That 12-string Bob made was just something completely different”
“Hippy Lite” Bob Taylor, with a curvy Brunette and stout Blonde
What seems like an overnight explosion in Taylor Guitars' popularity didn’t feel so sudden to Bob Taylor or Kurt Listug. Taylor’s rise from dust to destiny took over 20 years of just getting by. It’s an extraordinary story involving extraordinary people doing what felt… ordinary.
Taylor is building the best guitars he can muster while Listug tries to discover new ways to grow the business. Listug and Taylor remember the first ten years as a struggle to stay afloat. Long stretches of not generating enough money to pay themselves were common. Listug lived with his family, and Taylor lived in a “van, down by the river” at times, but neither partner recalls this time with regret or disenchantment. “We had no responsibilities; we were young, and nobody relied on us. If ever there would be a chance, it was then“, Bob Taylor admits.
Neil Young "Rust Never Sleeps Tour" Taylor 12
Taylor’s early years were challenging but not without victories. While financial success is still elusive, high-profile praise and recognition come quickly. Thanks to Kurt Listing's efforts, Taylor's name began reaching a wider audience. His push to wholesale Taylor guitars to a network of reputable retailers is a giant leap forward for the small company. Taylor’s retail presence increases the brand’s range and keeps steady income flowing. Taylor is becoming well-known and well-regarded, reaching people and places Bob and Kurt only dreamed about.
An unexpected dividend pays off when Bob and Kurt discover Neil Young playing a Taylor Guitar on his massively successful “Rust Never Sleeps” concert tour film. Though it’s not an “official” endorsement, money can’t buy the promotion and credibility of Neil Young choosing a guitar built by the young upstarts.
Prince Purple Custom Purple Taylor
1980’s and 1990’s Taylor: The Dreamers Awakening
Throughout the 80s and '90s, the small Taylor guitar shop continued to produce high-quality instruments, strengthening Taylor’s reputation and attracting more guitarists. “Everyday players” and the biggest stars in the guitar world are beginning to take note. High-profile artists like Eagles founder and Frontman Glen Frey started to play his new Taylor guitars during all his live performances. Folk Rock Super Star David Crosby remarked, “ Taylor makes great guitars. I didn’t buy two of them accidentally” (reputable sources insist Crosby was not seeing double when he said that). Riding high on over 25 million sales of “Purple Rain,” Prince decided to treat himself to a customized Taylor guitar: The Purple finished 12-string 655ce can be seen in Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” video. Prince’s choice was not based on any compromise or impulse. It was the choice of a man who could have anything he wanted.
Building a guitar for Prince was extremely rewarding, but there wasn’t much time to rejoice. Bob recalls taking a short break to savor the moment before retying his apron and returning to work.
Money is tight despite Taylor Guitars' growing fame and popularity. The relatively small factory is incapable of a successful output vs. cost ratio while maintaining Taylor’s high-quality standards. The 80s and early 90s were difficult years for Taylor. Growing pains, endless competition from established giants, a growing list of import brands, and the cost of materials bought in smaller quantities all work against Taylor. Any of these issues could have sunk the budding empire, but nothing ever put a dent in the spirit of its founders.
To bring Taylor guitars “into the black,” a significant influx of capital is necessary to sustain day-to-day operations and update tools and machinery. Taylor and Listug (still in their twenties) secured a major bank loan to keep the “dream” alive. Bob Taylor and Bob Listug know this is a no-looking-back, make-or-break effort. It’s easy to suspect neither man was worried about how things would turn out.
Taylor Rising
Taylor’s Modern Construction And 21st Century Enhancements
By 1992, Taylor’s growth forced another change of location. This time, it’s a 25,000-square-foot facility capable of producing over 10,000 Guitars a year, with only 60 artisans needed to do the job. Bob Taylor has always been a dyed-in-wool ‘hand-tools’ woodworker, but his open-minded, intelligent, and practical nature allows him to embrace new ideas. These qualities will serve Taylor guitars quite well in the years to come. Ironically, the new factory is only 40 miles and 20 years from where Taylor and Listug became partners at “American Dream” guitars.
Every guitarist knows that no two guitars sound precisely alike. Sometimes, two of the same model Guitars will differ dramatically in sound (anyone who remembers the 1970s will readily agree). Taylor aims to construct every instrument that leaves the El Cajon factory with a consistent sound and standard of excellence, built faster than ever before. Why waste time producing inconsistent components when the technology to create flawlessly executed parts at 30x the pace exists? Computer-programmed milling machines are capable of accuracy as precise as .0005th of an inch. Taylor is now cutting wood while cutting costs.
The Taylor team is well aware that computer-aided machinery can’t fix design issues or replace the hands of talented builders, but the tools at their disposal have improved. Taylor is the first guitar manufacturing company to integrate ultra-modern, computerized machinery. Although production methods like this were once met with caution and skepticism, the proof is in guitars. Taylor’s high quality and consistency improve faster than the modern production rate. At the time, this was a leap of faith. Today, computerized manufacturing is relied upon by every significant Guitar manufacturer worldwide.
UV Finishing
Taylor adopted the state-of-the-art UV (ultra-violet) finish in 1995. It’s flexible enough to allow natural, unimpeded resonance, tough enough to protect against scratching and minor dings, and provides a beautiful high gloss luster. Most high-quality finishes involve many labor-intensive steps and long curing times. Some old-school lacquer-based finishes don’t completely dry for up to 6 months. Taylor’s high-quality electro-static UV finish machines can apply three coats of finish simultaneously. The process takes about two minutes to apply and hardens under one minute in the UV oven. The entire process takes about 15 minutes before the guitar is ready for hand buffing. Up to 300 guitars can be finished in just 8 hours.
By the late 1990s, Taylor was shipping over 30,000 guitars a year, employing about 200 artisans and administrative personnel.
Acoustic/Electric Advancements
Expression Systems
The ES-1 Expression system is Taylor's first entirely in-house designed electronics package (developed by Dave Hosler and Bob Taylor). Although the Expression system is the most advanced acoustic pickup system, it’s simple, clean-looking, and easy to use. Taylor's new low-profile control dials are barely noticeable, in contrast with the bulky plastic control panel/battery holsters of the past. An easy-access battery housing is located out of sight, near the end pin. Taylor’s ES-1 system works with an active preamp that controls two sets of pickups: a low-profile transducer located in the “sweet spot” under the fingerboard and two gel-filled contact mics under the soundboard. The ingenious system “picks up” the natural acoustic sound with enough subtlety and accuracy for professional recording.
The ES-2. Taylor's original electrons constantly evolve- Blender, ES.1, ES.2, ES-N (Nylon string guitars), and ES.T (introduction level). As Taylor celebrated its 40th anniversary, the ES-2 was introduced. Naturally, it’s much more than a slightly upgraded ES-1. The ES-2 has a significantly higher output, greater string separation, and even greater definition than the ES-1. Additional features include a phase switch discreetly hidden inside the sound hole to cut feedback, and the piezo crystals were replaced with dynamic mics for an even more natural and full-bodied tone.
Taylor playability-the Groundbreaking NT (New-Tech) Taylor neck set
Taylor’s reputation is built on great tone and fresh choices. However, one of the first things any guitarist will notice when encountering a Taylor is the electric guitar-like ease of playability. Taylor's comfortable neck shape has a lot to do with it, but it's Taylor’s revolutionary neck set design that does the heavy lifting.
Most high-quality American classic acoustic guitars employ a dovetail joint neck set, first used in the 1800's. The Dovetail neck set excels at transferring resonance and power, but years of supporting string tension leads to neck separation and loss of critical neck angle. Over time, string action creeps its way from ideal to uncomfortable. Eventually, the guitar can become virtually unplayable. Many younger players wonder what the fuss is about when playing a classic—that’s badly in need of maintenance. Many players file down the saddle to correct the growing imbalance until a costly neck reset is the only option to restore the guitar's playability. As a repairman and builder, Bob Taylor is acutely aware of this problem, sighting it as a significant reason many electric guitar players used to avoid playing the acoustic guitar...they were often too damn hard to play!
The Taylor NT neck joint bolts snug and tight, providing plenty of resonance. The perfect neck angle can be calculated and set to within a thousandth of an inch. That kind of precision isn’t possible using old-school clamps and wood. A continuous length of wood supports the fingerboard to the end of the neck. This keeps pressure off the soundboard, preventing upper fret “fall-off” or droop, which is associated with vintage and vintage-style guitars. Another advantage of Taylor’s New-Tech neck set is that it’s unlikely ever to need a reset. If a Taylor neck requires neck angle maintenance, it can be reset inexpensively in minutes rather than spending a small fortune and waiting weeks.
Taylor's completely revolutionary neck-set method probably has more to do with Taylor’s unbelievable success than any other breakthrough feature. Nobody wants to play a guitar that requires a hydraulic vice to fret an F chord, even if it sounds like a choir of angels. Taylor’s NT joint solved the playability and maintenance problems that come with the classic dovetail joint neck set.
Taylor's signature tone, fantastic playability, and top-shelf acoustic/electric fidelity make them extremely hard to resist, especially for those who play in a live band-style setting. The days of struggling with feedback, questionable tone, and uncomfortable playability are over.
Taylor’s Constant Evolution
What’s inside a Taylor Guitar?
Most acoustic guitar lovers know how outward features like body size, shape, and tonewoods impact overall tone. What’s less commonly understood is the guitar’s inner framework. Bracing is essential for supporting the soundboard and otherwise hollow soundbox and has just as profound a sonic impact as the guitar's outward appointments.
Every acoustic guitarist is familiar with X-style bracing, whether they know it or not. X-pattern bracing excels because it’s strong enough to support a large soundboard and Steel strings while retaining enough flexibility to produce a big, open tone. None will debate that X-pattern bracing proved essential in the development and successes of the 20th American-style steel string Flattop acoustic guitar. Likewise, there’s no debate that X-pattern bracing is the most commonly used acoustic flattop sound engine ever created. Bob Taylor joked about X-pattern bracing’s ongoing dominance: "I didn’t invent X-bracing-I just inherited it. It’s been the industry standard longer than I’ve been alive.” Until 2018, all Taylor guitars were constructed with X-bracing.
The V-Class Sound Engine
A quick look at Taylor’s revolutionary “V-Class” bracing
The V-class sound engine is a deceptively simple-looking design that uses only about half the wood as X-pattern bracing. With reduced bracing comes greater flexibility and more acoustic horsepower. The uniquely arranged structure also maintains enough rigidity for proper sustain. Another advantage is vastly improved intonation. With the soundboard freely vibrating, the sound box can vibrate at the same frequency generated by the strings, producing properly intonated fundamental pitch and natural overtones.
V-Class bracing sports only two main braces, running the length of the soundboard in a “V shape” pattern. Each of the main braces surrounds the outer edges of the sound hole and directly contacts the bass and treble sides of the bridge plate, where the strings anchor. An additional support brace runs from top to bottom, just behind the sound hole, tying everything together. Behind the bridge, a uniquely arranged group of scalloped tone bars fine-tune and complement each model.
It’s daunting to fully understand how V-Class bracing functions; however, hearing the difference is easy. V-Class bracing brings out the natural character and unique qualities of the top, back, and side woods and the size of each model with greater detail. According to designer Andy Powers, “If you are a mahogany guitar lover, you will really love a mahogany Taylor with V-Class bracing.” Likewise, the character of Rosewood, Maple, Koa, and any traditional or alternative Tonewood Taylor offers is amplified.
Ebony saplings being planted in Cameroon, Africa
Tonewoods, New Choices, and Sustainable Options
Taylor’s construction methods have a great deal to do with overall tone. Along with selected Spruce, Mahogany, Rosewood, and Ebony, Taylor commonly uses alternative and sustainable tonewoods. You’ll find Ovangkol, Sapele, Walnut, “Urban Ash,” and more in an effort to make the best-sounding instrument and protect the world's shrinking wood resources.
Taylor also spearheaded the “Ebony” project with the Congo Basin Institute to ensure a continued and responsible source of Ebony. Last year alone, over 13,000 Ebony trees were planted in Cameroon, Africa, and growth is starting to outpace use.
Since 1974, Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug successfully built a new class of world-loved guitars. It’s fair to say that it took some help and inspiration from the great 20th-century Guitar designs that preceded Taylor. It’s also accurate to state that Taylor’s popularity (and the rejuvenated popularity of all acoustic guitars) has much to do with Taylor’s forward-thinking innovations and a timely, fresh take on the past.
Taylor has brought a new class of modern classics to the guitar world, earning a reputation and respect once reserved for the pioneering Titans of the American Flattop guitar. Unquestionably, Taylor is creating new traditions and tomorrow's classics today.
Since their mid-70s origins, Taylor's guitars have grown from a struggling upstart two-man operation into one of the world's biggest and most respected Acoustic guitar manufacturers. Along with Taylor’s meteoric rise, more guitarists are playing the Acoustic guitar than ever.
Time: Now. | Place: Any Guitar Shop, USA | Event: Guitar shopping
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