Taylor Guitars Explained

Taylor Guitars
This Blog is all about Taylor guitars and what makes them so good and why your next guitar should be a Taylor. We will take a journey through the History of Taylor guitars, what tonewoods they use and the different body shapes that make Taylor guitars the choice of so many world-famous Musicians from Taylor Swift, Jewel, David Gilmour,  Lindsey Buckingham to Dave Matthews. Taylor Guitars are an American guitar manufacturer based in El Cajon, California, and is one of the largest manufacturers of acoustic guitars in the United States. They specialize in acoustic guitars and semi-hollow electric guitars. The company was founded in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug. As of January 1, 2021, the company became fully employee-owned. In May 2022, Andy Powers was named the new CEO, President, and Chief Guitar Designer of the company.

In 1972, at age 18, Bob Taylor began working at American Dream, a guitar-making shop owned by Sam Radding, where Kurt Listug was already an employee. When Radding decided to sell the business in 1974, Taylor, Listug, and a third employee, Steve Schemmer, bought American Dream and renamed it the Westland Music Company.

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. Kurt Listug said, “Bob was the real guitar-maker. Listug became the partnership’s businessman while Taylor handled design and production. In 1976, the company decided to sell their guitars through retailers. In 1981, facing financial difficulties, Taylor Guitars took out a bank loan to purchase equipment.

As of 2012 Taylor Guitars had more than 700 employees in two factories: one in El Cajon, California, and the other in nearby Tecate, Mexico, where the company makes their lower-priced models and guitar cases. In early 2011, the company opened a Taylor distribution warehouse in the Netherlands to serve the European market. In January 2014, the U.S. State Department honored Taylor Guitars with an Award for Corporate Excellence citing Taylor’s commitment to responsible practices in obtaining ebony for its instruments, which notably included purchasing their own sustainable ebony mill and increasing its usable timber from 10% to 100%.

Taylor Guitars Explained
The range starts with the Academy Sries, these guitars are designed to help the beginner develop there playing skills. The Academy Series has been designed to play easily, with a lovely slim Taylor neck and setup that makes learning the guitar a joy. The range also has the beveled arm rest design for comfort when playing for hours, sat down and stood up. This feature is only found on the high end and builders edition models. You can get a Dreadnought body shape (Academy 10) and a Grand Concert body shape (Academy 12). The Dreadnought is deeper in tone with a larger body and the Grand Concert is higher in tone with a smaller body, they also make the Academy 12 with Nylon strings for the classical player or someone who wants a much softer string feel. You can also get the guitars with or without a pickup for live use.

The Taylor range then moves to the 100 Series all the way through to 900 series and then Koa Series. In between the 200 Series and 300 Series Taylor do the GT Series and American Dream Series. They also make Builders Edition guitars that feature the finest craftsmanship of guitar making with ultimate comfort, playability and tone. The Builders Series starts with the Taylor 324ce Builders Edition. The Taylor Academy Series, 100 Series and 200 Series guitars along with Taylor Baby, Big Baby and GS Mini Series are made in Mexico at the Tecate Factory. All other Taylor guitars are made in America at the El Cajon Factory in California.

Taylor guitars come equipped with Elixir Phosphor Bronze Strings, these are brilliant strings with a special coating on them to promote longer life and tone. The Taylor AD27e though comes equipped with Nickel Bronze Strings from Daddario to give this guitar a rustic tone. 

All Taylor guitars come with either a gig bag or hard case to keep the guitars safe. With the Taylor Academy, Baby, Big Baby the case is padded with shoulder straps. The Taylor GS Mini Series, 100 Series and certain 200 Series models come with a higher grade padded gig bag or in certain models in the 200 series, like the Koa DLX and 224cek come with a Taylor Brownshell hard case. Taylor also make a fantastic Aerocase that is a gig bag but with foam padding and a lovely red velvet inner lining. On our website we take pictures of the guitars with their cases, so you can see which case comes with the guitar you are looking to purchase. 

Tonewoods 
Taylor guitars use a fantastic array of body woods and top wood combinations, so you can find the perfect guitar for your needs. The most classic Taylor combinations are Solid Sitka Spruce Top with Rosewood back and sides, which gives a lovely crisp tone. Mahogany and Tasmanian Blackwood is another lovely pairing which you find on the 300 series, this gives the guitar a lovely warm tone.

The Builders Edition 324ce has a lovely Tropical Mahogany top with Urban Ash body giving this guitar a unique and beautiful tone. Other combinations that are very popular and give a great tone, such as on the 700 series are Lutz Spruce with Indian Rosewood back and sides, Sitka Spruce Top with Maple Body on the 600 series and Hawaiian Koa on the 700 series. Taylor guitars have every base covered when it comes to tonewoods. Taylor, as you read this will no doubt be looking for more sustainable woods to make guitars from that produce fantastic tones and help towards protecting the environment. 

Body Shapes 
When it comes to body shape the Taylor range of guitars has every verity you could ever need and want. The most popular being the Grand Auditorium, which a smaller body and is great for fingerstyle playing along with chord strumming. The GT body shape is compact and very comfortable to sit and play but has a lovely bold tone. The Grand Concert is slightly smaller than the Grand Auditorium but larger than the GT body shape, this body shape has a lovely tone for fingerstyle but also has enough power for chords and is also very comfortable to sit and play for hours. Grand Pacific is the round shoulder version of the dreadnought guitar and has a warm balanced tone with low end power and clarity, making chords sing. Grand Symphony has a newly upgraded soundport giving this body shape full-spectrum clarity and an immersive high-fidelity tone. The Grand Orchestra is the largest and most powerful of all the Taylor body shapes, making it brilliant for chords. Taylor does a traditional Dreadnought body shape as well and this can be found with the Taylor 110e, making this guitar great for flatpickers and strummers.

Taylor with Andy Powers have designed a very special V-Class bracing on all the range of guitars from 300 series upwards. This design gives the guitar more sustain, more volume and better intonation. 

Reasons To Buy Your Taylor Guitar From Rimmers Music
Taylor guitars are one of the world’s most famous guitar makers. Here at Rimmers Music, we are very proud to sell Taylor guitars. We sell Taylor guitars online and also at our Rimmers Music stores, we strive to make your purchasing experience the best it can possibly be. On the Rimmers Music website we photograph each individual Taylor guitar and list it by serial number, so you know that the Taylor guitar you are browsing will be the guitar you will receive. With each unique listing on our website James also does a video demonstration of the guitar, so you can hear it being played both acoustically and where necessary through an acoustic guitar amp. The guitars instore at Rimmers Music are kept in perfect condition and are only demonstrated to customers with an intent to purchase one of these beautiful guitars. 

To summarise Taylor guitars are fantastic guitars for any ability of player, any age and at any budget. You are certain to find the perfect acoustic guitar for your playing needs with a Taylor guitar.

By James Cross – Bolton Store