*WHEN* did th 1st Mexican-made Taylor guitar 'roll' off the assembly line?

[burnt]

love to everybody!

MY ONLY QUESTION IS, WHAT APPROXIMATE DATE AND WHAT EXACT YEAR did the Tecate, Mexico factory produce its first (1st) retail guitar?  <<---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oddly enough, the year of the move/expansion is not in the current Wikipedia references.
I apologize for asking a probable repeat question, but since I am physically & mentally unable to search the archives properly, I started the topic anew. 
When did El Cajon move some of their major manufacturing to Mexico?  When did they go to Mexico & finish making their first guitars there?
   

I have a 2003 Big Baby.  I love it. Excellent instrument.  If they didnt tell me (~ somewhere ~ in their online spec.s, I guess) that it's only 15/16 "regular" size, I may never have noticed.
Strangely, the neck is attacheded with (originally) 2 SHEET-ROCK SCREWS!
For structural integrity --  I modified it by carefully drilling & adding 2 more screws to the unusual screwed-on neck.  4 screws = a "plane".   It cant rock back & forth.    Whereas, 2 screws form a "line", along which the neck could theoretically rock back & forth.
As we all know, ANY removable neck on an acoustic guitar is rare and unique.

 I also have a 40 year old "factory reject" Sigma which maybe's a little louder.  A now defunct salvage store was selling them with all labels removed except the brand name in th headstock finish. God I wish I was equipped to buy 10 back then. That one needed a lot of little modifications but is also very fine now.
May I recommend "Phosphor Bronze" strings:  gauge range .010 to .047" on your acoustic guitars.

I commend Taylor for outsourcing facilities to Mexico instead of Asia, especially Communist China.  They still believe in slavery.
It's regrettable that competition requires some work to be moved outside th US.  But at least Taylor has done it in an ethical way, while keeping some of work in California.  I also like their ebony project.  Can you imagine how hard it must be to do business in Cameroon?  They got civil unrest goin on, too.  Because of the way European colonizers haphazardly imposed borders on these people and did the same, harmfully, with language.

[Earl]

I can't really answer your question.  I bought my Baby Taylor the first year that they came out in 1996, and it is now long gone.  (It wasn't loud enough for fireside during the motorcycle camping trips as intended.  My Seagull S6 ended up strapped across the back seat for camping).  I don't recall if the Baby was made in Tecate or in the US at first.  It was something like 2005 when the all solid wood 200 series were converted to laminated back & sides and production was moved to Mexico.  Someone will likely come along and correct this information soon enough.

[TaylorGirl]

Years ago, I put together a bunch of Taylor facts and a time line from information in Taylor books. I checked my notes and I have Tecate opening in 2000. In 2016, they opened a brand new factory in Tecate.

[SDTaylorman]

Deleted

[burnt]

Thanks for your answers!    I dont know why but one consists of "deleted". If content = the word 'deleted;, why not just delete th message itself? LOL.

My 2003 was made in USA but I thought I once saw that Tecate opened in 2007.  I live on th EC but once drove to Tecate (but not to Tayor) from around San Diego, & the drive there is scenic but a difficult drive with high desert roads that twist & wind like hell.  Tecate evolved as an oasis.  The transportation of those guitars may be a tough gig.  Tecate's not on the coast.
Well I guess the company uses both facilities simultaneously.  Someone elsewhere posted, "same as Fender, your guitar can be made by Mexicans in California, or by Mexicans in Mexico."  Theres a difference: not about people, but cost.  Im surprised there are ANY businesses left in California.

[Earl]

....I don't know why but one consists of "deleted". If content = the word 'deleted;, why not just delete the message itself? LOL. 

Because only a moderator can delete a post once it is made.  The posting author can edit the contents, and if you do that within the first couple of minutes it won't even show as edited at the bottom (as in this case).  My guess is that SDTaylorman changed his mind about the content of the post.

My understanding is that the Tecate plant is about a 45 minute drive from the El Cajon plant, so it is fairly easy to supervise remotely from the US side.  At least that was the case.  I have no idea about getting across the border these days, but they must make it work somehow.  The last border that I crossed was Canada in late 2007 in my Cessna, and that was not easy.  (A long story that only another pilot would care about).

[SDTaylorman]

Thanks for your answers!    I dont know why but one consists of "deleted". If content = the word 'deleted;, why not just delete th message itself? LOL.

My 2003 was made in USA but I thought I once saw that Tecate opened in 2007.  I live on th EC but once drove to Tecate (but not to Tayor) from around San Diego, & the drive there is scenic but a difficult drive with high desert roads that twist & wind like hell.  Tecate evolved as an oasis.  The transportation of those guitars may be a tough gig.  Tecate's not on the coast.
Well I guess the company uses both facilities simultaneously.  Someone elsewhere posted, "same as Fender, your guitar can be made by Mexicans in California, or by Mexicans in Mexico."  Theres a difference: not about people, but cost.  Im surprised there are ANY businesses left in California.

Looks like Earl got to the heart of it. Yes, I changed my mind about the content (discovered a factual error) and then found I couldn't delete what I'd written.

Tecate is an easy ride to San Diego these days. It's only about 45 miles and less than half are in MX. Takes about an hour and a half including border crossing most days but could be only 45 minutes if you hit it right. Yes, both factories produce simultaneously but Tecate takes care of 200 and below level guitars while El Cajon does the rest. That comment about who is building guitars is pretty xenophobic if not racist/nationalistic. If you've ever actually been to Taylor El Cajon you'll see lots of workers, most of whom aren't from MX and down in Tecate I've seen footage and there's plenty of American looking people at that plant too.

Finally, as to your comments on being surprised there's any businesses out in CA I'll just leave you with this factoid and wonder how your State's doing these days...The economy of the State of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2021. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation (2022), it would rank as the world's sixth largest economy.