had this whole situation on my mind this morning.
i'm a huge taylor fan, of the guitars and of the neat stories presented by this company. like most of us, I don't have a clue of whats going in deep inside the company or the music industry-I only know what I see in print on the forums or in the company publications.
I guess I come from a time period where I love little shops and small owned business. I love going into a 30 year old establishment that's been family owned, and browse the goods. I really don't like big and brand new. its just not about the instrument or lets say the motorcycle, its the whole aura of that particular atmosphere.
many decades ago, I was highly involved with air cooled, BMW twin cylinder motorcycles(singles too!). I was a certified BMW motorcycle mechanic. those bikes (70's/80's) were solid and simple. an owner could reasonably keep one on the road all over the world, with basic mechanical knowledge-not anymore of course. those old horses were not up to par with modern regulations and were replaced with mucho modern electronic run machines-in the process the soul of that twin air cooled engine was extinguished.
I remember when BMW had started developing and upgrading to the more modern motorcycle-there started a change in the dealers that sold those bikes. I heard a lot of rumors about certain types of requirements(regarding how the shop building looked, how large it was, how the floor plan had to be laid out) what happened, rather quickly, was the loss of a lot-if not all small mom and pop dealerships in the USA. I remember all those cool old shops with decades of history just "removed". no longer could you go to clyde ree's in Tn, or the old shops in boston or out in the Midwest. those were the coolest places, the owners were true riders who had all traversed across the USA and Europe-many stories told while leaning on old worn countertops.
the new design of the "stores"(no longer "shops" in my mind) were very modern, very stylistic, something you'd see in Vogue or GQ. A few of us kinda just slid off the beaten path(and the Airheads were formed).
I haven't been in one of those big stores other than Bobs BMW in Maryland(I knew Bob when he started out selling used parts in the basement of his home). I look at the new BMW bikes, and i'm sure they are great riding machines, but I don't see that old soul of the propeller symbol still in the breed. they blend in just like every other 2 wheeled vehicle I see. no longer considered a "steel horse" IMO, but rather just formed plastic, electronics, and other synthetic elements(and yep, the oil too). better? worse? I don't truly know. I do know I like simple. I like knowing that person behind that counter like a next door neighbor and just not a sales clerk with a nametag-or phone extension number.
all my rambling nets nothing more than my thoughts. Its almost as if I am witnessing the same movement take place with this beloved guitar brand, that I witnessed decades ago with a legendary motorcycle breed.
my last thought is this cannot be about Jim selling at undercut prices. I can name off at least 5 shops that I know that gave/give the same price and some lower. we all knew to expect about a 40% price discount over the listed MAP.
Jim offered the buy-back program which was his own process. I know Jim and Jon are old friends-I may have this wrong, but I think Jon actually got Jim going and involved with Taylors and selling guitars in the first place.
still find this a perplexing, sad happening. I really hope what I witnessed happen with motorcycles is not going to happen to Taylor guitars.
d
