Hi all -
Not new to Taylors... but I thought I would say Hi to the forum and share my personal Taylor story...
I was introduced to Taylors through Bob Taylor himself. Back in 95 I was on staff as a Worship Leader and walked into the secretary's office who said I had a magazine delivered in my name. I stood there and browsed it quickly and came across a Taylor advertisement. I mentioned outloud that I have always wanted to play a Taylor guitar... She looked at me and said "would you like to know more about them?". To my amazement she dialed Taylors number off the top of her head... I thought she was joking! She talked to Bob and said "I have my Worship Leader here who is coming down to San Diego next week for business and would like to play some Taylor guitars." She got off the phone and said, He would like to meet you Sunday after church if that works for you. Evidently she used to ride dirt bikes with Bob in the desert when she was on staff at the church he attended in San Diego.
I took him up on the offer and met him the following week. We talked for a couple hours on Sunday and he asked if I would like a tour of the factory the following day. He gave me a tour and asked me after the tour if I would like to purchase a guitar. He had just received some guitars as a return from a store. I purchased a 410 and 710 (for $xx and $xx, respectively). I also was able to spend the following Sunday traveling with him to the 3 different services he was playing at. That gave us a good chance to talk rigs, electronics, and other preferences.
After returning home and leading worship with the 710 for a few weeks, I called Bob on the phone, who graciously remembered who I was and we talked for about 15 min (remember this is 1995). He asked how I liked the guitars. I mentioned to him that the 710 seemed to lose it's bright sound when fingerpicked with the pads of my fingers - which is how I was playing slow worship songs. He mentioned that he was beginning to add GA's to his staple and recommended I try a 614 which he felt was perfect for worship leading - can respond to a light touch for soft songs and harder strumming for the fast songs... and said the maple would sit better in a church environment with lots of instrumentation. Next thing I knew he passed me over to his Artist relations person at that time and found out he had added me to the Artist program. I didn't even know there was such a thing at that time.
Over the next couple of years I added a 1995 614ce, a beautiful red 1997 655ce, a baby, a 1995 510ce. Since then I have added a 2012 516c, a walnut SB custom, a 2012 T5 cocobolo, and an NS-32.
I have not spoken to Bob since the mid 90's... (I'm sure he was very busy doing other things
but what I appreciated most was during my first conversation with him he asked me what guitars I had, or was looking at playing. At that time I was looking at a Takamine and was so pleasantly surprised of all the good things he had to say about other luthiers and their products. Not a disparaging remark was made. That to me is so refreshing! Over the years I have talked with several luthiers and have unfortunately not had the same gracious remarks made that Bob gave me then. Also of note was during the tour he politely excused himself a couple of times to walk over an encourage his employees of the quality of work he was noticing as he was giving me a tour.
That is why I play and support Taylor Guitars.
