Good morning Englemann,
I'm not here to defend or in any way advocate for RT's existence or lament its demise, nor to wax on about stellar build and superior tone. I had initially made a simple statement about Taylor's bold move to open a wholly independent shop as testament to their innovation: that was all. In ca. 2006 (IIRC), Taylor chose to go head-to-head against the so-called boutique industry and did so with five (IIRC) experienced luthiers, with their own supply, build specs, time frame, and company mantra; yes, an independent company that could walk across the street and borrow a cup of sugar, but remained under their own "company line" because they wanted to build something different from their production guitars. Period. One can opine about why they no longer exist, but one cannot opine about facts of their existence.
And those facts include marked differences in build process ...if you believe Taylor, that is, because if you don't believe their words then, then why believe anything they say. Moreover, to claim that the lighter weight is simply because of the absence of electronics is, with respect, wholly misunderstanding everything they did. Not only did they build with and without electronics, the build process deemed a lighter, more responsive instrument --again, to compete with what luthiers do in small-production builds, as opposed to production-line manufacturing. Sorry, sir, if you didn't understand "purfling" and think the weight difference is due to a mere PCB and output jack etc, then you are, with respect, wholly uninformed on this matter.
Let us return to the thread at hand.
Edward