Guess this is where I say "Hi" to everybody.
My name's Tim, and I'm a Taylorholic...
My journey as a guitar player and Taylor owner began many years ago, when I was just a tyke growing up in Pittsburgh, PA. For Christmas one year, I received a child's guitar; it was little more than a toy, but it had six strings and one could
theoretically play it. But I really hadn't a clue what to do with it, so I just did what kids mostly do: I pretended to play it by going through the motions of strumming and plucking it... It eventually got put aside or handed down to a sibling, and some years went by...
Next stop was college. A fellow student with whom I was acquainted at WVU had an old, beat up guitar that he apparently didn't want any longer. I can't even recall what the make was, but suffice it to say it wasn't a particularly expensive guitar. I was in the right place at the right time, and he gave it to me -- along with the knowledge of how to play the opening of "Stairway To Heaven." So, armed with that little a bit of knowledge, I was inspired to wandered into some of the music stores in Morgantown where I eventually picked up a few used published song books that showed the chords to many of ELO's hit songs, and began teaching myself how to play those songs. I passed that guitar on a few years later when I graduated from college and got my first job in the Southern Maryland area...
Now that I'd become a productive member of society, I decided I wanted a new guitar, and picked up an Applause round-back acoustic/electric guitar. It was a fine enough guitar, and was truly all I could afford at the time. I played it regularly for about 5 years or so, then put it aside for some reason. That guitar followed me (in its case) to subsequent jobs in Kansas, and then to Texas, but rarely got played during that intervening 20 or so years...
Fast forward to August 2012, and an extended trip back home to Pittsburgh. Out of the blue, my brother announces to me that he wanted to take guitar lessons. We headed on out to a local Guitar Center, where he picked up a relatively nice Yamaha dreadnought, but couldn't find anyone there who provided lessons. That led us to eventually darken the steps of Empire Music in Mt. Lebanon. As my brother was chatting with the shop proprietor (Joe) about taking lessons there, I wandered into the back of the store -- into the climate-controlled area where the really good stuff was kept -- and decided I should see if I could remember anything. Quite at random, I pulled a Taylor off the wall (as I recall, it was the Custom GA that I eventually purchased), and sat down to try my out-of-practice hand at "Stairway To Heaven." I was truly astounded by the sound I heard, even when it was produced by the two hams on the ends of my arms... I turned over the price tag and was, again, somewhat astounded... I looked at the name on the headstock and, frankly, thought "Who's Taylor...?" But the sound and craftsmanship of the guitar were so compelling that I just kept plucking away. Soon, Joe and my brother joined me in the room. After learning more about Taylor and their guitars -- and some cajoling from my brother -- I bought my first two Taylor guitars from Joe in November of 2012: a Custom GA with Sitka Spruce top and Makore back/sides; and a 656ce (I've always like the sound of 12-string guitars).
Well, it's just kind of snowballed since then -- as you can, no doubt, see from my forum signature. For a while, it seemed as if I'd joined Taylor's Guitar-of-the-Month Club... But it's all good: I've become something of a collector of Taylor guitars (stumbling across a NOS Liberty Tree Guitar during the past year -- #400); I'm playing regularly again; and some days I even think I'm not half bad... I think, unlike the other guitars I've owned, my Taylor guitars have inspired me to be worthy of the truly fine musical instruments I've purchased, so my enthusiasm for playing and learning hasn't waned. I also can't allow my brother (who's now also picked up a few Taylors from Joe) to be better than me...
