Taylor Guitars - The Next 40 Years - Passing the torch from Bob to Andy

[michaelw]

That's not a Rosewood guitar.

from the coloration, it looks like it could  be maple, but the grain pattern of the
wood that the bracing is on resembles very wide grain spruce or, possibly, ash

[michaelw]

I think it's interesting to note that not a single comment here addresses Kurt Listug's influence and impact on the direction of the company. Back when Kurt had the issues with his heart, Bob publicly stated that he wasn't interested in building guitars without Kurt.

Of course Bob is the "face" of the company, but he's not "the company".

Taylor Guitars is every bit Kurt's company as it is Bob's. It will be interesting to see what role Kurt decides to take when Bob does decide to retire.

kurt looks like he's doing very well

since the timeline that was on the previous iteration of the website has disappeared,
unless someone has been following Taylor for a while now, or has gotten one of these


or viewed this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moyc-Tgc5gQ
they may not  have an idea of how vital kurt listug's role is, but i also think that
tj baden, who is no longer with the company, had an extremely vital role as well

would there be Taylor Guitars without kurt
without the loans to buy westland music company from sam radding, it could have fizzled
out right then & there, or, american dream might still be on the headstock, or, since Bob
was doing a lot of the building, it could  have turned out like dana bourgeois & pantheon
http://www.pantheonguitars.com/

Bob would have had to buy out steve schemmer's share on his own &
then found a way to market them, as well as building them 

if there had not been the first Fadal at the end of the 80s, the models available were the
X10/50, X15/55 & X12 & it could  have stopped right there, with the 500-900s, walnut &
koa models, gloss body, preNT neck, fullerplast finish & possibly no X14s or baby series

sam was still at 3 years ago & go guitars are still being made, along with a parlor
http://www.go-guitars.com/index.html

when the times comes, there will be the right people in the right place

[Sword Bringer]

 I hope that the lack of communication to customers about the Solid body discontinuation isn't indicative of their new Customer Service attitude. It's just not like them to do something less that and not give current owners the chance to purchase accessories, like loaded pickgards, before they stopped selling them. The few that were available on E-bay, through a dealer, sold out in less than a day. imagine how much money Taylor could have made from sales to existing owners if they told us to get what we wanted before it was too late. I always planned to get additional pickgaurds with different pickup configurations. Had i known there was a closing window of opportunity, i would have taken advantage of it. Now, I'm just disappointed. This isn't theTaylor way!

[michaelw]

Models and specifications are subject to change without notice.

[wooglins]

I hope that the lack of communication to customers about the Solid body discontinuation isn't indicative of their new Customer Service attitude. It's just not like them to do something less that and not give current owners the chance to purchase accessories, like loaded pickgards, before they stopped selling them. The few that were available on E-bay, through a dealer, sold out in less than a day. imagine how much money Taylor could have made from sales to existing owners if they told us to get what we wanted before it was too late. I always planned to get additional pickgaurds with different pickup configurations. Had i known there was a closing window of opportunity, i would have taken advantage of it. Now, I'm just disappointed. This isn't theTaylor way!

I can understand where you are coming from but it was the right decision to get out of electric.  Taylor knows what they are good at and are focusing all of effort on that.

[Jersey tuning]

I can understand where you are coming from but it was the right decision to get out of electric.  Taylor knows what they are good at and are focusing all of effort on that.

Martin likewise went into both Electric (and Archtop) guitars and bailed on both.  However, I do recognize the disappointment of the previous poster regarding the abruptness of the pulling of the solidbody line--while it might have been a gradual company phaseout, it sure must have seemed abrupt--and quite inconveniencing-- to solidbody owners.

I wonder how close to the chopping block nylon-stringed and baritone 6 guitars are.

12-fret guitars, especially GC's, seem to have grabbed some significant corporate traction at Taylor.  Introduced around the same time as the Bariton 6- and 8-'s.