Taylor Road Show Tid Bit

[Blueshwk]

I was out and about today and in the neighborhood, so I dropped in my local guitar shop as I do more often than I should. While there I noticed stacks of guitars, and although I didn't count them I assume there were twenty to twenty five Taylor's neatly stacked in the floor of the "good stuff" room.

I asked if this was new inventory and was told no, that the guitars were being sent  to an upcoming Taylor Road Show. I didn't inquire as to location but assume somewhere in the South or Eastern US. Anyway, I wasn't aware of this but apparently Taylor pulls (at least some) from dealer stock to inventory the Road Show. There were still plenty of nice Taylor's on the walls, so they didn't appear to be thinning the store stock. This dealer keeps many guitars from the Babies to BTO and Presentation series stuff in fairly large numbers and the walls were far from bare.

When you think about it I suppose it makes sense to stock the Road Show venues, at least in part, in this fashion and I just found it interesting. Maybe this has been covered in the forum before but this was new to me.
Anyone here aware of this practice? Just curious......

[fmbstrummer]

That really seems odd to me.  Who owns the inventory that is being transferred?  I thought Taylor dealers purchased or financed their own inventory.  If that is the case, then is Taylor buying back the guitars for the Road Show?  Now, if that was a large chain store and they were transferring their own inventory between locations, then, no surprise to me.  Was this a GC? 

FMB   

[timfitz63]

I've not been able to attend a Road Show, but at least how it's been described to me by Joe at Empire Music in Pittsburgh is that Taylor tries to use what's on hand at a store (the inventory of which is that of the store owner), but also brings some stock to demonstrate it and make it available for purchase (either to Road Show attendees or the store).  Usually the stuff brought in by the Taylor reps is from the BTO program, but not necessarily.

[Blueshwk]

No not a big box store... Perhaps they floor plan them through Taylor?

[emidyl]

suppose it makes good sense to use some store stock. I am attending in a couple weeks and know for a fact that Taylor will be making 4 or 5 stops in the area without going "home" so unlikely they will carry enough stock for all locations to sell to attendees. Unless the ship some more mid-trip?

[Jersey tuning]

The roadshows I've been to always have had guitars in part populated by store stock, even some of the "good stuff".

[Earl]

The roadshows I've been to always have had guitars in part populated by store stock, even some of the "good stuff".

That has been my experience too, at five different road shows in three different states - partial store stock, partial BTO's, and a few high end or specialty instruments that were going on to the next show (unless sold off that night).  In fact, one time they did not have any koa guitar at all, either the show guys or the store, and I happened to have brought mine in to have one of the techs look at it.  I offered to let them use it to demo during the road show, and they gladly accepted to help demonstrate the tonal properties of different body woods.  They even put fresh strings on it.  I did not let it get played by the masses in the "petting zoo" phase, however.