Do you wish "Wood & Steel" came out more often? Would you pay to subscribe?

[Brian Swerdfeger @ Taylor]

I'm glad Wood & Steel got it's own topic - it deserves it!

W/S is a labor of love, and a reflection of our love for guitars and the people that play them. It takes all-the-King's-horses and all-the-King's-men (and women!) to get it together and out every quarter. We're very proud of the fact that just like our guitars, we produce it cover-to-cover in-house. The current issue is the first ever to be published/printed in FOUR languages: English, German, French, and Spanish.

Thanks for the warm welcome here - I'm here as a guitar lover first and foremost! I'm happy to answer questions when I can, and I do look to you guys for W/S topics of interest and other.

I'm off to Anaheim to set-up NAMM - see you soon!

B

[taylor96]

I do enjoy reading and looking at the W&S mag.. but I would NOT pay for it by subscription on a monthly or quarterly basis.. like a lot have said its basically a marketing tool for Taylor and a good one, but not worth my paying for it...

[Edward]

Brian,

You are always a class act, friend!  And great meeting you personally at the F&F ...always nice to put a face to a name!

Please relay to the mothership how much we appreciate W&S.  The "labor of love" is evident!  And keep it in a paper publication as long as you can hold out ...I love being able to grab it and take it with me if I know I'm gonna be "waiting" somewhere.

Edward

[Cindy]

Brian,

You are always a class act, friend!  And great meeting you personally at the F&F ...always nice to put a face to a name!

Please relay to the mothership how much we appreciate W&S.  The "labor of love" is evident!  And keep it in a paper publication as long as you can hold out ...I love being able to grab it and take it with me if I know I'm gonna be "waiting" somewhere.

Edward

Yes, I agree! We appreciate your input and are glad to have some of our questions answered! And please let the Taylor Team know how much we enjoy Wood & Steel.

[e8n]

Dunno if this puts me in the minority, but I said "no" to paying extra.  It's a great mag that I like reading, to be sure.  And I do enjoy seeing it in the mailbox.  But I doublt I'd shell out for it unless it was at a giveaway price.  Great pics and some fun stuff in there, but it really does feel like a large ad.  Not that I resent that ...'cause it's free (with the price of admission, of course ).

And FWIW, I think Wood and Steel was yet another one of Bob and Co's brilliant moves.  Including the mag subscription with purchase not only feeds owners' interest in their guitars and future projects, but it also includes owners comments/questions as if we're lending a voice that really is being heard.  Companies pay big bucks to marketing analysts and focus groups to figure out how to keep/grow their customer  base: Taylor done figured it out by catering to the customer.  Hahaha, go figure!

Edward

Well said.  I agree 100%.

-Dave

[Scriptor]

I enjoy Wood & Steel ... although certainly a marketing tool, it does contain a great deal of good information ... articles from Wood & Steel helped me to decide on tone woods and body shapes to go out and try before buying my first Taylor ...

I think quarterly is about right myself ... in any interim period you can search archived articles on-line ... and besides, I already have a problem with always wanting a new guitar and in that regard it is "bad" enough to get it as often as it comes ...

[jjrpilot-admin]

Brian,

You are always a class act, friend!  And great meeting you personally at the F&F ...always nice to put a face to a name!

Please relay to the mothership how much we appreciate W&S.  The "labor of love" is evident!  And keep it in a paper publication as long as you can hold out ...I love being able to grab it and take it with me if I know I'm gonna be "waiting" somewhere.

Edward

I couldn't agree more!!!  Brian IS a class act. 

Brian, like others have said, please let Taylor know how much we appreciate the publication!  *whisper*  I've kept every copy, I've gotten.     As far as topics go?  I absolutely LOVE the articles on tone woods, and articles that compare different tone woods to each other!   

[Strumming Fool]

To the two questions from the OP:

Yes and Yes!

[dkoloff]

To the two questions from the OP:

Yes and Yes!

Okay.....yes......no.

[Edward]

i would like to think that we choose to be here because we're interested in Taylors & in sharing
information, pics, our experiences & other interests

have a good one, all

I'd also like to hope it is a place where we can give actual opinions.  I am interested in Taylor guitars but that doesn't mean I think they are the be all and end all of acoustic guitars.  I hope the forum doesn't become a "group speak" kind of place.

Ed

To the first sentence: what ever gave you the idea that this isn't a place where one can give "actual opinions"?
To the second sentence: who in this thread/forum ever suggested that Taylor was the "be all and end all" of acoustic guitars?
To the third sentence: what have you read here that gives you the idea that this forum will turn into a "group speak kind of place"?

Sorry, but I have no idea where any of this comes from      

Edward

[Cindy]

Edward, I think you are taking some of what Michael said out of context. I read his entire post as a unification of the forum along with Wood & Steel and Brian's input as an exciting way to learn about Taylor Guitars. This forum is primarily for Taylor Guitars (as is evidence by the URL) but is not exclusive to just Taylors. I believe most of us (including Michael) understands that.

[Justiceandmercy]

w&s is great, and I always look forward to it's publication... it might get less exciting or seem less special if it comes out more frequently as there are certain times of the year that I'm crazy busy and wouldn't have time to pick one up at all, I really enjoy the format they have now but it's interesting to imagine what it could be if offered more frequently.... 

someday I'll get a hang of the times of year that big announcments or changes are made to the product line of the guitars as my last two taylors were purchased within days of w&s releases announcing changes to something that I had just purchased or desired to purchase that may have been a tad bit better than what I had just bought haha! it's what keeps the gas attacks coming back tho I guess   kudos to taylor for running a brilliant company and can't wait to see more changes and have more of their guitars come into my hands!

[Edward]

Edward, I think you are taking some of what Michael said out of context. I read his entire post as a unification of the forum along with Wood & Steel and Brian's input as an exciting way to learn about Taylor Guitars. This forum is primarily for Taylor Guitars (as is evidence by the URL) but is not exclusive to just Taylors. I believe most of us (including Michael) understands that.

Sorry, perhaps my point was not clear.  I was reacting to "Ed's" comments who quoted Michael.  It is his reaction to Michael that I am puzzled by as it "seems" to be loaded with some kind of baggage ...at least from the verbiage, which is why I included the entire exchange.

Edward

[cotten]

I thoroughly enjoy Wood & Steel, and read every issue cover to cover, even though by the time mine arrives I've already read and discussed a number of it's articles and columns with my online friends who get theirs first. 

That said, no, I'd probably not pay for a subscription to it, for two main reasons.

• While I was unemployed, my wife and I learned that we could do quite nicely without printed magazines and newspapers, and the money we saved could be put to better uses.
• As I said, by the time I hold my copy in my hand, I've already read and discussed much of it online.

That said, I do enjoy receiving the Taylor Insider, and I'm especially glad to see Brian's sharing pictures, etc. here. I always enjoyed "Uncle Bob" and others from Taylor when they posted on the original "Taylor Guitar Forum" years ago. That extra personal touch is a great way to build relationships and foster customer loyalty - and it's just plain fun!

cotten 
[/list]

[roadbiker]

I really do enjoy Wood and Steel, but there are already quite a few other publications that they would have to compete with if Taylor were to publish their own periodically distributed magazine. I think a free quarterly publication as good as W&S in it's current format it a nice "gift" or "Thank You" from Taylor and is very much appreciated. Producing a magazine is a costly endeavor requiring many resources to pull it all together, and therefore requires a fairly large circulation in order to justify it, otherwaise the price would be too high for most of us to subscribe, especially when you can get magazines like Acoustic Guitar for $20 per year.

Just my opinion...
Jim

Taylor, please keep up the good work!