Tremolo

[retrieverbeliever]

Hello All!

I've found an '08 SB C2 Koa top that has the tremolo bridge.
Does anybody have one they aren't using or know where I might be able to get one?
It's not like I'll be using it a lot, but I want to find one that was made for the
Taylor guitar line. They didn't make very many of these, and frankly, it's the only
one I've seen. I called Tayor, and it was made with this bridge on it, and they confirmed
it's authenticity. Unfortunately, they don't stock parts for these guitars.

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated. My T3B is getting a little brother!

Thanks!
Jerry
Central NC

[timfitz63]

If the guitar was built with the tremolo bridge, it should have been supplied with the tremolo handle ("whammy bar") from the factory.  So I presume you've checked in the guitar case bin and discovered that the previous owner somehow misplaced it...?

If Taylor doesn't have parts for their solid body guitars any more, the best places to look for a replacement tremolo handle are going to be authorized dealers/repair centers in your area (or even outside your area), who may have stocked the parts when the guitars were being sold and now have them just laying around; and second-hand sources like eBay, etc.

I've never looked closely at a Taylor solid body with the tremolo bridge, but it's possible that Taylor used a handle that was similar to (if not exactly the same) as one that fits a Fender Stratocaster.  Perhaps it's worthwhile to give Taylor customer service a call back to see if they could at least point you to their part source for the tremolo handle (I doubt it was produced in-house at Taylor)?  It may turn out to be the same vendor that makes them for Fender, and you can pick one of those up at just about any guitar store that sells Fenders.  That idea failing, you might just try a Stratocaster tremolo handle anyway; I know it may not be the exact one Taylor sourced, but it would be a close analog in both form and function, so it may do the job...

[Rokit]

timfitz63: What happened with the solid body products at Taylor? I must have been on another planet... Today's line only has the T3s and T5s. So Bob and the Boys and Girls at Taylor dropped the entire hardbody line? Wow! Did they fail to sell or what? Do you know?

Rick

...I've never looked closely at a Taylor solid body with the tremolo bridge...

[timfitz63]

timfitz63: What happened with the solid body products at Taylor? I must have been on another planet... Today's line only has the T3s and T5s. So Bob and the Boys and Girls at Taylor dropped the entire hardbody line? Wow! Did they fail to sell or what? Do you know?

Rick

...I've never looked closely at a Taylor solid body with the tremolo bridge...

I think a number of things contributed to the short lifespan of the Taylor solid body guitars.  In such cases, one might expect the product itself was to blame; but that was not so here.  Mainly, it was poor sales because of what I would term brand identity/recognition.

Folks in the market for a solid body electric weren't looking for one made by a prominent acoustic guitar manufacturer; they came into stores looking for a Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, or a Gibson Les Paul -- and never really gave the Taylor solids much of a thought.  So I think Taylor made the decision to cut the solid body lines rather than pour a lot of resources into overcoming the preconceived notions of electric guitar consumers; resources they wanted to commit to other areas in their acoustic lines.

So Taylor stuck with only the T3 (which is really an electric guitar in the vein of, say, a Gibson ES-355) and T5 lines (which is something of a unique animal unto itself, and probably draws more crossover buyers from the electric guitar world than anything else).  The T3 probably benefitted some from developments that had gone into the solid body lines (e.g., pickups); and then a few years later, we got the T5z -- which seemed to take aim at Les Paul consumers -- much more successfully than the solid bodies did, it would appear...

[DennisG]

I think a number of things contributed to the short lifespan of the Taylor solid body guitars.  In such cases, one might expect the product itself was to blame; but that was not so here.  Mainly, it was poor sales because of what I would term brand identity/recognition.

Folks in the market for a solid body electric weren't looking for one made by a prominent acoustic guitar manufacturer; they came into stores looking for a Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, or a Gibson Les Paul -- and never really gave the Taylor solids much of a thought.  So I think Taylor made the decision to cut the solid body lines rather than pour a lot of resources into overcoming the preconceived notions of electric guitar consumers; resources they wanted to commit to other areas in their acoustic lines.

So Taylor stuck with only the T3 (which is really an electric guitar in the vein of, say, a Gibson ES-355) and T5 lines (which is something of a unique animal unto itself, and probably draws more crossover buyers from the electric guitar world than anything else).  The T3 probably benefitted some from developments that had gone into the solid body lines (e.g., pickups); and then a few years later, we got the T5z -- which seemed to take aim at Les Paul consumers -- much more successfully than the solid bodies did, it would appear...

Well done, Tim.

One other thing about that point in Taylor history:  I think Brian Swerdfeger (at that time Taylor's sales manager) was the real champion of the solid bodies.  The fact that the line failed to gain much traction led to his departure from the company.  He now owns his own guitar brand specializing in solid bodies.

[timfitz63]

I think a number of things contributed to the short lifespan of the Taylor solid body guitars.  In such cases, one might expect the product itself was to blame; but that was not so here.  Mainly, it was poor sales because of what I would term brand identity/recognition.

Folks in the market for a solid body electric weren't looking for one made by a prominent acoustic guitar manufacturer; they came into stores looking for a Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, or a Gibson Les Paul -- and never really gave the Taylor solids much of a thought.  So I think Taylor made the decision to cut the solid body lines rather than pour a lot of resources into overcoming the preconceived notions of electric guitar consumers; resources they wanted to commit to other areas in their acoustic lines.

So Taylor stuck with only the T3 (which is really an electric guitar in the vein of, say, a Gibson ES-355) and T5 lines (which is something of a unique animal unto itself, and probably draws more crossover buyers from the electric guitar world than anything else).  The T3 probably benefitted some from developments that had gone into the solid body lines (e.g., pickups); and then a few years later, we got the T5z -- which seemed to take aim at Les Paul consumers -- much more successfully than the solid bodies did, it would appear...

Well done, Tim.

One other thing about that point in Taylor history:  I think Brian Swerdfeger (at that time Taylor's sales manager) was the real champion of the solid bodies.  The fact that the line failed to gain much traction led to his departure from the company.  He now owns his own guitar brand specializing in solid bodies.

Ah, I didn't know that bit, Dennis!  Makes sense, though!