If you’ve looked into this nascent blog as it’s developing, it’s quite apparent that I allocate a significant proportion of my time in retirement to guitars… in fact, you could argue that at this stage of my life I am a bit obsessive about playing, and the technology associated with the instrument…
I get a great deal of satisfaction from working with my Taylor guitars, across the spectrum of acoustic, hybrid acoustic/electric, semi-hollow bodied electric, and solid body electric (currently on a UPS truck to Iowa after being repaired by Taylor!).
The commonality among all those guitars is the neck. The neck is where the rubber meets the road for a player and includes such key factors as the contour (radius) of the wood, its finish, and the height of the strings from the fretboard. It’s very easy to switch among the Taylors from one to the other because of neck consistency.
There is a substantial degree of snobbery associated with guitar culture. Traditions play a major role, such as the headstock decal for Martin guitars… I don’t like them, but that’s just me… One of the things that distinguishes the Taylor company besides marvelously playable guitars is their devotion to innovation and technology. Though a bit dated (the below instruments have evolved or been pulled off the market), the embedded Youtube video with Bob Taylor and Brian Swerdfeger speaks to the interesting tech that underlies two of the guitars that I’ve purchased off the used marketplace.
Swerdfeger moved on to Fender to develop a different acoustic/electric hybrid, the Acoustasonic…