Innovation
Innovative techniques in sourcing wood, manufacturing, and service are at the forefront of improving the experience for the acoustic guitar and the player. The Taylor Neck, the patented bolt-on neck design, allows regular adjustments on the guitar's neck throughout the course of its life and is the crux of the Taylor guitar design. Other pillars of innovation from Taylor Guitars include the Expression System electronics, the relief route, V-Class bracing, an environmentally friendly polyurethane finish, and CNC laser cutting for ultra-precise detailing and consistency; these are just a few that make Taylor Guitars industry leaders.
Sustainability
While exotic timber is sought by many acoustic guitar enthusiasts, Taylor Guitars is just as active in maintaining a sustainable action plan to keep these timbers available for generations to come, from the ebony mill in Cameroon that Taylor Guitars owns and operates, delivering over half of all legal ebony worldwide, to planting ebony trees and studying ebony cultivation in the Congo Basin. Furthermore, Taylor Guitars has forestry initiatives in Hawaii through its Paniolo Project growing koa trees, as well as in Fiji, Honduras, and Guatemala sourcing its mahogany, and in the Pacific Northwest with its maple plantation.
V-Class Bracing
For over 150 years, the standard for acoustic guitar bracing has been with a built-in compromise: the battle between more sustain and more volume through the juxtaposition of flexibility versus rigidity. Master Luthier Andy Powers has created the answer with Taylor Guitars' go-forward sonic engine: V-Class bracing. V-Class bracing offers the available increase in both sustain and volume. It also serves the guitar with a much stronger sense of "in-tune-ness," removing or canceling the sour or warbling notes that are escaping with the X-brace movements.
The Ebony Initiative
Crelicam is the ebony mill in Cameroon where Taylor Guitars sources all the ebony for every guitar's fingerboard and bridge, as well as for the back and sides of custom guitars out of the Custom Shop, and for the Ebony Series guitars. The mill works tirelessly to maximize the sustainable efforts of ebony for Taylor's guitars and to support other facets in the music industry, like the bowed instrument world, and this is done by educated and calculated harvesting to make sure all the wood available is used, rather than color-specific trees targeted for cutting. Bob Taylor spends a couple of months a year in Cameroon, training log cutting to maximize the yield of each tree, spending time in the bush scouting ebony trees, and planting ebony trees for future generations to enjoy.
Our Master Luthier
Bob Taylor had been looking for a Master Luthier to uphold his tradition of quality and innovative guitar making, and he found that in young Andy Powers. From Southern California, Andy Powers has a very deep history in instrument making, crafting everything from F-style mandolins to arch tops to electrics for A-list stars and collectors alike. He comes from a family of carpenters and musicians. Now at the helm of Taylor Guitars' guitar design, he has been given the reins to lead Taylor Guitars into the future with cutting-edge designs that include the revolutionary V-Class sonic engine, the Builder's Edition collection, the Academy Series, and much more. With Bob Taylor maximizing his efforts on global forestry initiatives and sustainable harvesting, Andy Powers has his sights set on bringing more to players in their next guitar than they could ever imagine.
