SHADES OF SUMMER Blackheart sassafras flavors our latest limited editions Changing Strings Custom Guitar Gallery Rosewood/Lutz on the GS Mini Bass GC 12-String 2 www.taylorguitars.com VOLUME 88 | SUMMER 2017 Letters social > CONTENTS < We'd like to hear from you. circles Send your e-mails to: [email protected] Join the Taylor community FEATURES COLUMNS Facebook: @taylorguitars each employee is the quality control Heart and Soul guitar my wife bought me when we Instagram: @taylorguitars 6 A GUITARIST’S GUIDE 4 KURT’S CORNER dept. speaks volumes about how com- A few weeks ago I bought a Taylor lived in Coronado more than 20 years Twitter: @taylorguitars Reconnecting with a few longtime Taylor mitted you all are to your product. Keep 324 from Twelve Fret in Toronto. I am ago. When I got it home and plugged it TO THE GS MINI BASS dealers leaves a positive impression. up the good work. 50 now and have played since I was in, I was again amazed at the clear and Youtube: taylorguitars Shawn Persinger explains why guitar players will love Mike Fleckenstein 12. All my life I wanted to buy a good vibrant sound from the newly installed Google+: taylorguitars our compact four-string and shares some bass basics. guitar but it had never happened, so ES2, and with the neck and frets all Music Aficionado: taylorguitars I went to the store to fulfill one of my back in perfect shape it plays as won- 5 BOBSPEAK Why Taylor’s best designs are yet to come, Waiting for the One dreams. I tried many guitars manufac- derfully as when it was new. Please 8 HOW TO CHANGE STRINGS and a word on Bob’s World Forestry Tour. I recently purchased a new 712e tured by famous guitar companies. thank the repair team and supporting 12-Fret. I simply cannot put this guitar Many of them were amazing — they had staff at Taylor for their attentive service ON THE GS MINI BASS down. I spent many months researching a good voice and looked nice. But the and outstanding expertise. The entire Custom strings and bridge pins require a slightly different all brands of guitars trying to find the moment I laid hands on your 324 and evolution from start (when I showed the string-changing technique. The good news: it’s easier. 33 THE CRAFT perfect one for me. One day I visited started playing I felt I had something guitar to Taylor rep JR at a Taylor Road When instrument designers innovate in a local music store, which had just alive in my hands, something that not Show in Houston in November) to finish response to the artistic needs of musicians, received a brand-new 712e 12-fret. only has a great voice and looks, but a (when I picked it back up from Fuller’s 12 REVIEW ROUNDUP everyone benefits. I immediately fell in love with it and heart and a soul. I fell in love instantly. Guitar yesterday) was highly profes- Our new models are wowing reviewers. Plus, raves for the Good News knew this was the one. Unfortunately You do not play on that guitar, you sional. It was very satisfying to know my 12-string 562ce, 712e 12-Fret, and more. I just finished reading an article someone purchased it before I could, dream with it. There is no price tag on guitar would get superb treatment! in the LA Times about your efforts in so I continued waiting and doing more that. Thank you! Justin D. Cooper II Cameroon with regard to sustainable research. I found myself comparing George every guitar I played to that Taylor 15 farming and harvesting of ebony and ON THE COVER SPINNING OUR WHEELS DEPARTMENTS other tonewoods. What you are doing and realized the 712e just could not Punch and Presence Our new robotic buffing system adds smooth sophistication there is notable in many regards, not be beat. I asked my local music store Tune-up in Texas I wanted to share how impressed to our finish polishing capability. the least of which is helping to elevate to order another one, and after a few I just wanted to let you know how I am with my new 324ce SEB, which 18 LIVELY LIMITED EDITIONS 10 ASK BOB labor standards and quality of life for weeks it finally came in. My wife sur- much my son and I appreciated the I received as a 10-year wedding anni- Our summer showcase boasts four vibrant acoustic voices: a Cutting guitar wood, bass bridge pins, your local employees. You and your prised me at the store and met me attention we received from [Taylor versary gift from my wife! I have been blackheart sassafras 914ce, a rosewood/Lutz spruce Grand 22 PROFILE: SCOTT PAUL ukuleles, and a solid-wood GS Mini. company are examples that good there to purchase the guitar. I couldn’t District Sales Manager] JR [Robison] playing [another brand of] guitar for Concert 12-string, an ovangkol/Engelmann spruce baritone Our new Director of Natural Resource Sustainability brings a business and humanity aren’t mutually believe I was actually buying my dream at a Taylor event in Waco, Texas. I was over 10 years. It was a great guitar to Dreadnought, and a dynamic blackwood/Lutz Grand Auditorium. passion for forest protection and the expertise to promote our exclusive. Good on ya for doing what’s guitar…I may have shed a tear or two… having tuning issues with three guitars: start out with — very easy to play. It sustainable forestry initiatives. 28 SOUNDINGS right. Thank you for your courage. I look don’t judge, this is a love story after all. a 914ce, 814ce, and my son’s T3/B. sounded alright to me, or so I thought, COVER PHOTO: SASSAFRAS 914CE LTD (FOREGROUND) Artist love for the new bass, the American forward to playing my next Taylor guitar. This guitar has already inspired me to I asked JR if he would look at them until I pulled the new 324ce SEB out of AND TOBACCO SUNBURST 410E BARITONE-6 LTD Girl GS Mini, Chris Tomlin, remembering Mark Busa become a better player and to stretch before his demonstration. He said he the case. Each chord had a satisfying (BACKGROUND) Koaguitarman, a guitar for sustainability myself to explore places that I haven’t would be happy to and treated us like punch and presence that I really have research, and Whalebone’s instrumental in the past. Thanks for making a guitar valued customers. My son’s was an never experienced. Such a beautiful folk-rock. NAMM Hospitality that is exceptional in every way. easy fix — he just had to stretch the sound. You have converted me to Taylor Landon Ward strings a few times, and then he and I cannot stop telling people about guitars for life. Out of the entire NAMM the store repair technician put new the wood — dark mahogany and Show you were the only ones who strings on all of my guitars. While Tasmanian blackwood! This is a cher- 30 TAYLOR NOTES said, come in, stay, play our guitars. High on the Neck doing so he noticed a few bridge pins ished instrument of mine. I am a first- Mid-year updates to the line, plus our four Learn, talk and share. Wow. I loved the I had the good fortune of being had worn out or dried out and were time Taylor guitar owner, and I’m very exclusive Road Show models. experience and have fallen in deep love mentored in 1980 and built two D28 not holding the strings tight enough. I impressed with the quality of sound and with an 818ce. Thank you for a warm, copies. The second I sold for burrito ordered new pins, and the problem was workmanship. With an instrument this inviting, quality experience that shows money (ah, the follies of youth). I still solved without having to send the gui- nice I have been inspired to begin to 24 34 SEASONAL TIPS pride. Well done! own the first; it sounds great, but long tars to California. You folks have done write songs and take guitar more seri- Guitar care for the warmer summer months. Chris Trifilio story short, it has a poorly designed excellent work on my 814 in the past. I ously. Thank you for crafting such an truss rod system and can’t be adjusted am in full-time prison ministry and play inspiring instrument. 24 CUSTOM GUITAR GALLERY properly. Over the years this has made in different prisons five days a week, so Jake A sampling of custom guitar details to inspire your Taylor dreams. 35 TAYLORWARE it very difficult to play high up the neck. they are used a lot. I just wanted to say Tour de Force TaylorSense, new Taylor apparel, and more. I took your tour today — something Enter my girlfriend (now fiancée), who thank you to JR and the Taylor staff. I’ve wanted to do since I got my 810 bought me a 310. Right out of the Terry Strom 26 TAYLOR AT NAMM case it played like it had been broken in 2004. Really impressive. Especially Our expanded exhibition area was rocking with a mix of artists, in for 20 years. Very nice craftsmanship the bit about how even slight errors dealers, media, industry friends, and of course, walls of guitars. will keep the guitar from ever going and killer tone…I now can play up and Superb From Start to Finish out the door.