instrument manufacturing genre guitars founded 1974 ; 42 years ago 1974 founder bob taylor and kurt listug headquarters el cajon california united states key people barbara wight cfo 1 products acoustic classical & electric guitars number of employees over 750 world wide website www.taylorguitars.com taylor guitars is an american guitar manufacturer based in el cajon california and is the 1 manufacturer of acoustic guitars in the united states . 2 they specialize in acoustic guitars and semi hollow electric guitars . the company was founded in 1974 by bob taylor and kurt listug . contents 1 history 2 innovations 3 factory 4 notable players 5 further reading 6 references 7 external links history edit in 1972 at age 18 bob taylor began working at american dream a guitar making shop owned by sam radding where kurt listug was already an employee . when radding decided to sell the business in 1974 taylor 3 listug and a third employee steve schemmer bought american dream and renamed it the westland music company . 4 needing a more compact logo suitable for the guitars headstock the founders decided to change the name to taylor as it sounded more american than listug . kurt listug said bob was the real guitar maker . 5 listug became the partnership s businessman while taylor handled design and production . in 1976 the company decided to sell their guitars through retailers . in 1981 facing financial difficulties taylor guitars took out a bank loan to purchase equipment . 6 7 as of 2012 taylor guitars had more than 700 employees in two factories one in el cajon california and the other in nearby tecate mexico where the company makes their lower priced models and guitar cases . in early 2011 the company opened a taylor distribution warehouse in the netherlands to serve the european market . 1 in january 2014 the u.s. state department honored taylor guitars with an award for corporate excellence ace 8 citing taylor s commitment to responsible practices in obtaining ebony for its instruments . innovations edit in 1995 bob taylor was interested in finding out if the perception of using exotic tone woods in quality guitars was more important than luthier techniques and good design . taylor recovered some oak from shipping pallets found at the factory for the pallet guitar s back and sides and used a nondescript 2x4 for the dreadnaught s top . the guitar s neck was also made from oak recovered from the pallet and the fretboard features a formica and pearl inlay depicting a fork lift . in 2000 a limited edition of 25 of the grand auditorium bodied pallet guitars were reproduced with aluminum inlay included to accentuate the original nail holes in the pallet wood . these pallet guitars have been sold to collectors but the original pallet guitar remains on display at the taylor guitars factory in el cajon california . 9 in january 1999 taylor began making guitars with a patented bolt on neck they called the nt new technology neck . it differs from other guitar necks by using one continuous piece of wood all the way to the 19th fret to support the fretboard . 10 more common practice in guitar neck construction is to support the fretboard up to the fourteenth fret and glue the unsupported portion to the soundboard . the nt neck fits into a pocket on the top of the guitar body achieving the desired angle with small shims . guitars sometimes require a neck angle realignment neck reset . taylor s system achieves this by changing the shims to adjust the neck angle . prior to 1999 taylor guitars had a simpler bolt on neck design . those necks can also be adjusted without the more complex process of ungluing the neck joint . 11 12 taylor uses their own pickup system the expression system which consists of a humbucking induction pickup mounted in the neck and a pair of dynamic soundboard transducers wired to an onboard preamplifier designed by rupert neve . 13 the entry level 100 and 200 series use an externally similar system known as es t which uses a single under saddle pickup and no soundboard transducers . the first generation es system was introduced in 2004 . it had 2 transducers one mounted to the bridge and one on the lower bout of the sound board . also it had a small single coil neck pickup mounted in the neck joint . all wired to the onboard preamp which has 3 knobs for volume tone and blend . this early es system and was available on the higher end models 500 series and above as well as the 30th anniversary limited edition series starting in the fall of 2004 . it was a custom order for the 300 and 400 series and could be retro fitted to some older taylor guitars with the nt neck design . factory edit the taylor factory in california taylor s 145 000 square foot manufacturing facility is about 20 miles east of downtown san diego in el cajon california . a free guided tour of the taylor guitars factory is open to the public at 1 00 p.m. monday through friday except some holidays . 14 for those too far away to visit the factory premier guitars published a four part tour of the taylor factory narrated by bob taylor in 2008 . 15 notable players edit william ackerman 16 russ freeman 16 michael hedges 16 leo kottke 16 dave matthews 17 jason mraz 2 steve stevens 16 taylor swift 2 snuffy walden 18 16 billy joe walker 16 john rzeznik goo goo dolls further reading edit wikimedia commons has media related to taylor guitars . taylor guitars 30 years of a new american classic michael john simmons ppv medien ; hardcover edition january 10 2005 isbn 978 393227544 9 guitar lessons a life s journey turning passion into business bob taylor wiley ; hardcover 1st edition january 25 2011 isbn 978 047093787 7 references edit a b erin kellaway november 7 2013 . international speaker series barbara wight . university of san diego . archived from the original on 23 april 2016 . retrieved 23 april 2016 . a b c jefferson graham august 5 2014 . meet the guys who build taylor swift and jason mraz s guitars . usa today . archived from the original on 18 february 2015 . retrieved 23 april 2016 . el cajon calif. for almost 40 years bob taylor s dream of making easier to play great sounding guitars has paid off . his taylor guitars is now the no. 1 manufacturer of acoustic guitars in the united states and it rode out the great recession with just a brief downturn in sales . bob taylor cofounder and president of taylor guitars writes new book about life passion and business . prweb.com . retrieved 2013 03 24 . taylor acoustic guitars . play acoustic guitar.com . retrieved 2013 03 24 . taylor guitar story from the beginning . musician s superstore . retrieved may 25 2011 . simmons michael john may 2004 . american dreamers bob taylor kurt listug and the rise of taylor guitars . acoustic guitar . 137 . taylor guitars . fundinguniverse.com . retrieved may 25 2011 . george varga . taylor guitars saluted by john kerry . the san diego union tribune . josh summers . the true story behind taylor s pallet guitar . guitar adventures . archived from the original on 24 april 2016 . retrieved 24 april 2016 . ford frank may 12 1999 . taylor s new neck joint . frets.com . machining beautiful music . american machinist . july 30 2005 . archived from the original on 23 april 2016 . retrieved may 25 2011 . faqs . taylor guitars . retrieved may 25 2011 . rudolph barry . taylor guitar expression system . alysia gray painter november 26 2014 . taylor guitar factory tours and toy donations . nbcuniversal media . 7 san diego . archived from the original on 23 april 2016 . retrieved 23 april 2016 . taylor guitars factory tour part i video . youtube.com . premier guitars . may 13 2008 . retrieved 26 april 2016 . a b c d e f g ross boissoneau . sounds of wood and steel . allmusic . retrieved 26 may 2016 . dan apczynski december 2009 . dave matthews what he plays . acoustic guitars . archived from the original on december 13 2010 . retrieved 28 april 2016 . cs1 maint unfit url link tom guerra . snuffy walden scoring his own soundtrack . mambo sons . archived from the original on 29 april 2016 . retrieved 29 april 2016 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title taylor guitars & oldid 742591784 categories guitar manufacturing companieselectric bass guitars by manufacturermanufacturing companies based in californiacompanies based in el cajon californiaamerican companies established in 1974manufacturing companies established in 19741974 establishments in californiaprivately held companies based in californiahidden categories cs1 maint unfit url navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial 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