Taylor Guitars
Taylor Guitars – Company History
Taylor guitars have quickly become one of the guitar maker industry leaders thanks to their prolific growth and the specialization in the mid and upper guitar markets. Prices range from anything from $1,200 to $10,000 and they sell an astonishing 40,000 guitars per year. Taylor has an awesome selection of instruments and over 60 models in production. Quality workmanship, beautiful tones and easy playing qualities make Taylor a popular choice among artists such as Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Jewel, Taylor Swift and Alanis Morissette. The company today is run by Kurt Listua and Bob Taylor and is still privately owned.
Taylor Guitars – Company Beginnings
The beginnings of Taylor guitars started when two men, Kurt Listua and Bob Taylor took jobs at the same music store called the American Dream in Lemon Grove, California owned by Sam Radding. The first guitars came into production in the summer of 1973.
Just a year later, the owner decided to sell the store and three men, Bob Taylor, Kurt Listua, and Steve Schemmer took ownership on October 15th 1974 and renamed it Westland Music Company. Apart from selling guitars the three partners also repaired guitars. The name Taylor Guitars came about because the chief luthier was Bob Taylor and thus a decision was made to use the name Taylor for the company. 1976 saw the first Taylor guitars being sold by third parties but the market hit rock bottom and sales were very sluggish throughout the seventies.
Taylor Guitars – The Struggle
Heading into the 1980’s saw Taylor guitars struggling as they only churned out around 10 guitars a week. They felt the need to speed up the guitar-making process and took out a company loan to help them do so and purchase manufacturing equipment. By the following year they had built up a healthy reserve of guitars, which prompted Kurt Listua to take to the road and begin marketing them. Taylor received a marketing boost in 1984 when pop icon Prince commissioned a 12-string guitar from the company. It mattered not that prince didn’t want the Taylor logo on the guitar as the word got out very quickly and soon other mainstream artists followed suit and commissioned Taylor guitars for their choice of preference.
Taylor Guitars Relocates
Such unexpected growth meant the business had to relocate to a new 5,000 sq. ft. facility in 1987. A year after that saw their production grow to around 50 guitars a week and the number of staff was increased to 35. The speed and proficiency of Taylor’s guitar production would further increase as the company invested in computer assisted production equipment to help streamline the process. Growth continued for Taylor and they were soon moving into a much larger facility by 1992. This time it was a move to El Cajon in California to premises of 25,000 sq. ft. The acoustic guitar was gaining ground and this helped Taylor attain sales of $5 million in 1993.
The Birth of the “Baby Taylor” Acoustic Guitar
In 1996 the Baby Taylor acoustic guitar was introduced to the range and was effectively a scaled-down version of their popular acoustic guitars that were priced below $500. More than 1,000 of these cut-down versions of their popular range of acoustic guitars were sold, making the Baby Taylor an instant success. The Taylor Grand Auditorium acoustic guitar was also rolled-out during this time, and Bob Taylor called it the “best guitar that they had ever produced”. The critics agreed with Taylor and they went on to sell $20 million in guitars that same year.
Taylor Guitars Continued Growth
Taylor Guitars saw a steady and continued growth in their line of products and sales over the next 10 years. President Bill Clinton was presented with a custom built guitar at the Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C. in 1997. Taylor were forced to build a 44,000 sq. ft. facility next to the existing building in 1998 to meet increasing production demands for their fine guitars.
In 1999 the company released their industry-changing neck design called the NT neck. And this proved to be a landmark year for Taylor. Music Trades Magazine acclaimed this new neck design “Product of the Year” and guitarists everywhere loved it.
Taylor guitars has continuously added to their famous Signature Line with guitars signed by top musicians such as Kenny Loggins, Clint Black, country singer Jewel, and many others. Taylor Guitars currently manufacturers around 40,000 guitars each year, and many hundreds of their superb instruments are donated to schools on a yearly basis.
A quarter of a century has now passed since the beginnings of the Taylor Guitar Company, and they have proudly become one of the most prominent and well-known acoustic guitar manufacturers in the USA.
