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This is a good question, Shane. We could talk for hours, and maybe it could be a podcast with both Andy and me on. But in this limited space, I’ll try to describe some differences that I see.

Our approach was as different as it was similar. We both had a lot of original concepts for guitars, yet Andy studied in order to learn deeply what made the good historical guitars so good. Then he applied original thought to his guitars. I never studied or, frankly, cared too much about what had come before me, except that acoustic guitars were hard to play, and I wanted to change that.

We both worked hard and with passion, throwing ourselves at it, but Andy was more studious than I was. He was careful and learned how to be an expert with hand tools at a bench. I wanted to use machines. He put his 10,000 hours into how to sharpen a chisel. I put my 10,000 hours into how to eliminate a chisel.

Andy is an incredible player, and I can strum along to songs and know when you change chords, which doesn’t mean I know which chord to change to! Andy does, even the esoteric chords. But that made our guitars different because we both made guitars to please ourselves.

Andy was happy to work alone, and I wanted to build a factory. So, in essence, I tried to design a factory that could execute the complex tasks that my guitar designs required. Andy did those complex tasks with his great hand skills.

We’re very similar in that we can both draw a nice curve. And we both have the same ideas of what a nice curve is and is not. You can’t even imagine how important that is. We both sweat over it.

These are just some basics. Our partnership has brought his depth of knowledge in guitar design together with my ability to see ways to make the pieces or execute the operations. Andy has become quite adept at that over his nearly 12 years here. He innately thinks about how we can execute his ideas in a factory setting.

Here’s what I told Andy when I suggested he come work with us: “Kurt and I have built a foundation that doesn’t crumble and a roof that doesn’t leak. You can use your working life to design and build out the interior in a way that you envision.”

He’s doing just that, and I’m proud of him and our association. Our guitars are much better for it. I have to say that it’s wonderful to be able to continue our legacy of improving guitars.

Andy Powers responds: Great questions, Steve. Frets are one of the most critical components of a guitar’s playability and yet possibly the most commonly overlooked. More specifically, the accuracy and installation of the frets need to be of the highest precision possible in order to offer great playability with consistent feel and sound. Beyond the installation and fretboard preparation itself, the size of the playing portion of the fret that protrudes above the fretboard, referred to as the bead, influences the feel and resulting sound of the guitar. A tall fret allows a player’s fingertip to easily press the string to the fret cleanly and offers great expression, as the player’s finger can easily bend the note sideways while holding the string to the fret or create vibrato effects by varying their fingertip pressure or position.

While these expressive effects are made easy by large frets, it becomes easy to press with too much or with uneven fingertip pressure and corrupt the pitch accuracy of the notes — effectively playing the guitar out of tune. Frets with a smaller bead will allow some of the player’s fingertip pressure to be distributed against the wood of the fretboard itself, inducing more accurately pitched notes. Typically, a fret size is chosen based on a good balance of expressiveness and accuracy.

Parallel to this is a desire to balance the hardness of the strings and the frets. When the frets are made from extremely hard material, they will have an exceptionally long lifespan before wearing to the point of needing maintenance. However, hard fret material can also have the effect of producing a somewhat brash, metallic sound as a string touches each fret, as well as wear the windings of strings so quickly the strings begin to buzz and rattle. Frets made from a softer metal alloy will tend to offer a warmer sound but wear more quickly.

For our guitars, we chose a fret material that gives a good balance between longevity and tone, expressiveness and pitch accuracy. For our electric T5z guitars, we do size up the fret bead, as those guitars are intended to bridge the gap between acoustic and expressive electric playing styles. I hope this helps.

Andy Powers responds: I’m happy to hear you’re having fun with these two guitars, Dave! While I didn’t specifically sit down and tell myself to design a guitar that fits a person with shoulder or neck strains, the player’s physical comfort was certainly near the top of my list in terms of design criteria for these instruments. From my own experience, when I’m comfortable and relaxed with an instrument, I tend to enjoy playing it more, and (I think) my playing sounds a little better. Many aspects of those Builder’s Edition guitars — the dimensions, cutaway, armrest, etc. — were created to make the guitar more comfortable to hold and play, sore shoulders or not. As for Shamel ash aging, one factor I’ve noticed, having observed the aging process of a lot of different guitars, is that the tonal development of different woods tends to take a similar path. Despite the varieties of woods guitars are made from, with time, the guitar as a whole will tend to become richer, with improved dynamic range and greater sensitivity to the player’s touch. There are some subtleties of particular woods needing a longer ripening time than others, but largely, they’ll simply continue to ripen and get sweeter like a peach. The Shamel ash and mahogany of your Builder’s Edition 324ce will fall right in line.

Andy Powers responds: Larry, you make some good observations. The top of an acoustic guitar is indeed an important aspect of making a guitar sound great. It’s also a very nuanced, complex component and hard to build generalizations around. Adding material to it in the form of pickguards, the hard wood of a bridge, even an inlaid rosette or the type of finish used all impart influence of some degree in the form of damping. In this case, damping doesn’t necessarily mean a total or linear reduction of vibration like turning down a volume control, but a selective reduction where different frequencies are affected more than others, changing the sonic stew more like a tone control. When a change is made to an acoustic guitar such as removing a large pickguard, the guitar may or may not become appreciably louder, but it will typically respond with some change in tone, sometimes for the better, and occasionally worse, depending on who is listening and their preferences. This is one reason the Builder’s Edition guitars were designed with no pickguard. It’s not that the guitars sound bad with a pickguard on them, it’s simply that we like the way they sounded without one in their minimally dampened state.

Steve, I love each new Spanish word or phrase I learn. I wish my comprehension when listening to Spanish was better. I enjoy learning more about growing trees. I own 250 acres in the mountains and hope to get more proficient operating my Bobcat and other equipment I have up there. It’s surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land, and I’ll put cattle on part of it, so that’s something to learn. Plus, learning how to attract more wildlife for the areas in between paddocks. All you need to do for that is plant edibles and provide water. They like to eat, and they tell their friends. And of course, l love learning more about guitars and guitar building. I’m not checking out of guitar building. I mean, I can stay here at Taylor as long as I like — I have a ringside seat, and even one at the table, to watch, learn and continue to contribute.

John, I laid out the first three factories we had alone and did a lot of the work myself to build them. The fourth building was a team of a few others working alongside me. There were more buildings after that, each with more help. By the time we designed our current factory in Tecate, Ed Granero, VP of Product Development here at Taylor, designed it with his team of people. We have an approach that we follow, and until that approach doesn’t serve us, we’ll continue to stick to it. I had very little to with the Tecate factory design other than looking at it and saying, “Yep, that’s what I’d do too!” And yes, we have expansion plans. I’ll sit back and enjoy watching. I’m pretty sure that’s how it will go. I’m happy to toss in new ideas that might change the course, but the team is usually ahead of me now.