Ask Bob

Andy: Trevor, we do build prototypes during a guitar’s development phase. At times, those prototypes will incorporate one variable to evaluate an individual element. Other times, the development of a model will involve multiple criteria as a means to distill the sonic, structural and aesthetic aspects of a design into the finished form. A counterpoint to this is that we’ve built a lot of guitars over a lot of years, and with each instrument, we learn some factors that remain true from one design to the next. As a result, not every aspect of every guitar needs to be proven out individually. For example, once we learn how a species of wood behaves in a certain context, it’s reasonable to expect it to behave similarly in a similar context. The parameters we pay closest attention to during a development project are the new and unfamiliar ones. As a more recent example, the red ironbark wood we’ve introduced with our 500 Series guitars took several years of working with to establish our understanding of how it should be used. That might sound overly tedious, but we don’t mind. We love building guitars and working through ideas in the pursuit of a guitar that offers a rewarding voice to a musician.

Bob: Trevor, these are good questions, and it’s good to hear that you’ve learned about guitars through Wood&Steel. I know what you mean about having an identifiable sound. It’s kind of like most people’s cooking, where they add their own flavor profile to each dish. We love our sound profile. It’s almost impossible for us to make a guitar that sounds like another maker’s profile. I mean, we could if we copied it exactly, but in the end, we still nudge it away from that direction. Personally, I find myself a little more into the category of trial and error than Andy. He’s good enough to know what a guitar will sound like before he makes it. I’m good at making a guitar I like, but if I need more of this and less of that, I’m not as sure as he is. And I have to say that we make so many guitars that those variables become evident just from everyday observation. We don’t really have to make a guitar with a pickguard and one without one to determine which one we like. When you do it all day, every day, you build a strong sense about it.

Editor’s Note: Taylor Customer Service Manager Glen Wolff responded in addition to Andy and Bob.

Glen: Mike, regarding your feedback about loose-fitting bridge pins, we fit the pins slightly looser on purpose so they’ll all seat evenly down on the bridge. They require a little tension on the string to lock them in, which may be a little tricky at times, but having them all set even is worth it. The problem with a pressure fit is the pins end up at different heights, which can be distracting depending on where you rest your hand over the bridge while playing.

Andy: Thanks for the critique, Mike. We’re always open to input from players on what aspects of a guitar’s design matter to them. I hear you on the neck dive and physical balance of an instrument. I, too, like a perfectly balanced guitar. In some cases, the weight at the headstock end of guitar is dictated by the reality of tuning machines, how many there are, and how big that peghead needs to be to hold them. At the body end, there is a range of factors to contend with, such as the species of wood and size of the body. While there have been times I’ve been tempted to add weight to a body to counterbalance a peghead, I’ve rarely found that to be a satisfactory solution as I often dislike what the resulting overall weight does for the instrument. There are a few considerations a guitar maker can play with to help, such as the size of tuning machines or species of neck wood. We certainly take those factors into account, but as you point out, there’s always room to improve on a good thing.

As for the fit of the bridge pins, we like to fit them so the heads end up at a uniform height when properly worn in. One of the tricks I use to help securely seat the ball end of the string against the bridge plate where it belongs is to make a slight bend on the twisted end portion and insert the string with the bent portion and ball toward the soundhole. That gets the ball end out of the way of the pin and helps it rest against the underside of the top, where it won’t want to pop the pin out.

Bob: Thanks, Mike, and rest assured, I don’t consider you a complainer. Your comments make me want to take a look myself, which I will do. As Glen said in his comments, we make the pins a little loose. I think Rob Magargal [Taylor’s Service Network Manager and longtime repair technician] has a restring video where he shows how we seat strings with the endpin and the ball end of the string up against the maple pin plate that’s glued to the underside of the top. Each pin is the same size. Each hole is the same size. We don’t ream a taper into our holes. We use a tapered pin into a straight hole. We find we can seat strings and pins evenly this way. What varies is the size of the string and the size of the slot. We try to match those together. One technique I personally use is that I don’t always put the groove of the pin facing forward. There’s variability in all this matching. So when I have a string seated in its slot and the ball up against the underside of the top, if the pin is loose, I twist it so that the groove is not in line with the string. This usually tightens up the fit by interfering with the string a little. This may sound like a cheat, but it’s really just flexibility. Give that a try, and while you do that, we’ll take a look to see if anything has drifted in the manufacturing.

Andy: Caleb, I’m with you on the tone of Western red cedar. I love it as a top wood, especially on a Grand Concert or Grand Auditorium guitar like yours, particularly for its touch sensitivity and warmth. Great cedar for guitar tops may not be quite as readily available as some other top woods, but we do get it and like building with it. While it may not be the standard choice on many models, we do commonly offer cedar as a top substitution in place of another wood on many models, in addition to building limited-edition guitars with it.

Bob: Caleb, it’s simple: Cedar is super hard to find these days, and we can’t easily obtain sufficient supply to ensure a model. I’m not sure if that will change. But that’s the main reason. These days, we tend to make limited-edition runs of guitars with cedar, but no longer the high-volume models. By the way, I have a 20th anniversary Grand Auditorium made with mahogany and cedar. That’s a fine guitar, so I agree with you.

Andy: Chuck, I’m very fortunate to work with great teams of folks in every area of our company. Without them and their expertise in their respective fields, I would never be able to get everything done. Titles aside, I remain a guitar maker first and foremost, and I’m happy to spend a good portion of my days at the bench. I’m not hanging up my chisels. But certainly we love including great talent in every corner of our business and are actively training future generations of guitar-loving instrument makers.

Andy: Gary, that’s a good suggestion. A number of guitar makers have experimented with including carbon fiber or fiberglass in their brace architectures, either alone or combined with wood. In fact, I’ve experimented with those materials myself in different designs. So far, I’ve always come back to wood for braces. To me, there’s something special about the way wood works, sounds and ages that seems to offer the most musically pleasing results.   

Bob: Gary, many have asked this, and some makers have done it, but usually on an all-carbon-fiber top. Wood is really perfect, though. You can cut it, dry it, carve it to any shape. You can glue it. Carbon fiber doesn’t carve and doesn’t glue with anything but epoxy. Each shape would have to be molded. We have hundreds of shapes. And in the end, it’s not really stronger for what’s needed, nor does it improve sound. Just talking about it now makes me stop and enjoy the wonders of wood. Plus…wood grows on trees!

Andy: Jeff, as a matter of fact, we have built a number of guitars from black limba, also referred to as korina. It’s been used in electric guitars as far back as the 1950s, most famously on the Gibson “futuristic” models of the late 1950s. Sonically, it’s reminiscent of the mahogany we love and has physically similar properties as you point out. We don’t come across this wood often, so we’ve never built a regular model from it, but we’ve featured it in some limited-edition guitars as well as custom instruments.

Bob: Joe, we’ve used it a time or two. Your assessment is pretty correct concerning its characteristics. But alas, one little drawback of a factory like ours is that we typically only seek out wood that has sufficient quantity to make at least an LTD run.