Taylor

Est. 1974 Website ↗

About

Taylor Guitars is one of America's largest acoustic guitar manufacturers, known for a crisp, contemporary tone and forward-thinking design innovations like the patented NT neck and V-Class bracing. Founded in El Cajon, California in 1974, Taylor became fully employee-owned in 2021 and remains a leader in sustainable tonewood sourcing.

History

Bob Taylor, Kurt Listug, and Steve Schemmer purchased American Dream, a small San Diego guitar shop, in 1974 and renamed it Taylor Guitars. The company began selling through retail channels in 1976 and secured its first equipment loan in 1981 to keep production going through lean years. In 1999, Bob Taylor patented the NT (New Technology) neck, a bolt-on design machined with far greater precision than traditional dovetail joints, making neck resets simpler and intonation more consistent. The Expression System pickup, introduced in 2004, became one of the most widely used acoustic-electric pickup systems in the industry. Taylor has also been a vocal advocate for sustainable tonewood sourcing, work recognized with a U.S. State Department Award for Corporate Excellence in 2014. On January 1, 2021, ownership of the company transitioned fully to its employees, and in 2022 longtime luthier Andy Powers — who had already redesigned much of the modern lineup, including V-Class bracing — was named CEO, President, and Chief Guitar Designer.