Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Local Taylor Guitars Taking Their Axes on the Road

With fall quickly approaching, the Taylor Guitars Road Show team has announced another season of guitar demos at authorized Taylor Dealers around the globe. From Sweden to Hawaii, nearly 200 new dates have been booked, promising Taylor fans and guitar enthusiasts the opportunity to connect with Taylor experts straight from the company's factory in El Cajon for both product education and guitar playing.

At each event, Taylor's Road Show team shares insights on the company's guitar-making process and the award-winning Expression System pickup, and demonstrates how body shapes and woods affect tone. After the demonstration, guests are invited to sample a variety of different models, along with rare and custom build-to-order guitars, as part of Taylor's "Petting Zoo." Admission to each Road Show is free.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29856/

The 2012 Road Show schedule will kick-off with multiple dates in New York, Pennsylvania and Germany, followed by dates in Texas, Oklahoma, Spain and France. Additional dates will be listed on the Taylor Guitars Road Show and Events page: http://www.taylorguitars.com/events/road-show

While on the site, visitors can also see the latest stops of the company's popular Find Your Fit events, a one-on-one with a Taylor factory expert to help match players with a guitar that fits their playing style. Also, site browsers can plan to meet the Taylor factory staff at a variety of festivals and events held throughout the year.

San Diego’s own Taylor Guitars started in 1974 as the dream of Bob Taylor (age 19) and Kurt Listug (age 21) on a loan of $10,000. As cofounder and President, Taylor knew from the moment he made his first guitar during his junior year of high school this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29858/

Taylor and business partner Kurt Listug have weathered economic storms, seen the rise, decline, and reemergence of the acoustic guitar industry, and have gone on to build one of the top-selling acoustic guitar brands in the United States. For two inexperienced kids with a dream of having their own guitar shop, the odds of success were stacked against them, and yet each obstacle was overcome.

In his book, Guitar Lessons: A Life’s Journey Turning Passion Into Business, Taylor recounts the hard knock lessons that helped make Taylor Guitars an industry leader. From his earliest lessons in dismantling household appliances and bikes, to what he calls “Sweat Equity” in business, Taylor imparts his experience as a tradesman with consideration for building a business on the values of quality products and passion for perfection - values that often seem counterintuitive in today’s mass production culture.

In the case of one of his earliest lessons, Taylor recounts how from a young age, his curious mindset yearned to understand the function of products. He would dismantle a clock just figure out how to put it back together. By learning how others made products, Taylor believed it would help him to create his own.

“I’ve experienced as much as thirty-year gaps between learning something and applying it," says Taylor. “It’s not always immediate.”

Guitar Lessons relates stories of Taylor’s first exposure with mainstream artists. For example, he recounts at age 24 watching Neil Young in the film Rust Never Sleeps, playing one of his very first guitars, the Taylor 855 12 string, a guitar Taylor had built with his own hands.

To many, a turning point in the company’s history was the birth of Prince’s purple guitar in the video “Raspberry Beret,” as the dyed acoustic guitar put Taylor on the map for its unique creations.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29859/

However, “I realized then that the night before hadn’t changed my life all that much and I that had a lot of work ahead of me if this was ever going to pan out. I strapped on my apron and started cutting wood.”

Taylor Guitars has evolved into one a leading manufacturers of premium acoustic and electric guitars. Renowned for blending an innovative use of modern technology with a master craftsman's attention to detail, Taylor guitars are widely considered among the best sounding and easiest to play in the world. Musicians who make Taylor their guitar of choice include Dave Matthews, Prince, Jason Mraz, Steven Curtis Chapman, Zac Brown and Taylor Swift.

Swift, in fact, has her own signature Taylor Swift Baby Taylor guitar (TSBT), featuring Swift's own design touches.

Based on the best-selling Baby Taylor guitar, the TSBT is ideal for both promising players and accomplished pickers, at three-quarters the size of a standard dreadnought, with a slim 1 11/16-inch neck and a comfortably compact shape.

"I wanted to share my passion for playing guitar with my fans," said Swift when announcing the model. "For a beginner, finding the right guitar can be intimidating, but this guitar, it's the perfect size. Even if you've been playing for years, it's a great size to travel with."

The TSBT is crafted from a resilient sapele laminate body with a solid Sitka spruce top. Swift's design, which encircles the guitar's soundhole, features her well-known expression "Love, Love, Love" among delicate vines. The design also commemorates the songwriting spirit and success of her album Fearless, whose title is inscribed above the bridge along with her signature.

Swift, who shares a close relationship with Taylor Guitars and regularly uses a variety of Taylor guitars when both performing and recording, fondly remembers her own Baby Taylor as a go-to guitar during her early days of touring.

"I used to sit in the back seat of the rental car while I was on my radio tour at 16, writing songs on my Baby Taylor guitar," she reflects. "I love the sound, and I love those memories."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29857/

Introduced in 1996, the Baby Taylor was designed to be the ultimate musical travel companion and set the standard for how good a small guitar could sound. Delivering impressive volume and tone for its compact dimensions, the Baby Taylor quickly became the favorite "road guitar" for many professional musicians, including Bono, Joe Elliott, Katy Perry, Clint Black and, Tim McGraw.

To view more pictures of the Taylor Swift Baby Taylor, visit http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/limiteds/signature/TaylorSwift

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

East San Diego County has only one bike lane

So you can get out of town – from Santee to Tierrasanta

With fall quickly approaching, the Taylor Guitars Road Show team has announced another season of guitar demos at authorized Taylor Dealers around the globe. From Sweden to Hawaii, nearly 200 new dates have been booked, promising Taylor fans and guitar enthusiasts the opportunity to connect with Taylor experts straight from the company's factory in El Cajon for both product education and guitar playing.

At each event, Taylor's Road Show team shares insights on the company's guitar-making process and the award-winning Expression System pickup, and demonstrates how body shapes and woods affect tone. After the demonstration, guests are invited to sample a variety of different models, along with rare and custom build-to-order guitars, as part of Taylor's "Petting Zoo." Admission to each Road Show is free.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29856/

The 2012 Road Show schedule will kick-off with multiple dates in New York, Pennsylvania and Germany, followed by dates in Texas, Oklahoma, Spain and France. Additional dates will be listed on the Taylor Guitars Road Show and Events page: http://www.taylorguitars.com/events/road-show

While on the site, visitors can also see the latest stops of the company's popular Find Your Fit events, a one-on-one with a Taylor factory expert to help match players with a guitar that fits their playing style. Also, site browsers can plan to meet the Taylor factory staff at a variety of festivals and events held throughout the year.

San Diego’s own Taylor Guitars started in 1974 as the dream of Bob Taylor (age 19) and Kurt Listug (age 21) on a loan of $10,000. As cofounder and President, Taylor knew from the moment he made his first guitar during his junior year of high school this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29858/

Taylor and business partner Kurt Listug have weathered economic storms, seen the rise, decline, and reemergence of the acoustic guitar industry, and have gone on to build one of the top-selling acoustic guitar brands in the United States. For two inexperienced kids with a dream of having their own guitar shop, the odds of success were stacked against them, and yet each obstacle was overcome.

In his book, Guitar Lessons: A Life’s Journey Turning Passion Into Business, Taylor recounts the hard knock lessons that helped make Taylor Guitars an industry leader. From his earliest lessons in dismantling household appliances and bikes, to what he calls “Sweat Equity” in business, Taylor imparts his experience as a tradesman with consideration for building a business on the values of quality products and passion for perfection - values that often seem counterintuitive in today’s mass production culture.

In the case of one of his earliest lessons, Taylor recounts how from a young age, his curious mindset yearned to understand the function of products. He would dismantle a clock just figure out how to put it back together. By learning how others made products, Taylor believed it would help him to create his own.

“I’ve experienced as much as thirty-year gaps between learning something and applying it," says Taylor. “It’s not always immediate.”

Guitar Lessons relates stories of Taylor’s first exposure with mainstream artists. For example, he recounts at age 24 watching Neil Young in the film Rust Never Sleeps, playing one of his very first guitars, the Taylor 855 12 string, a guitar Taylor had built with his own hands.

To many, a turning point in the company’s history was the birth of Prince’s purple guitar in the video “Raspberry Beret,” as the dyed acoustic guitar put Taylor on the map for its unique creations.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29859/

However, “I realized then that the night before hadn’t changed my life all that much and I that had a lot of work ahead of me if this was ever going to pan out. I strapped on my apron and started cutting wood.”

Taylor Guitars has evolved into one a leading manufacturers of premium acoustic and electric guitars. Renowned for blending an innovative use of modern technology with a master craftsman's attention to detail, Taylor guitars are widely considered among the best sounding and easiest to play in the world. Musicians who make Taylor their guitar of choice include Dave Matthews, Prince, Jason Mraz, Steven Curtis Chapman, Zac Brown and Taylor Swift.

Swift, in fact, has her own signature Taylor Swift Baby Taylor guitar (TSBT), featuring Swift's own design touches.

Based on the best-selling Baby Taylor guitar, the TSBT is ideal for both promising players and accomplished pickers, at three-quarters the size of a standard dreadnought, with a slim 1 11/16-inch neck and a comfortably compact shape.

"I wanted to share my passion for playing guitar with my fans," said Swift when announcing the model. "For a beginner, finding the right guitar can be intimidating, but this guitar, it's the perfect size. Even if you've been playing for years, it's a great size to travel with."

The TSBT is crafted from a resilient sapele laminate body with a solid Sitka spruce top. Swift's design, which encircles the guitar's soundhole, features her well-known expression "Love, Love, Love" among delicate vines. The design also commemorates the songwriting spirit and success of her album Fearless, whose title is inscribed above the bridge along with her signature.

Swift, who shares a close relationship with Taylor Guitars and regularly uses a variety of Taylor guitars when both performing and recording, fondly remembers her own Baby Taylor as a go-to guitar during her early days of touring.

"I used to sit in the back seat of the rental car while I was on my radio tour at 16, writing songs on my Baby Taylor guitar," she reflects. "I love the sound, and I love those memories."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/18/29857/

Introduced in 1996, the Baby Taylor was designed to be the ultimate musical travel companion and set the standard for how good a small guitar could sound. Delivering impressive volume and tone for its compact dimensions, the Baby Taylor quickly became the favorite "road guitar" for many professional musicians, including Bono, Joe Elliott, Katy Perry, Clint Black and, Tim McGraw.

To view more pictures of the Taylor Swift Baby Taylor, visit http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/limiteds/signature/TaylorSwift

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dave Mustaine Accuses Prez Obama of Staging Theater & Temple Shootings

Next Article

Street Style, Encinitas Farmer's Market

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader