Taylorstock Day 1

[jeffrey]

I'm going to make this somewhat short and sweet (yeah right hehe) as it's been a long day and I am sleepy (I'm typing this flat on my back with my laptop in my lap :)).

The day started with everyone gathering in the parking lot behind the Taylor building. All the tents were already up with the food preperations mostly complete. Everyone signed in, got a goodie bag and just generally socialized.

We then consumed copious amounts of BBQ (at least I did :)) with the day shift and socialized some more all the while being entertained by some local talent (a duo; guitar/vox, harp/vox).

Shortly after lunch we started the tour.

Now, I could type 10 million words about this tour, but you won't fully appreciate it until you do it yourself. I already fully understood their construction process before I did the tour, but seeing it all in full action was really impressive.

As well we got to see some new technology that I'm not sure we can talk about just yet. :)

The tour starts in the room where they do the neck shaping/contruction. You get to see every facet of it. From raw stock to a finished neck.

From there we went upstairs to the employee training room.

After that we went to the room where they bend/mold the bodies into the various body shapes.

After that we went through various rooms showing various stages of finishing, binding and assembly.

We also got to go to the repair department and see the "LIAR" guitar. Quite impressive. Amazing when a determined woman and a heel can do. ;)

After the actual tour, we had the wood grading seminar with Bob and also got to wach a 30min movie that he shot himself in Alaska showing the harvesting process of Spruce.

We then got to check out the wall of guitars outside Bob's office; which are ALL prototypes. Pretty neat stuff. Also got to check out his Collings and his little Mesa Boogie amp next to his desk. :)

After all this we disembarked back to the parking lot for dinner. Mexican this time. Again, copious amounts of food were consumed. By me, of course *urP*. :)

After dinner we went to the performance venue and got to sample 30 or so guitars, including all the fall LTD's. Bob then did a Q&A session for a good 2 hours or so. Afterwards he still answered the constant questions from all of us. He is a very patient man. Very.

All the while we all played guitars. :)

My personal favorite of the lot thus far: the 610CE LTD (new dread design). There's a good chance it's what I'm going to get. I still have to play the 2 guitars they built for us: the maple back/sides, cedar top, and rosewood back/sides, redwood top. Should be interesting.

We took some great pictures and I'm sure everyone will be posting them in some fashion.

If not I will host them on an FTP on a T1 for a few months or whatever so everyone can download them.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch, but I think that's a pretty accurate summary thus far. :)

I'll post more details again tomorrow. G'night folks. :)

[JW]

But did you get to see my guitar??? And quit talking about the food. I smell the BBQ from here:roll: :roll: JW

[510picker]

I am going next year no matter what. It sounds like too much fun to miss and this is only one persons version. Wait until they all start chiming in!

[stratokatsu]

I am sooooooooo envious right now... I have to take the kids to youth group camp tonight and stay the week, or I think I'd have considered going to Taylorstock since I have a buddy in San Diego who could have probably put me up. I want to hear EVERY detail!!!

I'd love to have something like it on the east coast, but we'd have to have just movies of the factory... it wouldn't be the same.

[VFran]

JW, the special unveiling of your guitar is today!! I think everyone of us is just as excited as you to see the guitar, if that's possible!!! ....and that's a credit to you my friend about how we all feel about you and the "guitar that love built"

PS- ...and the food was great

[cpmusic]

We haven't seen your guitar yet, JW, but Bob T said it's finished, and he'll be bringing it over today (Saturday).

[JW]

Now that the guitar is done and I know thats its special no matter what it is I find myself asking "Why Me?" What have I done to deserve something so thought out, so nice and so many people doing this thing. Im just a regular guy who has done nothing special, Im not a great talant or anything. Im just plain old JW. But Im really excited JW today. God bless all of you!!! JW

[Tae]

This is SOOOO exciting!!!

drum roll~~~~~~~~

I hope someone post some pictures.

[rsimper]

Hey Jeff- thanks for posting all that- Day 1 was an amazing time and Im just counting down the time now until I get to head back down for day 2 :)

Let me just say that when JR said Taylor would roll out the red carpet for us, he made quite an understatement. The tours were 2 hrs long and we got to see plenty of things and go plenty of places that you would never go on the normal tour, and our tour guide operated under the assumption that we all knew what the NT neck was, or what CNC machines were more or less, so we had much more time to discuss more detailed matters and really tailor the tour to what we wanted to learn.

Not to mention the rest of the employees at the factory, several of whom took time out of their days to give our tour group 10 minute mini lectures about what they were doing.

AND, Bob Taylor as well as some of the Taylor guys stuck around the performance venue till nearly midnight while we kept playing around with guitars (almost 2 hours after the events scheduled end...)

What great hosts!

JW- the guitar will be viewed today :) Bob spoke very highly of it- he thinks youll like it...cant get a much better endorsement than that.

Oh, and by the way, for those of you looking for the new dreadnought and curious about whether its the real deal or not, ITS THE REAL DEAL!!!!!

Ian Anderson and I were at the wall of prototypes, and I picked up the 510-LTD and strummed one E chord and we both kind of froze and went "WOW"

These things grumble....I actually thought the 510 had better bass to it than the 710 did, but either way, this revoicing is the real deal and anyone whos a bluegrasser or flatpicker is going to LOVE these guitars!

HEY Y'ALL GRAB YER PARDNER...ITS WOOD PICKIN DAY!!!!!

[Steve314]

Jeff's description was pretty spot on. I would point out that the afternoon barbeque (lunch) was great. And for those of you who might have thought that Bob Taylor was some suit-wearin'stiff, he showed up in a comfortable button down shirt, jeans, and sandals. He's casual; I like that in a guitar builder. And, standing at the dessert table, I suggested he try the cherry cobbler. In a voice which everyone should have been able to hear, he replied "BROWNIES, BABY!!!

For me, the highlight of the day was the Q&A session down in the performance venue. Bob was alone on the stage with a microphone and a room full of people. His insights into the business, as well as his own personal philosophies towards building, allowed him to answer every single question in a manner which we all could actually understand.

After the Q&A, Bob hung around, just talking shop with anyone and everyone who approached him. I've met a lot of guitar builders in my time, but Bob stands atop the heap as the most genuine, the most personable, and the most approachable of them all. He's also a pretty funny guy.

After the Q&A, it was time to play the myriad of guitars which line the walls of the performance venue. You name it, it's in there.

At one point, Jennifer, JR and (I think) Rick were sitting in a circle playing 12-strings. I grabbed one of the new Cocobolo 810's (which Jen absolutely fell in love with) and sat in. Nothing fancy; just a little two chord jam with everyone taking leads.

As the people joined and left the group, it ended up being just Tim and me playing guitars, and Taylorsmitten (you know, I still don't know her name) doing some singing, as was Tim. Lemme'tell ya', and as my Grandfather would say, that gal's got some pipes.

I'm going to twist Tim's arm in getting up on stage tonight to do some stuff at open-mic, which is supposed to start around 7:00pm. This reminds me of something Bob mentioned as he closed his remarks last night. Basically, if someone didn't bring a guitar with them, they were more than welcome to use any of the guitars in the performance venue. Gee, I'd hate to forget my 314 tonight.:roll:.

I also want to recognize Rick Crider for something he did for me yesterday. During the wood grading seminar, my cell phone rang ("Hold on Bob; gotta'take this call"). I found an opportunity to call her back. Apparently, my wife decided to let the smoke out of my computer, so now it doesn't work. The downside of this is that my SmartMedia card for my camera only holds 34 high resolution images (8MB). My plan was to come home, dump those images onto my hard drive, then use the disk again today. That was now not possible. Well, Rick had a 64MB card that he wasn't using. He offered the use if the card to me, with the understanding that I mail the card back to him when I get my computer fixed (I'm using my wife's laptop for this). I put the card in my camera and, quite magically, I had an available 284 high quality images. I'm not sure how the math works on that, but I'm glad it did. Thanks again, Rick! You're another reason why this Forum is the best going.

Today, we'll be attending the wood selection, as well as tooling and inlay seminars. The two "voter requested" guitars that we all voted on some months back have been built and will be on hand, as will JW's new guitar. Despite everything else that went on this weekend, I tend to believe that the unveiling of JW's "guitar that love built" will be the apex of the weekend.

Undoubtedly, there will be more to follow, and I'm sure others will add their comments here. I would just like to say that this is, by far, one of the most enjoyable weekends I've had in a long time, and it's being spent with some great folks, both from Taylor and, as you probably suspected, from here at the TGF...

Steve

[jif6251]

Thank you all for the updates. Living vicariously through you guys isn't nearly as much fun as being there, but I'll take what I can get today.

Have fun.

Jim

[Matthew]

I want to thank all of you for your time in posting. Of course it isn't the same as being there but for those of us unable to attend it sure does help. Thanks.

Matt

[JW]

All I can say is WOW!! Thanks to all that bring it to the rest of us. JW

[Marge]

You guys are the greatest along with Mary on another thread for sharing all this with us. It means so much that you are including those of us who could not attend in this manner. I'm enjoying reading every word.

The only problem is that with Ryan and Mary and others raving over the new X10's, TAS is staring to rear it's head again. Better get lots of teaching jobs this school year, I'm going to need that money. Unless I win That Build it with Bob Contest!

MAKE it a GREAT day!!!:roll:
Marge

[Hondo]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the posts!

[Steve314]

Originally posted by Steve314
As the people joined and left the group, it ended up being just Tim and me playing guitars

Maybe it was just the fact that I hadn't had enough coffee when I first posted, but it was me and Jeff Rearick who were left playing. The rest of the descriptive is accurate.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

Steve