Most INNOVATIVE guitar maker in the last 100 years?

[dneal]

Taylor is the obvious choice for efficiency of construction/production, but I'm not sure how much innovation he brings to the instrument itself. There's a subtle but distinct difference between GUITAR maker and guitar MAKER).

Smallman comes first to mind (and Humphreys to a lesser extent). His design is an even bigger accomplishment when you consider that Classical Guitar is a very difficult culture to introduce innovation to.

There are lots of innovations. Most aren't sucessful though. Do we give credit to the folks that taught the community what doesn't work? That's just as valuable of a discovery as what does work.

[bmc]

I haven't been playing guitar for long. I don't understand how Taylor is the most innovative. From limited knowledge, I see an very well crafted instrument but innovative?

From my limited vantage point, Ovation and Rainsong have taken hundred plus year old tradition of wood guitars and introduced round plastic backs and composite construction. That is innovative.

[Doubleneck]

My discussion limited to acoustic guitars: Taylor's contribution was one of refinement and manufacturing efficiency not a small achievement but not sure I would call it innovation. 100 years is a long time frame, you have to say Martin absolutely changed the landscape in the early 20th century. I would have to say Charlie Kaman needs to be mentioned. He is the stepping stone of innovation in looking at the acoustic guitar totally differently and as a electrified instrument for the modern world. Rainsong carried Kaman's alternative materials to new levels. Emerald Guitars currently is the most innovative maker I see, almost unending creativity, and pushing of the envelope. By the way I think acoustic guitar players as a whole tend to resist true innovation, irony of the question really.

[hardydog]

I'm biased... Michael Gurian made guitars from the 1960's to 1981.
He made them for the likes of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. One of the great modern luthiers.
PS I've got a Gurian JBH a wonderful and rare guitar LOL.

[oldgeezer]

Originally Posted by Doubleneck

Discussion limited to acoustic guitars: Taylor's contribution was one of refinement and manufacturing efficiency not a small achievement but not sure I would call it innovation. 100 years is a long time frame, you have to say Martin absolutely changed the landscape in the early 20th century. I would have to say Charlie Kaman needs to be mentioned. He is the stepping stone of innovation in looking at the acoustic guitar totally differently and as a electrified instrument for the modern world. Rainsong carried Kaman's alternative materials to new levels. Emerald Guitars currently is the most innovative maker I see, almost unending creativity, and pushing of the envelope. By the way I think acoustic guitar players as a hole tend to resist true innovation, irony of the question really.

If you want to limit your response to acoustic guitars, be my guest. But there was no distinction in the question first posed.
IMHO, those who say Leo Fender nailed it.
But I definitely agree on Martin, Charlie Kaman , and definitely RainSong. In my view of what innovation means it's when someone does something that is out of standard practice, or even frowned on by their peers, but is not only successful at it, but what they do becomes a pretty standard or accepted part of the industry they belong to. In the case of these 4 mentioned(Fender, Kaman, Martin and RainSong) this is absolutely true.

[DjFuzzyMcPickle]

Originally Posted by fazool

Taylor for changing the manufacturing of guitars.

Ovation for making non-wood acoustic bodies respectable (and paving the way for carbon fiber).

Agreed

Originally Posted by EasyEd

Hey All, Most innovative? Uh no not Bob Taylor - definitely Richard Hoover. -Ed-

Um...Who? Excuse my ignorance but all others mentioned I am familiar with, just not this person.

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

I'm trying to think of a single thing that Bob Taylor did that others had not done before him. Taylor was not the first to use CNC. Taylor was not the first to use UV cured finishes. Bob Taylor is a great marketer and a very shrewd businessman. However Bob Taylor, Jean Larrivee, Bill Collings and others in this business are all fairly good friends as well as competitors. They have freely shared ideas and innovations.

And no one has done the complete package better!!

Originally Posted by Athana

Better instead to ask who has done the most to improve the guitar. What has Taylor done..replaced men with machines, to result in a little less cost..(not much less cost mind you),as my father would say in the few English words he knew really well..big deal...
Oh and the bolt on neck for acoustic guitars. None of these things have resulted in an improvement in the instrument. Incredibly Leo Fender slapping a couple of nicely shaped woods together with a hand wound pickup did achieve the greatest innovation in the guitar ..and that is because one of his guitars through one of his amps miraculously has resulted in something great if not the greatest.

But becuase of those innovations in those machines (ford Chevy, and just about any other manufacturer as well) and by building what is arguably (especially on this forumn) is one of the most popular, one of the greatest line of guitars, the most consistent and depending on whom you ask daily here: the 1st / 2nd best guitars out there. SO like him, them or not, 2-5k guitars don't sell this much, this long because it's not true and all hype either. As MY grandfather used to say, "Money talks and BS walks"

Oh yeah..then there's this little thing that Bob started doing that NO ONE DID until him and thankfully they all jumped on his bandwagon for their sake and acoustic guitars in general and truthfully didn't have much choice. Did you miss the part where he literally changed the game in wasted and over deforestation where literally 90% of the trees being cut were being wasted for the 10% that was good?? Yeah..between that and oh yeah...those human job stealing guitars they make, I'd say he's done a remarkeable job and without a doubt the biggest gamechanger.

Without a doubt kudos to Fender and Les Paul as well and Kaman for Graphite. But vote is agreed on Taylor!

[grim83]

Uhhhm

Electric is a toss up between Leo fender and les Paul, while Les Paul had the first (roughly) solid body electric it wasn't until fender began producing his designs that anybody would talk to Les Paul. On my personal opinion the Les Paul > Broadcaster but hey lol.

Acoustic martin is a runner but I'm not sure of anything they have done since 1914 that changed the game so to speak but I could honestly be very wrong. My vote goes to ovation for popularizing the idea of alternative materials people can say rain song and the like but rain song is still a relatively small market share...I have yet to see one in person. Could also put a vote in for Yamaha as I believe they were the first Asian company to really become a player and like it or not they changed the landscape forever.

[jpd]

Dixie Michell... http://guitarcompanyofamerica.com/about.html

[fazool]

Bob Taylor is the Henry Ford of guitar making.


The topic is innovative guitar maker, not the most innovative guitar design.

Les Paul, inventing the ("Log") solid body electric for Epiphone, when it comes to guitars, alone.


Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, nor did he make the best automobiles. What he created was assembly line manufacturing that created the auto industry as we know it today.

Bob Taylor did that for guitars. He completely transformed the building of guitars by duplicating the hand-made skills with automated machinery. Bob changed the culture of the industry and manufactures >100K guitars a year, all of which replicate hand-made guitars, identically and repeatedly.

As a very senior manufacturing engineering professional, with extensive industry and automation experience, I can't tell you Bob Taylor created the most innovative guitars. What I can tell you is he absolutely did more for guitar manufacturing than anyone in the history of guitar making.

Much like Henry Ford did for automobiles.

[Bluedog52]

Originally Posted by Athana

..replaced men with machines,to result in a little less cost..(not much less cost mind you).

Reducing cost does not equate to reducing price. Two different things. The idea is to grow the margine between the two.

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

DjFuzzyMcPickle said about Richard Hoover...

Um...Who? Excuse my ignorance but all others mentioned I am familiar with, just not this person.

In 1976 Richard Hoover founded a guitar making business named Santa Cruz Guitar Company. He developed the H13.

Now as to the original question if it was about all guitars then absolutely Leo Fender is the greatest innovator of all time. I would also recognize Fred Gretsch - whose father started in the music business in 1883 but his son started making guitars in the 30s. That great Gretsch sound as defined in the 50s and 60s and on to today has been recognized by some of the best ever - perhaps most notably Chet Atkins.

But I assumed we were talking acoustic and development of all wood acoustics and I stand by Richard Hoover.

If you want to count plastics and laminates fine then I think you should recognize whoever it was (I don't know) who made the first laminate guitar. Anybody know who it was?

-Ed-

[grim83]

Originally Posted by EasyEd

Hey All,

DjFuzzyMcPickle said about Richard Hoover...



In 1976 Richard Hoover founded a guitar making business named Santa Cruz Guitar Company. He developed the H13.

Now as to the original question if it was about all guitars then absolutely Leo Fender is the greatest innovator of all time. I would also recognize Fred Gretsch - whose father started in the music business in 1883 but his son started making guitars in the 30s. That great Gretsch sound as defined in the 50s and 60s and on to today has been recognized by some of the best ever - perhaps most notably Chet Atkins.

But I assumed we were talking acoustic and development of all wood acoustics and I stand by Richard Hoover.

If you want to count plastics and laminates fine then I think you should recognize whoever it was (I don't know) who made the first laminate guitar. Anybody know who it was?

-Ed-

I believe it was Yamaha who either developed it or made it popular

[dneal]

Originally Posted by fazool

Bob Taylor is the Henry Ford of guitar making.

A very good analogy

Originally Posted by fazool

The topic is innovative guitar maker, not the most innovative guitar design.

Is it? The OP said: "...Bob Taylor is still with us and continues his quest to build the perfect guitar." That sure seems product focused instead of process focused.

[Jwills57]

I'd have to go with Bob Taylor, not because of the automation of the guitar manufacturing process, which makes great guitars available to a lot more people, but because of the imagination and technology of the neck joint. It's not just that Taylor made the bolt-on acceptable and now second nature in the industry, it's because his design is a lot more than a simple bolt-on system. By extending and supporting the neck and fret board actually into the body of the guitar, Taylor's design virtually eliminates the need for expensive neck re-sets and enables the guitar to play in tune as much as possible, even in the highest registers. I don't even own a Taylor guitar these days; I guess I've sort of grown to prefer the Martin sound profile. But I still recognize his genius and creativity.

[Jasper64]

Originally Posted by fazool

Bob Taylor is the Henry Ford of guitar making.


The topic is innovative guitar maker, not the most innovative guitar design.

Les Paul, inventing the ("Log") solid body electric for Epiphone, when it comes to guitars, alone.


Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, nor did he make the best automobiles. What he created was assembly line manufacturing that created the auto industry as we know it today.

Bob Taylor did that for guitars. He completely transformed the building of guitars by duplicating the hand-made skills with automated machinery. Bob changed the culture of the industry and manufactures >100K guitars a year, all of which replicate hand-made guitars, identically and repeatedly.

As a very senior manufacturing engineering professional, with extensive industry and automation experience, I can't tell you Bob Taylor created the most innovative guitars. What I can tell you is he absolutely did more for guitar manufacturing than anyone in the history of guitar making.

Much like Henry Ford did for automobiles.

My exact thoughts!