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Old 01-26-2018, 10:16 AM
Rmz76 Rmz76 is offline
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Location: Houston, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Picker2 View Post
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So, this morning I received the Taylor Insider email with a link to the video What is V-Class Bracing where I saw Andy Powers sitting in his cabin, staring out of the window, scratching his chin and sketching in a Robinson Crusoe style diary, tinkering with wooden sticks, allegedly inventing V-bracing. Oh please guys... how old do you think your customers are by the time they can afford a Taylor? This is all so clearly put in scene and made up... just like the whole rest of the story.
The message in the advertising is that when you buy a new V-Class braced guitar, you're getting a hand built instrument from Andy Power's workshop. It's also a message of "we've come up with a new voicing that is superior to the historic X bracing pattern that exist in every guitar that you've fallen in love with".

It's easy to see why this is a bit offensive. I'm sure the new voicing delivers at least some of the things claimed (the better projection/volume/sustain on notes played high up the neck come through in the videos), but I'm also certain that it won't be for everyone just because tone/timbre in general is so subjective and what you want for one performance situation could be different than another. It is not and never will be one guitar voice that makes everyone happy. Any guitarist who's been playing for a few years knows this and Taylor seems to be saying "we have THE answer to a problem you've always had" and it seems disingenuous.

Bob Taylor's biography reveals a lot. Under Bob and Kurt's leadership creative advertising has been used but they've also been transparent in letting the world know that their product is largely machine built. The transitioning with V-Bracing advertising follows this trend they started after announcing Andy Powers as Bob's successor. The image projected is a master craftsman working in his shop building a guitar just for you. That's what the advertisement wants the viewer to think.


Quote:

This is not how a top manufacturer designs guitars. I'll tell you what really happened. Taylor, or maybe Andy, has been experimenting with different bracings. Of course! If you have a Taylor factory at your disposal you can make ten guitars every day with all kinds of wild bracings and simply try them out. Fantastic, and its great they did this. And so, one of those new patterns actually sounded pretty good, and they decided to productise it in a limited series. So far so good.

At that point, they should have done something like this:



Now that would have been an honest and open customer communication that would have shown respect to me, as one of their better customers, and all other Taylor addicts...
Last night I did a search for NAMM 2018 videos and it appears Taylor's marketing approach is working well. A few big name review sites are calling out Taylor's V-Bracing as general "best of show". Probably everyone here want's to give one of these V-Braced guitars a try (I know that I do). So I think the advertising is a win in that regard.

Going back to the early days of Taylor, Bob Taylor outlines in his bio the importance creative marketing has had. So even Bob Taylor is saying in an indirect way that it's the brand building through advertising and marketing that is as much responsible as the product itself for their success. That clever advertising and not the quality is what separates them from companies like Larrivee and Breedlove who have also been successful but not nearly as successful as Taylor. As far as bringing a unique guitar to market at a reasonable price, I'm much more impressed with Breedlove's guitars than Taylor's and I believe if Breedlove had better marketing and advertising that they would be bigger than Taylor, but the product's quality only doesn't sell the product.

I think Taylor's advertising message of "we build a better guitar" has always been different than Gibson's and Martin's. The traditional builder's guitars sell on legacy and that legacy includes specific iconic models but also in brand reputation. In order to bring a product to market that could break through those deep roots other companies have, Taylor had come out swinging with bold (over hyped) claims from the beginning.

So while some are thinking "I can't believe they are going this far with advertising" part of me is thinking "It's just Taylor being Taylor, maybe you haven't realized how much their clever advertising lured you in years ago".
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Last edited by Rmz76; 01-26-2018 at 10:29 AM.