What's going on at Taylor Guitars?

[Carolina Blues]

Originally Posted by Sarhog

Roper Music in Spartanburg is a Taylor dealer and has a nice selection of them.

I missed that, I'll have to check them out. I have seen their Reverb page but didn't know they were a dealer!

[fpuhan]

A couple of observations. I'm neither for this apparent move, nor am I against it. Three of my favorite guitars are Taylors, and I bought all but one without having played it first.

But it bothers me a bit to think that someone who wants to try out a guitar before buying, and who may not relish the idea of going through the return process, might be put off buying a Taylor.

On the other hand, Taylor isn't the first brand to come to mind when thinking or talking about buying a beginner guitar. Or even an "economical" instrument.

The only store near me that carried guitars was a former Taylor dealer. They stopped being an authorized repair center, and just recently closed their doors forever. I now do not have any brick-and-mortar guitar stores local to me. I have to drive a good hour if I want to look, feel, smell and play. Fortunately for me, I now have lost the impetus to keep growing my guitar collection, so I find this a bonus and not a shortcoming!

The world is changing, and I think the guitar industry is growing horizontally, not vertically. Fender, Gibson, Martin and Taylor are perhaps the best known names on the headstocks, but online is giving equal time to others. And some of those others are making guitars that put to shame the "brand" name guys.

[Talk2Me]

Originally Posted by tstrahle

This might explain why, other than an unmanned desk, they weren't at the NAMM Show.

Might but likely not as they did that last year as well. Actually they were available to dealers in special rooms both times so "weren't at the NAMM Show" is a bit off the mark. In fact I saw both Andy and Bob at NAMM 2024.

[GuitarDanO]

I bought my Taylor online. The are not handmade, and their manufacturing process reportedly crates a high degree of uniformity, which is l as likely with hand made guitars. In addition, modern technology allows getting a pretty good take on sound differences across guitars from online demonstrations. For a could months I tried to play a Taylor 818e and Martin HD28 in the same shop. One day, a shop in San Jose had both. Next day they didn’t. I chose the Taylor based on recordings and discussions and was not afraid to buy online given what I learned about their manufacturing process and reports from folks who purchased that way.

I played my Martin before buying. It happened that the local Guitar Center got a D18 and D28 the same day. Yippee! Played both. Liked both and bought the one that was the best complement to my Taylor. I’ve read it’s more important to play Martin’s before buying because the sound can be more different across different serial numbers, but I don’t know whether that’s true. Lotsa folks say they haven’t played a D18 that didn’t sound like a D18. Time will tell whether Martin goes more toward online sales and if that’ll work for them.

[slimey]

I'm sure it's a generational thing, I admit I'm getting to be an old fart. For me ,with guitars, I have to be able to try before I buy, I am willing to travel to try a guitar I'm interested in. I'm retired I have the time.
But ...out of sight out of mind. If it's not in my local stores it probably won't be on my radar.
Unless you lot on AGF are really singing it's praises.

[RP]

Originally Posted by slimey

I'm sure it's a generational thing, I admit I'm getting to be an old fart...

I don't think it's generational; I'm 73, tend to buy (and sell) a lot of guitars and really can't remember the last time I looked at or bought a guitar in a brick and mortar store. But then there's a lot of stuff I don't remember...

[TennesseeWalker]

Originally Posted by GuitarDanO

I bought my Taylor online. The are not handmade, and their manufacturing process reportedly crates a high degree of uniformity, which is l as likely with hand made

Have you ever been to Taylor Guitars and taken a tour?
There are a lot of hands there, making guitars.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by RP

I don't think it's generational; I'm 73, tend to buy (and sell) a lot of guitars and really can't remember the last time I looked at or bought a guitar in a brick and mortar store.

Completely agree. I’m 72 and your guitar buying journey mirrors mine.

[beninma]

I don't care if they sell direct online but if they went to only direct they'd get crossed off my list.

I have had 2 Taylors. They are a brand I would trust to send you "a good one" more often than not.

But it doesn't mean I can pick one out online and have it actually be the right model for me. I've tried a lot of them in person and there were plenty I didn't like.

[Sarhog]

I’ve lost track of what we’re complaining about… Is it direct to consumer sales, or just Taylor direct to consumer sales?
Does Martin get a pass for selling direct to consumer here?

[gmel555]

Assuming Taylor's intentions are as supposed above, (IMHO) it follows their branding and frankly, the state of the general market. I'm not a huge Taylor fan but I do respect what they've done in terms of high volume mfg consistency (playability & tone) and many buyers are enthralled with the physical appearance of their designs (I like some too!). I think many (not all certainly) guitar purchasers are buying based on specs, appearance & of course price, with much less emphasis on listening first[/U]. (Liberal return policies support this.) Some "mom&pop" shops embraced internet sales while others were/are late or absent. I've seen several embrace internet and are still Taylor dealers, while several that didn't aren't. That's a bit of a generalization, but something I've witnessed.

[jimmy bookout]

From the original post and the posts that followed, LOTS of assumptions were made with zero back up. We've got:
1."Taylor is going to a DTC sales model" (direct to consumer)
2. "Mom and Pop stores can't compete and can't afford Taylor's inventory requirements"
3. And various other doom and gloom scenarios, none of which are true.

LA Guitar Sales very clearly states that this is a "new old stock" house cleaning. Here you go:
https://www.laguitarsales.com/index....r-guitars.html

Gotta love the internet...

PS. EVERY big guitar company has inventory requirements of their customers. Do you think Fender/Martin/Gibson/etc just says: "Hey whatever you want to order...no minimum".

[GuitarDanO]

Originally Posted by TennesseeWalker

Have you ever been to Taylor Guitars and taken a tour?
There are a lot of hands there, making guitars.

My point was that there is a lot more machining of components in Taylors. I believe that is pretty well accepted, but I don't have first hand knowedge, just what's online about them. I don't think that's a negative given the precision of CAD/CAM these days. I suppose there might be pluses and minuses. Interestingly our Estonia Grand piano is more "hand made" than the Yamaha Grand we were considering, and in that case we chose the more hand made one. It spoke to us. There's more than one way to skin a cat. But I do think it is a little more challenging for the ones that are more hand made to sell online, at least with my generation still around, but who knows where it'l go.

[jimmy bookout]

^^^
You should know that Jim Olson, maker of some of THE most highly sought after acoustic guitars, uses CAD/CAM for parts (bridges/fingerboards/etc) and has for MANY years.

[Mark Stone]

I’m old school I guess - If I can’t play it first, I won’t buy/trade for it. But, except for a Taylor 814ce DLX that I bought in 2020, all my instruments are trades with local individuals, so I’m not gonna worry about it lol.