Taylor archtop coming within 5 years

[ribsareyummy]

Just thought I'd drop this into the archtop subforum. On this past week's "Taylor Primetime" show, Bob Taylor was on and said that the thing Andy Powers is better at than anything else is making archtops. He said an archtop from them is in their current 5 year plan. No other details, but I imagine we'll hear all about it and then some when it's ready...

[29er]

I'm a bit surprised there has not been one released yet. I've read more than once that AP has built archtops. I'll wager that he'll go for a hybrid flattop/archtop tone.

[Steve DeRosa]

Sounds like it's time to resurrect the tooling from the old -15 Series 17" jumbo body style...

[Livingston]

Originally Posted by ribsareyummy

Just thought I'd drop this into the archtop subforum. On this past week's "Taylor Primetime" show, Bob Taylor was on and said that the thing Andy Powers is better at than anything else is making archtops. He said an archtop from them is in their current 5 year plan. No other details, but I imagine we'll hear all about it and then some when it's ready...

Awesome news! Looking forward to how Taylor will put their spin on carving tops and backs and what innovations they may add to traditional archtop guitar construction. With their years of utilizing CNC technology as an example, I'm sure this could be a significant paradigm for archtop guitar builds.

I found the Taylor Primetime session where Bob Taylor's comments on the 5 year plan including the archtop project on YouTube.

[Tahitijack]

I'm a huge fan of Bob and Taylor Guitars. But about five years ago Bob said ukuleles were in the five year plan. I'm not saving my money or worried about that happening because there is so much R&D involved in bringing a new product to the market.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Tahitijack

...about five years ago Bob said ukuleles were in the five year plan. I'm not saving my money or worried about that happening because there is so much R&D involved in bringing a new product to the market.

There have been several projects from the Taylor skunkworks that unfortunately never saw the light of day - I've seen a photo of a T-3 short-scale (30" +/-) bass that I'd buy in a heartbeat - but there's a precedent (albeit as a limited-edition item) for a commercially-available tenor uke, as well as revived interest and market demand; although the past year's events have scaled things back to some extent (the new American Dream lineup - built on the existing -18 Series platform - notwithstanding), knowing both Bob and Andy I wouldn't count them out quite yet...

Furthermore, the basic tooling exists for 15/16/17" body sizes - think Gibson L-37/L-50/L-7 (or 40's Epi Olympic/Blackstone/Triumph) equivalents of the established -12/-14/-15 flattops; much as Godin did when introducing the acoustic 5th Avenue, it's less of a leap when you've already developed the basic silhouette/dimensions (in the latter case the Seagull mini-jumbo). In addition, a hybrid archtop/flattop tone (as 29er suggests) might not only be more marketable but more easily (and less expensively - Gibson's recent $6K "molded" archtop fiasco notwithstanding ) achieved with a pressed top/back - again, a process with which they already have experience with the GS Mini. With Bob and Andy's penchant for technical innovation and the head start made possible by the aforementioned blueprints/tooling, I could see a target price around $2K for a plain-wood, all-solid 15-incher in 100/200-Series livery and a semi-hard case - in the same ballpark as the Eastman and top-line Loar imports (as well as the long-rumored Epiphone NY-style replacements for the discontinued Masterbilt line), and without competition in a domestically-produced instrument...

Whoever's running the show these days at Gibson/Guild/Gretsch better wake up - and soon...

[icuker]

I'd also like to see a Gypsy Jazz offering by Taylor and a tenor guitar too. Small markets so not likely, but still think it'd be cool. Both could have laminate back and sides and still work fine especially since Gypsy jazz guitars typically have lam back and sides anyway.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by icuker

I'd also like to see a Gypsy Jazz offering by Taylor...

The 214ce platform should work nicely: right size (16"), body contours are pretty close, Taylor already has a slothead template - just needs the hardware and petite bouche soundhole:

[icuker]

That would work nicely~