This is the cleanest guitar factory I have seen yet. Everything is done with so much precision and attention to detail. Each Taylor guitar is a modern day, Stradivarius-like masterpiece. Now I see why Taylor guitars have premium prices. They are worth it.
Interesting plant tour. I’ve also watched the Martin Custom Shop, Bourgeois, Collings and Breedlove factory tours. It’s very clear now why I find little difference in sound between a $2000 Taylor and a $10,000 Taylor. It’s because there are no highly specialized guitar luthiers doing necessary voicing of the bracing to really maximize the tone quality of the top wood. I watched Dana Bourgeois videos on voicing guitars and it was such an eye opener on how each piece of top wood is different which requires the bracing scalloping to be individually carved to get the optimum tone quality. Collings, Bourgeois, Martin Custom Shop and Collings all do this on their high end guitars, whereas according to the Taylor plant tour, they don’t. It doesn’t mean Taylor guitars are bad, but it explains why I have found little difference in sound between a mid priced and high priced Taylor. Their low-mid priced guitars are great value, but for a high priced guitar, I definitely want it to be custom voiced properly by a specialized guitar luthier. Now I understand better why high end Martin Custom Shop, Breedlove, Collings and Bourgeois guitars typically sound amazing and Taylor’s typically sound similar to their mid priced guitars. . I had a high end Taylor K14CE Koa/Sitka and traded it for a Martin Custom Shop 000-14 Guatemalan Rosewood/Adirondack guitar because it sounds so much better for similar price. I kept my Breedlove Northwest Classic because it also sounds amazing. Both of these great guitars are custom voiced by a luthier. I love the Dana Bourgeois guitar building videos as there is so much detail and passion that goes into building each of their high end guitars. I’ve tried them and they are great and would live to buy one.
Wow awesome mind blowing, crazy crazy really blowing my mind. Where have you been dude this is all straight forward. If you want a machine made guitar purchase any model or make. There is virtually no hands on here. How did a milling machine a spray booth blow your mind, get life. Huge cost savings are mentioned with hundreds of guitars “ boy do I want one “
Seems like a little Taylor bashing in the comments. Cadillac, Bentley, Rolls Royce. Each company has different manufacturing processes that demand different pricing and obviously the product differs. Guitar manufacturing is no different. Recently I sold my Martin GPC-16E because the sound was thin and uninspiring. Personally I have never been a Taylor fan as I have never heard one that impressed me, until I came across their 314 CE Ltd. Torrified Sitka with Sapele. I replaced my Martin with it and have never looked back! The moral of the story is everything about a guitar is subjective to the person buying it. One man’s hero guitar is another man’s zero guitar. Personally, I love my Taylor guitar! It does it’s job. It is fun to play, sounds great to my ears and is visually stunning!
Most guitar players are a fickle bunch. Fact is some jobs are better with robots, but there is still room for the artisan to make or break the instrument.
@@Life-of-Bluegrass_Music He probably doesn't want a typical Martin or Gibson that's doomed to develop mile high action up the neck, with major surgery, spelled $$$$$ to correct it.
I'd like to see a close-up of that neck carving bit. That thing removed a lot of material, but left a really smooth, nicely articulated surface. And quickly too.
Awesome! Thank you Mr. Koch w/Wildwood Guitars. Love your take on the English language. Just makes everything better! A special thank you to Taylor Guitars for letting this vid be shown for us fans of Taylor Guitars.
Thankyou dear taylor guitars, Do you have processes, procedures you use/have to ensure proper adhesion of lacquer, and preventage of body binging shrinkage ? i have just replaced a guitar with these problems with a 914ce ) ( v braced ) . i would love to have reassurance that lacquer delamination and body shrinkage with a correctly mantained taylor guitar under correct 45-55% relative humidity will not be a concern.
The finish guy isn't digging the Koch humor. Anyway,These are great guitars.Proud owner of 810B from 2000 . Legends of the Fall series.3 piece Brazilian back.Looks like D35 on steroids.
I got a baby Taylor guitar, but Its busted cracked from the topface ,, someone knows if they restore or reshape reconstract the top face of my baby in the factory?
@@MasterofAardvarks the robots do the work of the artisans, and it's so consistent across their lines that there's not much difference in sound between a 114 and a 914...none of the tops or backs are hand voiced, even on their most custom of customs. Why are you paying so much for a Taylor - because they have a superior marketing department. I'll take a bench made Yairi, Yamaha, Collins, Bourgeois, Breedlove, or Santa Cruz all day, for about the same money as a 914ce. Peace. 🐰💙🇺🇲🎸🎶🤝✌️
Loved this video! What a fascinating process. It makes you want to buy into the whole Taylor "thing". BUT the host was surely baked wasnt he? What an annoying pain in the ass he was. Chris was the best, looking at him like "who the f&*k is this jackass?"
Call me a dumass for my comment. I bought the cheepie of the Taylor guitar line of instruments. The 110. Partial luminated components. Back and sides. I decided it would be a worthy candidate to be traded up for a Martin, higher up tha pecking order Road Series DRS1. It along with a Martin DX1AE. Wish I had just bought the Road Series outright. Duh!!! I returned to the Guitar Center store wanting to buy my 110 back. G C had jacked up the price by 60%. But my loss was their gain!!! At any rate I'm scouring the www for either another Taylor 110 or a Martin DX1. Hoss trading is better if the other guy has the best hoss.
Not sure this does Taylor any good. The guitars all look machine made with no Artisan skills needed 2 mins here 3 mins the after 20 mins you have a $5000 guitar. Hmm not sure about that, I could get a genuine all hand made guitar with a voiced top for that all made in the finest wood and a one off Martin are way way more hands on that’s why everyone loves them.
I dont understand why so many people lay down 5000$ for a factory made guitar which doesnt even have a properly voiced / taptuned top, when you can for as little as 1000$ get a really good hand-built one from a small workshop in Slovenia (Dowina) and for 5000$ you have a Bourgois to name a really respected Luthier.
@@Frozenguy1 just pick up a $5,000 Taylor and play one, then you'll see why. Some of the greatest players in the world play them for a reason. But I guess if YOU don't like them, then they suck. Who cares HOW the donuts are made as long as they taste amazing! You could always go grab a $20,000 Olsen. Okay, I'm off for a cruise in my really shitty MACHINE MADE Corvette.
@@FrankSpeer66 Im not saying they're bad guitars. Machine made has a lot of benefits! The playability of a Taylor is always spot on due to the huge reduction in human error. I'm just saying I would personally prefer to buy something like a Bourgois if I had 5k to spend. There is a lot of variance in the wood itself, and tuning the braces and top thickness for the specific piece of wood used is very important to get that last few % of the sound just right. In my opinion the best compromise would be hand tuned braces & tops combined with machine assembly / routing / setting the neck angle etc. to get most out of both playability and sound.
I agree 100%. NEVER IN MY LIFE will I pay a premium for a factory made instrument, because its a certain brand. Taylor has the best snake oil salesmen, and many artists are involved in sponsorships by Taylor. I will never own one, unless it's a gift. My money will be better spent on a red or rainbow series Furch, a Yairi, or Yamaha LS56... Peace. 🐰💙🇺🇲🎸🎶🤝✌️
California or Mexico made makes no difference - they're all made by Mexicans, or rather by CNC run by Mexicans. THe genius however is in the brilliant process and system design and in the programming and quality control -thats what sets this apart from other factory guitars where variations are wild and human error much greater Taylor and Martin run a system whereby they perfect one guitar, encode that process exactly and replicate with as little variation as possible.
Not a fan of the host. I fast forwarded and I think I missed the painting section? He must be a nice guy. I prefer Gibson. Everything seems so automated with Taylor. I do hope they continue to make guitars in the USA. American made products are still the best and retain their value... increase their value in many cases.
I liked taylor, until I seen this video, You would think something that cost so much, would be like 85 to 90 percent mass milled, very little hand craftsmanship, I think a guitar a thousand or more should be hand made, just my opinion
Taylor non ha nulla della antica arte della liuteria amore fatta ... ora si paga migliaia di dollari per qualcosa fatto al computer .. dov'è uomini come Stradivari ?? non ci sono più uomini come Michelangelo o Leonardo da Vinci
honestly the 'interviewer' would be well-advised to stop the awkward bad comedy and just allow the employees to walk us through it - almost couldn't watch it because of who is doing this interview - need a more serious educated moderator next time
JUNK ALL I hear is rattles and buzzing. Very thin sounding guitars. Chinese makes better guitars then Bob Taylor. Blueridge is even kicking Taylors ass in the Market.
Mathews Halon 6 I mean you can have a preference to which guitar you prefer. But to call Taylor junk takes away your professionalism when it comes to judgement.
Was just about to purchase a Taylor guitar a K14 This video has changed my mind. It’s a lottery, pieces of wood are picked for a particular guitar then it’s all about time 1min here 10 minutes there how quick can we do it. for a 5,000 dollar guitar it’s all machine made no one knows if it’s a good guitar or not. Who checks it no one I can see. All about saving money and how quick they can make a guitar Leaving no character they are all the same good or bad. Do you want to purchase a guitar for 5000$ that took 1 hour to build No individual or personal in put “ who checks the voicing of the guitar” no one because it’s 1 of many it’s a production line and nothing to do with a great guitar. For me going over to Martin. The margin on sales must be huge that’s why these guys are promoting a production line product that’s cheap to produce with high margins. Shame on you
The Neck Dept dude is a credit to Taylor.
Explains everything in easy to follow detail, and very well spoken.
He knows his stuff.
This is the cleanest guitar factory I have seen yet. Everything is done with so much precision and attention to detail. Each Taylor guitar is a modern day, Stradivarius-like masterpiece. Now I see why Taylor guitars have premium prices. They are worth it.
less than a minute in, I can already tell this will be an overwhelming experience!
If you are referring to the excessive use of verbose American enthusiasm, I concur. I couldn't get past that introduction.
Your loss :)
Interesting plant tour. I’ve also watched the Martin Custom Shop, Bourgeois, Collings and Breedlove factory tours. It’s very clear now why I find little difference in sound between a $2000 Taylor and a $10,000 Taylor. It’s because there are no highly specialized guitar luthiers doing necessary voicing of the bracing to really maximize the tone quality of the top wood. I watched Dana Bourgeois videos on voicing guitars and it was such an eye opener on how each piece of top wood is different which requires the bracing scalloping to be individually carved to get the optimum tone quality. Collings, Bourgeois, Martin Custom Shop and Collings all do this on their high end guitars, whereas according to the Taylor plant tour, they don’t. It doesn’t mean Taylor guitars are bad, but it explains why I have found little difference in sound between a mid priced and high priced Taylor. Their low-mid priced guitars are great value, but for a high priced guitar, I definitely want it to be custom voiced properly by a specialized guitar luthier. Now I understand better why high end Martin Custom Shop, Breedlove, Collings and Bourgeois guitars typically sound amazing and Taylor’s typically sound similar to their mid priced guitars. . I had a high end Taylor K14CE Koa/Sitka and traded it for a Martin Custom Shop 000-14 Guatemalan Rosewood/Adirondack guitar because it sounds so much better for similar price. I kept my Breedlove Northwest Classic because it also sounds amazing. Both of these great guitars are custom voiced by a luthier. I love the Dana Bourgeois guitar building videos as there is so much detail and passion that goes into building each of their high end guitars. I’ve tried them and they are great and would live to buy one.
As a Taylor guitar owner this was really cool to watch. Thanks!
The best Taylor factory tour I’ve seen
Loved the factory tour,but the highlight for me was the jam session at the end. Phenomenal playing!
Watching the surf is like staying at a Holiday inn. Powers and Koch world tour 2016. I love hearing you guys jam.
I'm a fan of innovation. I'm an electric guitar player primarily, but a Taylor guitar is on my bucket list 100%
Wow awesome mind blowing, crazy crazy really blowing my mind. Where have you been dude this is all straight forward.
If you want a machine made guitar purchase any model or make. There is virtually no hands on here.
How did a milling machine a spray booth blow your mind, get life. Huge cost savings are mentioned with hundreds of guitars “ boy do I want one “
the body bending dude really likes the sound of his voice haha. Great video!
wicked jam
Seems like a little Taylor bashing in the comments.
Cadillac, Bentley, Rolls Royce. Each company has different manufacturing processes that demand different pricing and obviously the product differs. Guitar manufacturing is no different.
Recently I sold my Martin GPC-16E because the sound was thin and uninspiring. Personally I have never been a Taylor fan as I have never heard one that impressed me, until I came across their 314 CE Ltd. Torrified Sitka with Sapele. I replaced my Martin with it and have never looked back!
The moral of the story is everything about a guitar is subjective to the person buying it. One man’s hero guitar is another man’s zero guitar. Personally, I love my Taylor guitar! It does it’s job. It is fun to play, sounds great to my ears and is visually stunning!
Most guitar players are a fickle bunch. Fact is some jobs are better with robots, but there is still room for the artisan to make or break the instrument.
majestic tour
Great tour!!!!!!!!
Just curious. Wasn’t the “glue up wheel “ invented at the Martin factory?
I'm a proud owner of Taylor guitar. Nice factory and process!
Why you own a turd?
@@Life-of-Bluegrass_Music He probably doesn't want a typical Martin or Gibson that's doomed to develop mile high action up the neck, with major surgery, spelled $$$$$ to correct it.
I'd like to see a close-up of that neck carving bit.
That thing removed a lot of material, but left a really smooth, nicely articulated surface. And quickly too.
Awesome! Thank you Mr. Koch w/Wildwood Guitars. Love your take on the English language. Just makes everything better! A special thank you to Taylor Guitars for letting this vid be shown for us fans of Taylor Guitars.
Thankyou dear taylor guitars, Do you have processes, procedures you use/have to ensure proper adhesion of lacquer, and preventage of body binging shrinkage ? i have just replaced a guitar with these problems with a 914ce ) ( v braced ) . i would love to have reassurance that lacquer delamination and body shrinkage with a correctly mantained taylor guitar under correct 45-55% relative humidity will not be a concern.
Wild man...really wild.
I watched this so many times , and I still want a Taylor Guitar is pandemic is preventing me to buy a guitar in the philippines
The finish guy isn't digging the Koch humor.
Anyway,These are great guitars.Proud owner of 810B from 2000 . Legends of the Fall series.3 piece Brazilian back.Looks like D35 on steroids.
I got a baby Taylor guitar, but Its busted cracked from the topface ,, someone knows if they restore or reshape reconstract the top face of my baby in the factory?
Wild.
59:53 - Dave Matthew’s does a Dr Evil laugh
7:38 It's 2013?
+Keven Chambers yeah! I heard that too
+Keven Chambers yeah, I thought I saw this before. :)
Imagine how much more automated the manufacturing process is 8 or 9 years later.... No human touches a guitar now.
Wild
I'm a guitar maker from Indonesia, I really want to work at Taylor guitar factory😊
Mr. Koch, how tall are you exactly?! You seem to tower over others.
Now wished I had never paid all the money I did for a builders edition. No one said the builder was a robot.
Think of the robots as a tool for the artisans. They're not the ones building the guitars, they use the robots as a tool to achieve their vision.
@@MasterofAardvarks the robots do the work of the artisans, and it's so consistent across their lines that there's not much difference in sound between a 114 and a 914...none of the tops or backs are hand voiced, even on their most custom of customs. Why are you paying so much for a Taylor - because they have a superior marketing department.
I'll take a bench made Yairi, Yamaha, Collins, Bourgeois, Breedlove, or Santa Cruz all day, for about the same money as a 914ce. Peace. 🐰💙🇺🇲🎸🎶🤝✌️
"Wild" Greg Koch 2013
great video! which model were you playing at the end?
Sou brasileiro, como que eu faço pra trabalhar numa fábrica destas?
Pat! Joe! Long time no see....Hope all is well.- Scott
Andy can play! Awesome jam...
"wild! Cool! Got it!"
Best video to date.
This video was great until I turned up the volume. Koch added nothing...
wow that is some wood.
What's with the negative comments about the interviewer? I thought he did fine.
👍👍👍👍👍
Interesting, mr powers uses the exact same explanation decade plus later for v bracing. Hmm. Ervin Somogy says it’s all right in front of you.
Loved this video! What a fascinating process. It makes you want to buy into the whole Taylor "thing". BUT the host was surely baked wasnt he? What an annoying pain in the ass he was. Chris was the best, looking at him like "who the f&*k is this jackass?"
Vaughn seems like a charming young man 😆
What you trying to copy a Martins bracing? Everything starts there and stops there.
Thats Martin marketing spin, dont by the magic bracing secret sauce, half the guitars coming from China exsctly replicate their bracing to no effect
Douchiness Level set to 8.5
Quero me tornar um Luther!!!!
"what's he building in there..?"
thanks for sharing this vid
Obscure Tom Waits reference! I love that song.
Dodgers!!??!! In San Diego (ok, El Cajon)! ugh.
That Chris is a ball of laughs.
God is everyone at Taylor 4ft tall or is Greg just actually 7ft? Haha
Call me a dumass for my comment. I bought the cheepie of the Taylor guitar line of instruments. The 110. Partial luminated components. Back and sides.
I decided it would be a worthy candidate to be traded up for a Martin, higher up tha pecking order Road Series DRS1. It along with a Martin DX1AE. Wish I
had just bought the Road Series outright. Duh!!! I returned to the Guitar Center store wanting to buy my 110 back. G C had jacked up the price by 60%. But
my loss was their gain!!! At any rate I'm scouring the www for either another Taylor 110 or a Martin DX1. Hoss trading is better if the other guy has the best
hoss.
Not sure this does Taylor any good. The guitars all look machine made with no Artisan skills needed 2 mins here 3 mins the after 20 mins you have a $5000 guitar.
Hmm not sure about that, I could get a genuine all hand made guitar with a voiced top for that all made in the finest wood and a one off
Martin are way way more hands on that’s why everyone loves them.
I dont understand why so many people lay down 5000$ for a factory made guitar which doesnt even have a properly voiced / taptuned top, when you can for as little as 1000$ get a really good hand-built one from a small workshop in Slovenia (Dowina) and for 5000$ you have a Bourgois to name a really respected Luthier.
@@Frozenguy1 just pick up a $5,000 Taylor and play one, then you'll see why. Some of the greatest players in the world play them for a reason. But I guess if YOU don't like them, then they suck. Who cares HOW the donuts are made as long as they taste amazing! You could always go grab a $20,000 Olsen. Okay, I'm off for a cruise in my really shitty MACHINE MADE Corvette.
@@FrankSpeer66 Im not saying they're bad guitars. Machine made has a lot of benefits! The playability of a Taylor is always spot on due to the huge reduction in human error. I'm just saying I would personally prefer to buy something like a Bourgois if I had 5k to spend. There is a lot of variance in the wood itself, and tuning the braces and top thickness for the specific piece of wood used is very important to get that last few % of the sound just right. In my opinion the best compromise would be hand tuned braces & tops combined with machine assembly / routing / setting the neck angle etc. to get most out of both playability and sound.
I agree 100%.
NEVER IN MY LIFE will I pay a premium for a factory made instrument, because its a certain brand. Taylor has the best snake oil salesmen, and many artists are involved in sponsorships by Taylor. I will never own one, unless it's a gift. My money will be better spent on a red or rainbow series Furch, a Yairi, or Yamaha LS56...
Peace. 🐰💙🇺🇲🎸🎶🤝✌️
@@JackTheRabbitMusic Taylor does not have any sponsorships!
camera bad focus
California or Mexico made makes no difference - they're all made by Mexicans, or rather by CNC run by Mexicans. THe genius however is in the brilliant process and system design and in the programming and quality control -thats what sets this apart from other factory guitars where variations are wild and human error much greater Taylor and Martin run a system whereby they perfect one guitar, encode that process exactly and replicate with as little variation as possible.
Are all your employees American citizens ?
Nope, every person you see in this video is here illegally. Except the guy hosting the show, who should be deported immediately.
YES!!!
Geez is Greg 9 feet tall 😳😳😳
WHY DID BOB CHOOSE THESE GUYS FOR THE TOUR INSTEAD OF KEVIN WILLIAMS???
KEVIN IS ONE OF THE BETTER TAYLOR GUITARISTS IN AMERICA.
Either that guy is an ogre or everyone else is really really small
My girlfriend just said that although this video is painfully boring, Vaugn is one hot dude!!!!!
some math some concept and I'm afraid a whole lot of bull crap but Martin does it too
Not a fan of the host. I fast forwarded and I think I missed the painting section? He must be a nice guy. I prefer Gibson. Everything seems so automated with Taylor. I do hope they continue to make guitars in the USA. American made products are still the best and retain their value... increase their value in many cases.
Taylor guitars are 100% "hand" built by machines in America. The machines are probably made in China. 🤣
@@JackTheRabbitMusic HAHAHAHA!!! It would be funny and terribly sad if it were true. But we don't know.
Made it through the first minute... What a dumb ass; lol! See ya. Hasta la vista baby.
I liked taylor, until I seen this video, You would think something that cost so much, would be like 85 to 90 percent mass milled, very little hand craftsmanship, I think a guitar a thousand or more should be hand made, just my opinion
Is that dude like 8 feet tall? Jesus lol
Taylor non ha nulla della antica arte della liuteria amore fatta ... ora si paga migliaia di dollari per qualcosa fatto al computer .. dov'è uomini come Stradivari ?? non ci sono più uomini come Michelangelo o Leonardo da Vinci
What a contrast between the highly technical achievement that is that workspace... and the continual stupid comments from the host.
Greg's comments were annoying AF!
honestly the 'interviewer' would be well-advised to stop the awkward bad comedy and just allow the employees to walk us through it - almost couldn't watch it because of who is doing this interview - need a more serious educated moderator next time
JUNK ALL I hear is rattles and buzzing. Very thin sounding guitars. Chinese makes better guitars then Bob Taylor. Blueridge is even kicking Taylors ass in the Market.
Mathews Halon 6 I mean you can have a preference to which guitar you prefer. But to call Taylor junk takes away your professionalism when it comes to judgement.
As usual those Americans talk to much. Hell we can see with our own eyes whats going on. Peace and quitet should be a norm.
True, but they can spell correctly.
Greg Koch is obnoxiously loud!
Was just about to purchase a Taylor guitar a K14 This video has changed my mind.
It’s a lottery, pieces of wood are picked for a particular guitar then it’s all about time 1min here 10 minutes there how quick can we do it. for a 5,000 dollar guitar it’s all machine made no one knows if it’s a good guitar or not. Who checks it no one I can see. All about saving money and how quick they can make a guitar
Leaving no character they are all the same good or bad. Do you want to purchase a guitar for 5000$ that took 1 hour to build
No individual or personal in put “ who checks the voicing of the guitar” no one because it’s 1 of many it’s a production line and nothing to do with a great guitar.
For me going over to Martin. The margin on sales must be huge that’s why these guys are promoting a production line product that’s cheap to produce with high margins.
Shame on you
Cool story
Christ who the hell is the presenter? Is on some sort of medication? Unwatchable because of him.
I can't watch this because Greg Koch is so cringe-inducing.
That guy ruins it. Lame.
And the nominee for most annoying video commentary goes to......