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Howdy!

(*** I've added captions to help explain things *** )

I did the Taylor Guitars factory tour today. It was a beautiful day in El Cajon, CA, as you can see in a couple pics.

there are 11 pages, with 5 pics each; the pics are about 70k average

they are more or less in order, except at the very end

I was with a fairly large group of about 18, and there was a second group of the same size going through at the same time

some of you have gone to the factory before. I went a couple years ago, but I know they've added some newer machines, such as the new side benders that are featured in a video on Taylor's site.
Taylor is known for being one of the more innovative, automated makers, which has allowed them to grow successfully over the years - their 30th anniversary was last year.

Some of you will notice T5 bodies in production, and a shot of a koa T5 that I wanted to take home. Notice how cool the T5 case is, too.

Anyway, enjoy!

Taylor factory tour

Great pics Gary. What the heck is that machine - 1st pic, page 2?

Thanks for sharing.

Artie

SWEET!! Thank you for sharing the pictures with us Curly.


Originally Posted by ArtieTooGreat pics Gary. What the heck is that machine - 1st pic, page 2?

Thanks for sharing.

Artie

I've seen similar machines used for clamping bookmatched woods together while they dry ... but that could be different who knows.

But cool pics, Thanks Curly!

A query ... What's up with the backs of the T5's?


Originally Posted by ArtieTooGreat pics Gary. What the heck is that machine - 1st pic, page 2?

Thanks for sharing.

Artie

Artie,
they call that a quot;carouselquot;
there were two, side by side

it looks like they have bookmatched tops, glued, then clamped to dry

the whole system is very automated, but in a way that lets them turn out hand-assembled guitars very productively

one of their newer inventions is their new side benders. They have a video on their site showing the whole process, which is faster and better, with few errors.

Wow never knew there was all that gear.

Sweet pics curly, nice thumb too

Great pics Curly, thanks for sharing. I can attest to Taylor's quality personally, I love my 30th Anniversary 314 CE.


Originally Posted by Nite_Maresz_25Sweet pics curly, nice thumb too

hahaha ... I'm sure I'll hear about that from Scott ... I did the same duma$$ thing at Seymour's factory

I left it in anyway to show what looks like top wood drying out with splints in between for air flow

there are lots of pallettes of wood like that in that building

Thanks for sharing

Seeing the bracing patterns from inside is really cool (at least to me). I didn't realize that the bracing varied so much between models.

Chip

Chip,
very observant!

yeah, it's cool to see that ...
you can see about three kinds of bracing ...
there are the backs, with simple lateral braces; there are steel string tops, with a traditional scalloped X bracing pattern; then there are Nylon Series tops with classical type fan bracing


Originally Posted by TheProphetA query ... What's up with the backs of the T5's?

if you're talking about that round cut out, I don't know!
I'm guessing it's easy access to the pickups/ wiring/ etc

I picked up the koa T5 at the end of the tour, and it was pretty light and comfortable. They're gonna sell a ton of those right off the bat.

thanks for sharing these, curly ... great shots - mustve been cool

and congrats on your new one : ) .. play in good health friend

cheers
t4d