Ben, I had the pleasure of working on this model last year. An absolute gem! The bridge is a piece of beauty with truly innovative design. The big problem was the switch which had given up….an not available any more either. There is a Schaller super switch which needs to be modded before installation which gives very similar pickup configurations…..that is, after I’d worked out what each pickup wire was. I remember the bridge and neck were mirror images of each other.
I have a similar problem on my les paul recording which has an 11 way "decade" switch - Gibson discontinued. In the case of the Taylor you can get the same function by using push pull pots to separate the coils and using a more standard rotary switch - electronics component spares companies like RS offer build your own rotary switch kits for a low price where you can get a shaft with replaceable switch wafers. Working out the wires is quite simple, first identify with a multi meter which wires form a pair based on the static resistance , and then with an old fashioned analogue moving needle meter (e.g. an AVO) you can tap the coil pole piece with something iron or steel, like a nail, to identify which coils relate to which to which pairs of wires - then mark them. Then by performing the same with each pair by identifying the phasing by seeing which way the meter moves when the pole piece is tapped with the nail - this may require reversing the meter leads to get a positive blip - then you know which wire is is which.
Like I say, it was last year and I’ve already done the repair for my client. He wanted the guitar to function as it was, as using two push/pull is hardly usable in a live situation. Many thanks for the input.
@@fongy200 I know them well but I have not actually lived in UK since 1985 here in Europe we have Conrad among others but I have done much work on my guitars I also use the "freeway switch" that is quite useful
I've owned a Taylor Solid body custom with the Taylor designed mini humbuckers since 2011. I too was skeptical when I saw it in the store. However, playing it I fell in love with the neck. For background I've played guitar for 49 years, and ran a successful repair business for 14 years until my hearing failed me and I had to shut down around the time that Covid hit the scene. On the plus side, the bridge is incredibly stable and has required very little adjustment in the entire time I've owned it. Taylor's mini humbuckers are very nice sounding and have a wonderful clean tone, but they can get quite gnarly (in a nice way) when overdriven. The 5 way switch is a nice surprise and I find I kind of live in position 4 much of the time. The fuse on the switch board is an added bit of protection. The tone control contains treble blead circuitry which is also a nice feature The only real minus in my experience was the choice of switch material with proprietary design. Mine is an early production model and the conductor inside the switch appears to be aluminium rather than gold and after a few years the switch failed completely. Taylor had discontinued the switch so no replacement was available, however they were kind enough to send me a wiring diagram for the mini pickups so that I was able to recreate their wiring using a Stewmac "P-model" mega switch The Taylor solid body is a lot more than the sum of it's parts. The neck is definitely a love it or hate it design, though I personally enjoy it. I have a broad stable of guitars for different occasions and musical styles, each has their own voice which is part of the joy of playing in my opinion. Thanks for your candid review of this unique guitar!
Watching you take that guitar apart and describe what you were seeing was amazing. I really appreciate how you are able to tell the story in a clear way and how respectful you are of other people's work even when you wouldn't have done it that way. Decent.
Love this new format!. Your perspective on others product is enlightening with both positive with respectfull criticism without being abrasive. The fact that a guitar can be a looker but not a player is interesting and visa versa. For me I nice pare of blue jeans and a T shirt is better then a suit n tie! Thanks
Please keep these videos going - it's really fascinating to see different builds and ideas. To pick at the different styles and to show that some of what we assume to be correct and the best thing may not be! Makes me think about the aspects of a BASS even more... Not sure if I caught it, and I could look it up, but what is the guitar value?
I love it! It's great when manufacturers try something different, even if it's a bit quirky. That contouring and binding with the inlayed top is absolutely stunning, and that bridge is beautiful! The pickup rings are a nice touch as well. It's an excellent inspiration for my own future builds.
Fascinating. My guess at the neck arrangement with the hollowed centre is the thought is that the shim acts a bit like a gasket so the bolt pulls the edges down in firm contact. On the other hand, if it was machined 'flat' then high and low spots could be anywhere. In particular, with a single bolt the centre might conceivably 'dome' making it a bit looser round the edges? Could that have been the concept in general, e.g. with the bridge - better to have really firm contact round the edges than bolt on bits that rely on 'perfectly flat' mating surfaces? Perhaps even coming from an acoustic perspective, used to clamped glued joints where there is potentially a certain amount of swelling, space filling and contraction at the glue cures leaving a solid joint?
I used to play one of these for years as my main guitar. They’re great! The bridge pickup in this guitar is not stock - it’s a Taylor pickup but it’s what they call an HG pickup (high gain). The neck pickup and the stock bridge pickup are HD pickups - lower gain more like a PAF. I have a neon green HSS Taylor Solidbody that I won from Taylor in 2009 with a trem.
Also the production version of this guitar didn’t have binding on the neck or headstock. After some digging it turns out the guitars marked “not for sale” were promo guitars from Taylor.
I tried one about 12 years ago, and while it was spectacular there was something I couldn't get over with the neck. You hear a lot of acoustic builders using the tagline "the acoustic for electric players", I feel this is an "electric for acoustic players".
The way they routed a hollow to the neck around the screw gives a more solid contact. If the neck is flat only the area near to the bolts will make a contact. That’s because the bolts will bend the wood. Even with four bolt designs a small hollow around each bolt would improve the contact. The bridge has much more contact area that Tune-O-Matic which is sopported only by two skinni screws.
The only reason that this guitar was not accepted by the players could be that we fellow guitarists are looking for the stuff of the past. Most of us do not appreciate innovations, which could make our live easier. Instead we accept Les Pauls going out of tune regularly due to the high headstock angle, we love guitars without any comfortable arm rest, we even might replace locking tuners by old fashioned ones to be vintage correct, we accept necks to be removed from the body in order to get the truss rod adjusted, we hate active electronics and humbuckers inside a guitar, which was originally made to have humming and buzzing single coils. Bass players and acoustic players do appreciate innovations much more.
I played one of these through a fender, hot rod deluxe clean channel back of the day, and it was wonderful playing and sounding. Such a beautiful guitar to play
I have one and I love it. I don't bring it to too many gigs, because it isn't as versatile as my Mod Shop Strat, but it is beautiful. Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but the "not for sale" stamp refers to guitars that were made specifically for fundraising events. I got mine an an auction at my son's high school in the San Diego area.
Love the one bolt neck system. The bridge is a bit “curates egg” - good in parts. Sounds a little muted unplugged I thought. Thanks for the breakdown, very interesting.
You missed the trick with the tone pot. The first 2/3rds acts like a normal pot but after that it provides an overdrive function that seems to boost the mids -giving even more options. Mine is a Solidbody 'Classic' in natural ash (two well matched dense planks) with a brown speckled pickguard and a maple neck. Although it was the cheapest of the range, it's got an honest feel and tone and I'm now glad that I didn't go for one of the 'fancy' ones. It also has Taylor's own mini pickups. Please keep doing these videos, there is so much for us all to learn. An example of a Japanese-made guitar could be interesting -what makes them so good and sought after?
I always use a single bolt, although I do angle the end of the neck so that it fits into a corresponding angle in the body. The idea being, when the strings are pulled tight the neck is locked into the body. Seems to work really well and has the advantage of being able to remove the neck very easily. Great video, cheers Dave
@@RobSmathome no wait, ferrules are used for string thru the body bridges and would probably use an 8mm diameter hole. Bushings would be used as washers on the screws fixing the neck to the body and would probably be around 10mm diameter. Not sure if this helps. Cheers Dave
@@DaveDickens I'll give these a shot : Stainless Steel Countersunk Washer M8 (25mm O/D) they come in colours too!! 😁 before i found these i was toying with the idea of using thick wide flat washers and capping a countersink to hide it all... the first-mentioned are much simpler...
I keep thinking of Les Paul's "the Log" and how he had a perfectly working electric guitar made of a 4x4 and an epiphone standard neck, plus his electronics. No one liked it until he made sides to attach to it so it looked like a regular archtop.....it sounded exactly the same with or without the attachments, but people thought it sounded different. So much for tonewoods. His original proof of concept used a chunk of railroad tie, which gave the strings the highest amount of sustain. So, my feeling is, if someone stuck to the log concept and concentrated on the center core of the guitar+ electronics, they could do whatever they want with the rest.. Core body/neck+ good electronics and hardware equals voila. The 60's Harmony, Danelectro were all particle board I think. If one is a techno phobe I suppose the bridge is cool, but a player needs something easy to work with live. I think the single bolt-on neck is cool and easy. Maybe they could develop a "slide-in neck" that has one bolt....metal runners maybe.
@@ziggybongwater7915 yes, Les Paul was proving the electric concept that the body has no real function in producing the electronic sound. He added the wings because people didn't like looking at a 4x4 with strings.
@@michaeld.mcclish at luthier school years ago the head builder told us a similar story about flamenco guitars, there was a famous spanish guitar builder who argued that only the top will affect the sound of a n acoustic so he built a guitar with a perfectly braced cedar top and a paper mache back and sides. im not sure how successful his experiment was though lol but its an interesting idea!
@@ziggybongwater7915 I think Les Paul was concerned only with electric guitars, though. Acoustic/flamenco guitars do get their sound from all of the woods they are made of, imo. It's all about what tones and harmonics sound and what is dampened, and the artist's expertise in shaping the sound with fingering and artistry.
I wonder if that bridge design is the result of a mostly-acoustic guitar builder underestimating how important it is for electric players to easily set their intonation.
Exactly. Unless you live in a climate where there is just one season and the temperature and humidity is constant (is there such a climate?), that bridge will drive you nuts.It's even worse than intonating a rickenbacker 4003.
@@wombat6 i find myself having to intonate the guitar when i adjust the neck. which i need to do when the seasons change. maybe i got things confused in my head, i am not a luthier or guitar tech or anything like that.
@@tolvajakos There are probably slight changes to the exact string length when the neck twists and moves, yeah. It makes sense. What I had in mind in my original comment is that electric guitar players change tuning/string gauge more often than acoustic guitar players, hence the problem about a bridge that's a hassle to intonate.
even as a beginner player, I learn so much about the components of electric guitars and the different ways in which they're constructed. I love these vids. Thanks!
Ben, how about one day you do a video trying different necks with different amount of contact in the pocket, just to kill the "tone pocket" myth once and for all?
Really enjoyed the video! I'd love to see you do something similar with the Ovation UKII. I think that design might be even more unusual than this Taylor. Thanks for all you contribute to the online luthier community.
I recently won one of these Taylor Solid Body guitars. It too has the "NOT FOR SALE" branded into the back of the headstock. Mine is the double cutaway Classic model that is a solid color with a pickguard. Mine has a single humbucker and the same bridge as yours in the video. I have done as much research as I can on these guitars, so it was nice to stumble across your video and to see it disassembled! Thank you!
I found this guitar to be "Neck Heavy." The reason Taylor is "ballsy" about routing after finishing is their equipment. It is hugely expensive and hugely accurate and reliable. I rebuilt some of the "milling angle heads" a number of years ago. They are a small Japanese company that builds them like a tank and has class 7 bearings in them. That keeps the tolerances of the heads to 0.0001-0.0002". Damn great for woodworking.
Hey, just an observation of a random youtube passerby. I don't normally watch this kind of content but you kept me 100% engaged the whole time. Your personality is inviting and not abrasive. Same goes to your video production, nothing was superfluous and this resulted in the video feeling more like a conversation than a presentation. Subscribed.
I like that it's simple looking from afar, not a lot of flashy stuff all over the place, not a lot of irritating flashy paint details and color mixes. In short I like how it looks. whether or not I like it I would have to have it in my hands
I was always told if you wanted maximum sustain you needed solid body with glued in neck.....but out of all the guitars I've ever owned the one that had the most, and dare I say it even too much, was the guitar from my childhood. A plywood body/bolt on neck epiphone special ll , it would hold on notes for days with zero effort. Don't remember what kind of wood it was since they change the type they use in those every couple of years. It was circa 2005 ish.
Very cool video. I love the concept of exploring other builders' work! Hope to see more of this. A possible wish list would be : a PRS private stock, a Kiesel, of course an LP, but i would be very interested into exploring the much controversed SG as well, a Parker fly, a G&L, a Vigier, a Godin...
That cross grain shim prevents any stiffness resisting change in angle of the neck when tensioning. The shim just rolls with it, like a bed of needle bearings.
I'm a bit of an expert and collector on these - I've probably had 12 or 15 of these and have run all of them through my work shop. I currently own two that I gig with. I've done radical customizations such as adding piezo bridge pickups (like a Parker Fly style and more). A few points: You mentioned the veneer top several times. That was that variant. They did that because the base model was a traditional loaded pickguard model. The veneer let them chamber the body and, at the same time, put some really interesting flamed or figured woods on top for aesthetics. The classic models are built like a strat: solid wood body with a big pocket under it and a loaded pickguard. It wasn't marketed as "feeling like an acoustic" It just happens to feel amazing. Its not the best sounding nor best guitar for reliability but it absolute *IS* the best feeling guitar to play for me. The big design mistakes they made were these: - the big innovation was in the plug-and-play no solder swappable loaded pickguards. You have to get your tools out anyway, and remove the pickguard. That's great you don't need to solder but no one swaps pickguards frequently enough to care. That's something you do maybe once in the guitar's life. And you have to swap to another Taylor offering anyway so you might as well just buy it with the pickups you wanted in the first place. And anyone who is adept enough to swap pickguards could solder a new one in. So, the no-soldering was pointless and not worth anything as a feature, although it advertises as something important. The problem is that it added a lot of cost and wasnt worth it. - the bridge design is structurally very weak - they are known for cracking if you adjust them wrong. They look really nice but they take forever to adjust the height and intonation and you have to loosen them and if you tighten it wrong you can crack them. A simple ugly strat bridge is better for actual use. And no one seemed to really care how "comfortable" the bridge was for palm muting. Personally I don't palm mute at the bridge anyway. Again, it advertised well and looks great but was a terrible design choice and VERY expensive. - the five way Schaller megaswitch is very prone to noise. They take a Schaller megaswitch, remove the contact board and snap on their own printed circuit board with capacitors on the board. These can be replaced but its tricky and they are known for becoming noisy switches. Also you can't tweak your tone by changing caps - you have to use the ones mounted on the printed circuit board. So the guitars are marketed toward DIY tinkerers but they can only be tinkered with using stock parts, which negates the purpose. Some of the pickups, in my opinion, sound fantastic. The basic high definition humbuckers are very generic and plain. The high output humbuckers are ok. The mini humbuckers are great and the noiseless single coils are fantastic. Based on a *LOT* of experience with these, here is my summary: PROS: - fantastically comfortable and wonderful to play, especially on stage - fit and finish are near perfect and rival the best in the world - out of this world good looks - great build quality with ebony or EIR fingerboards, great body woods - great sound with some of the pickup configurations - Taylor neck angle adjustment is great for a lifetime of simple maintenance CONS: - bridge is fragile and finicky. Not worth it. - electronics are very proprietary and you might gut them if you want to customize your tone - switch is unreliable - they were very expensive for what you get For me, the comfort and playability are #1 so mine are worth it to me. But I am able to customize and tweak mine and I got mine with the tone I want (which is #2 to me) and I can maintain them myself. So for me, they are my preferred electric guitar but they are absolutely not for everyone. The used price bounces around but if you are like me, you can get a really good deal on a guitar that is good for you.
A very comprehensive and fascinating breakdown. Please continue to bring this form of content as it is a unique idea and thought process. Well Done. Thank You.
Great work. Keep these kinds of videos coming. Love all of your videos because of the insight you bring. I'm a novice guitar player but I appreciate what it takes to be a Luthier. Cheers
The cardboard wading they use in Doors stops feedback, i've seen it done. The guy who makes Guitars from Ikea furniture used some and said it worked brilliantly for filling up those hollow spaces, much like the Tyre or Radiator weld your refering to.
Not a luthier, but an engineer here. On the tailpiece and the neck, they chose to reduce the area of contact. In the case of the tailpiece they touch around the perimeter. In the case of the neck they carve out the interior to create an additional perimeter contact area. Assuming the same clamping force from the fastners, reducing the contact area will increase the contact pressure proportionally. Given that in both cases it's likely easier to control the flatness of the contact areas, this is probably a good call. The trraveling grub screw is terrifying. Are you sure someone didn't just chuck it in the hole before assembling a la Jaguar to avoid missing parts in the box?
It's like an acoustic guitar: separate front, back and sides, bridge moves with the top, and neck profile. Very interesting when acoustic companies reinvent electrics -Ovation Breadwinner, Martin, etc. They all flopped, but are getting some love in the afterlife!
no . its not separate front, back and side. No the bridge does not move with the top. Its like a strat. Big chunk of solid wood with a bridge screwed down. They simply made a little decorative pocket where the bridge screws down. Nothing at all like an acoustic.
That neck pocket is really smart. By hollowing out the middle, it increases the pressure on the outside edges and makes it a “tighter” join. It also reduces the risk of the neck sitting not level, it’s how they make furniture bases sit flat and not rock. Just have to make sure the neck itself is strong enough to not sink down in the middle and make a concave in the fretboard
Just found and bought one of these yesterday - also a 2007 Not For Sale model. Switched out the pickups for SD Jupiters and it sounds fantastic. Regarding body resonance, the body really vibrates when I play open chords, and not in the rattley way. Many thanks for creating this video, and explaining all the parts, especially the amazing bridge. I also appreciate guitar makers when they try "something different". Sometimes we guitar players need to not be so conservative and admit that guitar design didn't end in 1954.
Saw an article that said after they discontinued the range in 2011 Taylor gave remaining factory stock to charities and music schools stamp not for sale.
I am fond of guitars and basses, and have several who have followed me for many years now 35-40. It is a very nice and special guitar you have on the table, not many of that kind. But what draws my eyes away from the guitar is the fine tool collection you have built up, and I reckon we don't even see half of it, the rest are tucked away in cupboards and drawers. I love tools, where we live now I don't have a separate room for the guitars and tools, and use the bedroom a bit, you can imagine what the wife says about that, even though I don't sand wood in here. Then she would have thrown both me and my things out. But it bothers me a lot that I have to have my tools and machines stowed away in boxes in the attic. Now I'm looking for a large camper, because I have two large parking spaces below the house, and I'm thinking of parking the camper in the innermost space. And furnish it for a small workshop, it does not need to be registered and then it will be cheaper too 😃
I worked with a man in the 90s who was a very serious amateur hand bell ringer, and he pioneered a series of hand bells which were essentially shaped slabs of aluminium; people were stunned by the acoustics ( I think he was even on Tomorrow’s World). Maybe the use of aluminium here for the bridge, with surprisingly small contact points to the body is designed to have some acoustic benefit; whether it was successful or not may well be another matter.
I am not by any means a professional luthier but I found that when you tape up the fretboard lay one long peirce of tape along one side and tape the individual pieces of tape to it so when you remove the tape just pull on the long piece and all the little straps on the fretboard come in one piece. But thank you for all your fantastic videos you put out.
I thoroughly enjoyed watch you working on the Electric Taylor, I had trouble sleeping so came across you channel on RUclips, I have added you to my list, I'm an old Beginner aged 64 it was Zal Cleminson from the late great Sensation Alex Harvey Band who said Glen if you plug it in you'll never look back, wise words from a Rock Legend ,👍🏼🎸🎸🍀🍀🍀🍀
Watching Ben smell the guitar made me laugh because I have a cedar classical guitar and when it warms up you can smell it while you play. One of the things I really enjoy about that guitar.
PRS uses aluminum (unplated) on their non-adjustable bridge. I was surprised when I first too it apart, but it sounds glorious, so I think there's something to be said for a light, stiff metal in this application!
I toured the Taylor factory about 15 years ago and saw that it was a complete CNC operation. I have owned 5 taylors and the build quality is quite high. At the time I was reading Christensen's (Harvard) "the Innovator's Dilemma". I submitted a synopsis of the book and applied for a job at and to Taylor. They did not hire me as an innovation consultant, but I noticed that their ads contained quotes from Christensen's book. I think management read my synopsis. and embarked on an innovation journey. This guitar is a result of this journey. As a firm experiments with new ideas, it may fail and this is one of their market failures. But the firm learns. Fail early and fail often. Do electrics have a future at Taylor? Who knows. But I'm sure the experiments at Taylor continue. Christensen realized that some innovations are simply sustaining in nature and others are disruptive (cannabalizing some existing products (Steve Jobs at apple). Their acoustics with the Rupert Neves electronics are stunningly good through PAs. The acoustic loudness is not as good as Breedlove, but Taylor outsells them. Many acoustic innovations remain for Taylor and these improvements can be seen in their new acoustics. Your contribution here of teardowns and analysis is quite prescient in documenting these innovative experiments. Hopefully the large manufacturers (Gibson and Fender) are taking notice of your blog. The very nature of an organization and their ability to innovate is contained in your analysis. Read Christensen's books on disruptive innovation. Other companies are doing it (D'Angelico) .
Taylor makes beautiful acoustic-electric guitars that are a real pleasure to play (I have three). I understand that they are always looking at ways to refine the manufacture of their guitars - not to cut corners but to improve production efficiency. I wonder if they were trying to break into the S-type/SG/LesPaul market but ultimately withdrew? Honda used to make a fantastic bike called the VFR 850 which I understand was 'over-engineered'. I understand they cost a lot to make and profit margins on the VFR 850 not great but they carried on making them because they sort of loved the bike. I wonder why Taylor stopped making this guitar?
I found one of these about 3 months back. It has Taylor's mini-humbuckers and sounds great. I have played Taylor acoustics and a T5 for many years, perhaps that's why i have no issues with the neck profile. The weak point is the Schaller switch, very prone to failure and no longer available. Loved your approach to this video and agree with most of the points you raise about the guitar. Each to their own but I will definitely be keeping mine - albeit with some switch cleaner to hand!!!!
Martin, Taylor, Larrivee, make great acoustic guitars, but their electrics sometimes leave a lot to be desired, hit and miss usually. It begs the question, why is a plank of wood with a neck bolted on like a Tele such a perfect guitar?
I think this is has the potential to be a really really cool series of video s from you Ben. Anyone who has watched you know you are a master among masters. And I think you taking some of these guitars, and even improving some of there short falls, from your perspective would be really cool.
You’re going to laugh but I really like the way you masked off the fretboard prior to buffing. Folding tape over to make it more narrow…. Also using a bit of tape to keep the metal shield in place. Interesting choices with the selector switch and how the coils are combined. I have a traditional Strat with the ability to put neck and bridge pups in series and it’s a cool, useful sound. In parallel you get a Tele-like sound.
Ben, your capabilities as a luthier are unquestionable. Your analysis of the instrument build was very thorough. You doubts about certain aspects are valid but why the hell don't you get a competant guitarist in to play the instrument so we can really hear what it sounds like and get their take on playability.
There’s a beautiful solid-body Taylor at a store in Denver that I look at every time I’m there. It’s out of my price range but it’s definitely a guitar I wouldn’t mind having.
I acquired a Taylor Solid Body electric guitar in a trade. The simpler looking SB-1X Classic Model I think, in transparent white, swamp ash body. Sort of looks like the Fender Mary Kaye finish as you can see the ash grain pattern, like a transparent white blond. I like it a lot, because it has two mini-humbuckers and reminds a lot of the 1968 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe in its tones, very clear and present, but with some incisive punch. The five way Strat style pup selector gives two nice extra single coil tones also. It came with the OHSC, Taylor leather strap and hex tools and instructions for the guitar/bridge. Hopefully, I won't be doing any work on it. Seems pretty good action and intonation as is. Tones-wise, I consider it sort of a de facto Les Paul Deluxe, just in a less fancily appointed, flat top, beveled edge, dot neck "Special" model format.
I purchased a black classic which is a true solidbody for $450 on Reverb in 2015. It's one of the best guitars I have played. I love the neck but also play a Taylor 912c so the neck is familiar. It's not made for "shredding". The guitar in this video was sold as a chambered body. As a woodworker, I assume the use of MDF as a backer for the veneer was done to add stability, it would be nearly impossible for the top to crack. The bridge is incredibly easy to adjust and maintains intonation perfectly. The Taylor Solidbody has great innovation. Unfortunately, it suffered commercially not because of build issues, but due to guitar snobbery 😂 ie... It's not a facsimile of a vintage guitar. The reaction at the time was "acoustic guitar builders can't build electric guitars", which is obviously nonsense. Taylor took what they learned from this design and put it into their T5 guitars which have been pretty successful. My guitar now sells for $1200+, not that I have any motive to sell it. 😜
I normally don't enter these manner of competitions, but in this case I absolutely have - and what a beautiful prize for some lucky person. Good luck everyone :)
Great video. I'm sure others have shared this, but Taylor made two versions of its 'solid body' guitar. The Standard, (which I think this is) had a chambered mahogany body and a quilted maple top. And the Classic which had solid swamp ash body.
Would love a series or some videos on the innovations of different brands or how different countries shaped guitar/bass building. For example I would love to hear about Japan's contributions and change from making primarily copies to making innovative, unique instruments. Ibanez is definitely worth a mention and played a part but I want to hear more about companies that get missed or had specific innovations such as Tune Japan, which helped popularize smaller bodied basses with complex pre-amp circuits. The stuff Tune was doing in the mid 80s with electronics was cutting edge (2 independent pre-amps in the same bass, hidden trimmer pots, gain for each pickup or string, multiple parametric mid eq's etc) and is still very difficult to find builders that will take electronics to the same extreme as Tune.
I have a white SB-1X with minihumbuckers and its my favorite of 12 guitars. The only thing I dont care for is how massive the frets are, so I'm going to have them shaved down a bit. But, I like it much more than I do the Les Paul or my fenders, and the Gretsch. In any case, from hard rock to jazz tones, this guitar does it all with ease.
There is a Taylor factory tour video on RUclips. I'm so impressed by how modern their manufacturing process is and how they are able to make some real improvements to the construction of the instruments. The bridge feels like a mistake though.
When they first came out I played the top of the range of this model in a store in Glasgow. It was beautiful from top to bottom and played exquisitely. Having learned more through this video, It seems a bit disappointing in some of the construction.
I have a Taylor 916CE from the same time period these were first made; always wondered about them. Have seen them pop up (used) in shops, and most recently priced below 1k.
What I know about guitars you could carve on the head of a pin with an ax. I am, however, a woodworker; having earned my living as such all my life. I vote yes, let's keep the series going.
This is going to be great series. The Taylor is a very interesting guitar, but some things really surprised me. Given Taylor's reputation for making high-end acoustic guitars I'm shocked by the dodgy frets. The single bolt neck joint seems all kinds of wrong, but if it works then that's ok. The bridge does look good but I feel it's unnecessarily complicated and a real pain to adjust. In a world in which the humble Strat (and its many copies) is the best-selling guitar, the Taylor is just too innovative. I can't wait to see what's next!
Dear Ben, I'd love too see you refurbish and modify some cheaper instruments in the future, maybe even do a "great guitar on a budget" kind of thing. I know it's been done a hundred times, but I'd be very curious to see your own spin on this kind of series. Keep up the great work! Lots of love
I noticed that you've got the Bigsby Book - Paul Bigsby's guitars were works of art. Hands up who else paused the video and counted up how many of those books they owned too?
I love that they tried something different, and I enjoy it when manufacturers prioritize design over function to a point. Too many guitar makers make "Fender-style" guitars not only in looks but in build philosophy and that makes for quite the boring utilitarian design. That being said, that bridge looks like a nightmare.
Ben, I had the pleasure of working on this model last year. An absolute gem! The bridge is a piece of beauty with truly innovative design. The big problem was the switch which had given up….an not available any more either. There is a Schaller super switch which needs to be modded before installation which gives very similar pickup configurations…..that is, after I’d worked out what each pickup wire was. I remember the bridge and neck were mirror images of each other.
I have a similar problem on my les paul recording which has an 11 way "decade" switch - Gibson discontinued.
In the case of the Taylor you can get the same function by using push pull pots to separate the coils and using a more standard rotary switch - electronics component spares companies like RS offer build your own rotary switch kits for a low price where you can get a shaft with replaceable switch wafers.
Working out the wires is quite simple, first identify with a multi meter which wires form a pair based on the static resistance , and then with an old fashioned analogue moving needle meter (e.g. an AVO) you can tap the coil pole piece with something iron or steel, like a nail, to identify which coils relate to which to which pairs of wires - then mark them. Then by performing the same with each pair by identifying the phasing by seeing which way the meter moves when the pole piece is tapped with the nail - this may require reversing the meter leads to get a positive blip - then you know which wire is is which.
Like I say, it was last year and I’ve already done the repair for my client. He wanted the guitar to function as it was, as using two push/pull is hardly usable in a live situation. Many thanks for the input.
@@mbontekoe3358 Thanks for the info buddy. Given me directions for my next project :)
@@mbontekoe3358 Farnell Electronics have different size Rotary switches. It may be worth having a look in their catalogue.
@@fongy200 I know them well but I have not actually lived in UK since 1985 here in Europe we have Conrad among others but I have done much work on my guitars I also use the "freeway switch" that is quite useful
I've owned a Taylor Solid body custom with the Taylor designed mini humbuckers since 2011.
I too was skeptical when I saw it in the store. However, playing it I fell in love with the neck.
For background I've played guitar for 49 years, and ran a successful repair business for 14 years until my hearing failed me and I had to shut down around the time that Covid hit the scene.
On the plus side, the bridge is incredibly stable and has required very little adjustment in the entire time I've owned it.
Taylor's mini humbuckers are very nice sounding and have a wonderful clean tone, but they can get quite gnarly (in a nice way) when overdriven.
The 5 way switch is a nice surprise and I find I kind of live in position 4 much of the time.
The fuse on the switch board is an added bit of protection.
The tone control contains treble blead circuitry which is also a nice feature
The only real minus in my experience was the choice of switch material with proprietary design. Mine is an early production model and the conductor inside the switch appears to be aluminium rather than gold and after a few years the switch failed completely. Taylor had discontinued the switch so no replacement was available, however they were kind enough to send me a wiring diagram for the mini pickups so that I was able to recreate their wiring using a Stewmac "P-model" mega switch
The Taylor solid body is a lot more than the sum of it's parts.
The neck is definitely a love it or hate it design, though I personally enjoy it.
I have a broad stable of guitars for different occasions and musical styles, each has their own voice which is part of the joy of playing in my opinion.
Thanks for your candid review of this unique guitar!
Watching you take that guitar apart and describe what you were seeing was amazing. I really appreciate how you are able to tell the story in a clear way and how respectful you are of other people's work even when you wouldn't have done it that way. Decent.
Love this new format!. Your perspective on others product is enlightening with both positive with respectfull criticism without being abrasive. The fact that a guitar can be a looker but not a player is interesting and visa versa. For me I nice pare of blue jeans and a T shirt is better then a suit n tie! Thanks
Thanks Mike, I will certainly keep up with these videos, I'm having too much fun falling in love with guitars all over again!
Please keep these videos going - it's really fascinating to see different builds and ideas. To pick at the different styles and to show that some of what we assume to be correct and the best thing may not be! Makes me think about the aspects of a BASS even more...
Not sure if I caught it, and I could look it up, but what is the guitar value?
I love it! It's great when manufacturers try something different, even if it's a bit quirky. That contouring and binding with the inlayed top is absolutely stunning, and that bridge is beautiful! The pickup rings are a nice touch as well. It's an excellent inspiration for my own future builds.
Fascinating. My guess at the neck arrangement with the hollowed centre is the thought is that the shim acts a bit like a gasket so the bolt pulls the edges down in firm contact. On the other hand, if it was machined 'flat' then high and low spots could be anywhere. In particular, with a single bolt the centre might conceivably 'dome' making it a bit looser round the edges? Could that have been the concept in general, e.g. with the bridge - better to have really firm contact round the edges than bolt on bits that rely on 'perfectly flat' mating surfaces? Perhaps even coming from an acoustic perspective, used to clamped glued joints where there is potentially a certain amount of swelling, space filling and contraction at the glue cures leaving a solid joint?
I used to play one of these for years as my main guitar. They’re great! The bridge pickup in this guitar is not stock - it’s a Taylor pickup but it’s what they call an HG pickup (high gain). The neck pickup and the stock bridge pickup are HD pickups - lower gain more like a PAF. I have a neon green HSS Taylor Solidbody that I won from Taylor in 2009 with a trem.
Also the production version of this guitar didn’t have binding on the neck or headstock. After some digging it turns out the guitars marked “not for sale” were promo guitars from Taylor.
@@mikelinden214 might explain why it’s made from mdf or whatever?
I tried one about 12 years ago, and while it was spectacular there was something I couldn't get over with the neck. You hear a lot of acoustic builders using the tagline "the acoustic for electric players", I feel this is an "electric for acoustic players".
Had the same thought.
I love a happy ending for a little grub screw.
Found it's way back home. The little screw that could!
The way they routed a hollow to the neck around the screw gives a more solid contact. If the neck is flat only the area near to the bolts will make a contact. That’s because the bolts will bend the wood. Even with four bolt designs a small hollow around each bolt would improve the contact. The bridge has much more contact area that Tune-O-Matic which is sopported only by two skinni screws.
Didn’t really like anything about the guitar. But I’m glad I stayed for the fretboard. Looks amazing after you polished it!
The only reason that this guitar was not accepted by the players could be that we fellow guitarists are looking for the stuff of the past. Most of us do not appreciate innovations, which could make our live easier. Instead we accept Les Pauls going out of tune regularly due to the high headstock angle, we love guitars without any comfortable arm rest, we even might replace locking tuners by old fashioned ones to be vintage correct, we accept necks to be removed from the body in order to get the truss rod adjusted, we hate active electronics and humbuckers inside a guitar, which was originally made to have humming and buzzing single coils. Bass players and acoustic players do appreciate innovations much more.
I played one of these through a fender, hot rod deluxe clean channel back of the day, and it was wonderful playing and sounding. Such a beautiful guitar to play
I have one and I love it. I don't bring it to too many gigs, because it isn't as versatile as my Mod Shop Strat, but it is beautiful. Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but the "not for sale" stamp refers to guitars that were made specifically for fundraising events. I got mine an an auction at my son's high school in the San Diego area.
Love the one bolt neck system. The bridge is a bit “curates egg” - good in parts. Sounds a little muted unplugged I thought. Thanks for the breakdown, very interesting.
You missed the trick with the tone pot. The first 2/3rds acts like a normal pot but after that it provides an overdrive function that seems to boost the mids -giving even more options.
Mine is a Solidbody 'Classic' in natural ash (two well matched dense planks) with a brown speckled pickguard and a maple neck. Although it was the cheapest of the range, it's got an honest feel and tone and I'm now glad that I didn't go for one of the 'fancy' ones. It also has Taylor's own mini pickups.
Please keep doing these videos, there is so much for us all to learn. An example of a Japanese-made guitar could be interesting -what makes them so good and sought after?
Excellent show! I don't blame you for leaving that bridge together. You know when to stop.
I always use a single bolt, although I do angle the end of the neck so that it fits into a corresponding angle in the body. The idea being, when the strings are pulled tight the neck is locked into the body. Seems to work really well and has the advantage of being able to remove the neck very easily. Great video, cheers Dave
Hi. What's the technical description of the 'ferrule' or 'bushing'? ie what do you use? ~8-10mm I've searched extensively & got nowhere. Cheers.
@@RobSmathome hi, to be honest I don’t know either. Try Bonehead guitars I know he uses ferrules quite often. Cheers Dave
@@RobSmathome no wait, ferrules are used for string thru the body bridges and would probably use an 8mm diameter hole. Bushings would be used as washers on the screws fixing the neck to the body and would probably be around 10mm diameter. Not sure if this helps. Cheers Dave
@@DaveDickens I'll give these a shot : Stainless Steel Countersunk Washer M8 (25mm O/D) they come in colours too!! 😁 before i found these i was toying with the idea of using thick wide flat washers and capping a countersink to hide it all... the first-mentioned are much simpler...
That’s the best explanation that I’ve ever seen on RUclips, of the part where you explained how to crown at 24:30. Thank you sir!
I keep thinking of Les Paul's "the Log" and how he had a perfectly working electric guitar made of a 4x4 and an epiphone standard neck, plus his electronics. No one liked it until he made sides to attach to it so it looked like a regular archtop.....it sounded exactly the same with or without the attachments, but people thought it sounded different. So much for tonewoods. His original proof of concept used a chunk of railroad tie, which gave the strings the highest amount of sustain. So, my feeling is, if someone stuck to the log concept and concentrated on the center core of the guitar+ electronics, they could do whatever they want with the rest.. Core body/neck+ good electronics and hardware equals voila. The 60's Harmony, Danelectro were all particle board I think. If one is a techno phobe I suppose the bridge is cool, but a player needs something easy to work with live. I think the single bolt-on neck is cool and easy. Maybe they could develop a "slide-in neck" that has one bolt....metal runners maybe.
isn't that basically what a 335 is? solid core with laminated wings?
@@ziggybongwater7915 yes, Les Paul was proving the electric concept that the body has no real function in producing the electronic sound. He added the wings because people didn't like looking at a 4x4 with strings.
@@michaeld.mcclish at luthier school years ago the head builder told us a similar story about flamenco guitars, there was a famous spanish guitar builder who argued that only the top will affect the sound of a n acoustic so he built a guitar with a perfectly braced cedar top and a paper mache back and sides. im not sure how successful his experiment was though lol but its an interesting idea!
@@ziggybongwater7915 I think Les Paul was concerned only with electric guitars, though. Acoustic/flamenco guitars do get their sound from all of the woods they are made of, imo. It's all about what tones and harmonics sound and what is dampened, and the artist's expertise in shaping the sound with fingering and artistry.
I wonder if that bridge design is the result of a mostly-acoustic guitar builder underestimating how important it is for electric players to easily set their intonation.
Exactly. Unless you live in a climate where there is just one season and the temperature and humidity is constant (is there such a climate?), that bridge will drive you nuts.It's even worse than intonating a rickenbacker 4003.
@@tolvajakos bridge intonation has nothing to do with climate, it's the compensation for the thickness of the string.
@@wombat6 i find myself having to intonate the guitar when i adjust the neck. which i need to do when the seasons change. maybe i got things confused in my head, i am not a luthier or guitar tech or anything like that.
@@tolvajakos There are probably slight changes to the exact string length when the neck twists and moves, yeah. It makes sense. What I had in mind in my original comment is that electric guitar players change tuning/string gauge more often than acoustic guitar players, hence the problem about a bridge that's a hassle to intonate.
even as a beginner player, I learn so much about the components of electric guitars and the different ways in which they're constructed. I love these vids. Thanks!
Elise Trouw uses one regularly and you can see why. It is a multi uses tool that can be invaluable for an eclectic musician
Ben, how about one day you do a video trying different necks with different amount of contact in the pocket, just to kill the "tone pocket" myth once and for all?
This video will make you really think. Its ridiculous. Spoiler alert - he ends up with no body and no neck.
ruclips.net/video/n02tImce3AE/видео.html
Great suggestion, we'll try to make this happen.
Already done by Jim Lill but would be worth doing again and I would watch Ben do it.
Really enjoyed the video! I'd love to see you do something similar with the Ovation UKII. I think that design might be even more unusual than this Taylor. Thanks for all you contribute to the online luthier community.
I recently won one of these Taylor Solid Body guitars. It too has the "NOT FOR SALE" branded into the back of the headstock. Mine is the double cutaway Classic model that is a solid color with a pickguard. Mine has a single humbucker and the same bridge as yours in the video. I have done as much research as I can on these guitars, so it was nice to stumble across your video and to see it disassembled! Thank you!
I found this guitar to be "Neck Heavy." The reason Taylor is "ballsy" about routing after finishing is their equipment. It is hugely expensive and hugely accurate and reliable. I rebuilt some of the "milling angle heads" a number of years ago. They are a small Japanese company that builds them like a tank and has class 7 bearings in them. That keeps the tolerances of the heads to 0.0001-0.0002". Damn great for woodworking.
Hey, just an observation of a random youtube passerby. I don't normally watch this kind of content but you kept me 100% engaged the whole time. Your personality is inviting and not abrasive. Same goes to your video production, nothing was superfluous and this resulted in the video feeling more like a conversation than a presentation. Subscribed.
I like that it's simple looking from afar, not a lot of flashy stuff all over the place, not a lot of irritating flashy paint details and color mixes. In short I like how it looks. whether or not I like it I would have to have it in my hands
I love this guitar. I would play one in a shop down in San Diego when I lived there and was very tempted to buy it.
I was always told if you wanted maximum sustain you needed solid body with glued in neck.....but out of all the guitars I've ever owned the one that had the most, and dare I say it even too much, was the guitar from my childhood. A plywood body/bolt on neck epiphone special ll , it would hold on notes for days with zero effort. Don't remember what kind of wood it was since they change the type they use in those every couple of years. It was circa 2005 ish.
I play an '05 Epi LP Classic in wine red. always loved it.
Very cool video. I love the concept of exploring other builders' work! Hope to see more of this. A possible wish list would be : a PRS private stock, a Kiesel, of course an LP, but i would be very interested into exploring the much controversed SG as well, a Parker fly, a G&L, a Vigier, a Godin...
That cross grain shim prevents any stiffness resisting change in angle of the neck when tensioning. The shim just rolls with it, like a bed of needle bearings.
I'm a bit of an expert and collector on these - I've probably had 12 or 15 of these and have run all of them through my work shop. I currently own two that I gig with. I've done radical customizations such as adding piezo bridge pickups (like a Parker Fly style and more).
A few points:
You mentioned the veneer top several times. That was that variant. They did that because the base model was a traditional loaded pickguard model. The veneer let them chamber the body and, at the same time, put some really interesting flamed or figured woods on top for aesthetics.
The classic models are built like a strat: solid wood body with a big pocket under it and a loaded pickguard.
It wasn't marketed as "feeling like an acoustic" It just happens to feel amazing. Its not the best sounding nor best guitar for reliability but it absolute *IS* the best feeling guitar to play for me.
The big design mistakes they made were these:
- the big innovation was in the plug-and-play no solder swappable loaded pickguards. You have to get your tools out anyway, and remove the pickguard. That's great you don't need to solder but no one swaps pickguards frequently enough to care. That's something you do maybe once in the guitar's life. And you have to swap to another Taylor offering anyway so you might as well just buy it with the pickups you wanted in the first place. And anyone who is adept enough to swap pickguards could solder a new one in. So, the no-soldering was pointless and not worth anything as a feature, although it advertises as something important. The problem is that it added a lot of cost and wasnt worth it.
- the bridge design is structurally very weak - they are known for cracking if you adjust them wrong. They look really nice but they take forever to adjust the height and intonation and you have to loosen them and if you tighten it wrong you can crack them. A simple ugly strat bridge is better for actual use. And no one seemed to really care how "comfortable" the bridge was for palm muting. Personally I don't palm mute at the bridge anyway. Again, it advertised well and looks great but was a terrible design choice and VERY expensive.
- the five way Schaller megaswitch is very prone to noise. They take a Schaller megaswitch, remove the contact board and snap on their own printed circuit board with capacitors on the board. These can be replaced but its tricky and they are known for becoming noisy switches. Also you can't tweak your tone by changing caps - you have to use the ones mounted on the printed circuit board. So the guitars are marketed toward DIY tinkerers but they can only be tinkered with using stock parts, which negates the purpose.
Some of the pickups, in my opinion, sound fantastic. The basic high definition humbuckers are very generic and plain. The high output humbuckers are ok. The mini humbuckers are great and the noiseless single coils are fantastic.
Based on a *LOT* of experience with these, here is my summary:
PROS:
- fantastically comfortable and wonderful to play, especially on stage
- fit and finish are near perfect and rival the best in the world
- out of this world good looks
- great build quality with ebony or EIR fingerboards, great body woods
- great sound with some of the pickup configurations
- Taylor neck angle adjustment is great for a lifetime of simple maintenance
CONS:
- bridge is fragile and finicky. Not worth it.
- electronics are very proprietary and you might gut them if you want to customize your tone
- switch is unreliable
- they were very expensive for what you get
For me, the comfort and playability are #1 so mine are worth it to me. But I am able to customize and tweak mine and I got mine with the tone I want (which is #2 to me) and I can maintain them myself.
So for me, they are my preferred electric guitar but they are absolutely not for everyone. The used price bounces around but if you are like me, you can get a really good deal on a guitar that is good for you.
Excellent insights, thanks. Have a few and adore them. Fortunately have not had to work on mine, yet.
A very comprehensive and fascinating breakdown. Please continue to bring this form of content as it is a unique idea and thought process. Well Done. Thank You.
Great work. Keep these kinds of videos coming. Love all of your videos because of the insight you bring. I'm a novice guitar player but I appreciate what it takes to be a Luthier. Cheers
Ben,thank you for doing this and future deconstructions of other builders instruments. Fascinating and highly entertaining!
The cardboard wading they use in Doors stops feedback, i've seen it done. The guy who makes Guitars from Ikea furniture used some and said it worked brilliantly for filling up those hollow spaces, much like the Tyre or Radiator weld your refering to.
Not a luthier, but an engineer here. On the tailpiece and the neck, they chose to reduce the area of contact. In the case of the tailpiece they touch around the perimeter. In the case of the neck they carve out the interior to create an additional perimeter contact area. Assuming the same clamping force from the fastners, reducing the contact area will increase the contact pressure proportionally. Given that in both cases it's likely easier to control the flatness of the contact areas, this is probably a good call.
The trraveling grub screw is terrifying. Are you sure someone didn't just chuck it in the hole before assembling a la Jaguar to avoid missing parts in the box?
Yes, looking forward too seeing you dissect more guitars.
It's like an acoustic guitar: separate front, back and sides, bridge moves with the top, and neck profile. Very interesting when acoustic companies reinvent electrics -Ovation Breadwinner, Martin, etc. They all flopped, but are getting some love in the afterlife!
I'm trying to buy a Breadwinner for the show right now!
Basically, an electric for acoustic guitarists.
@@sarguitars6603 Yeah, especially if the neck is shaped more like an acoustic.
@@sarguitars6603 no
no . its not separate front, back and side. No the bridge does not move with the top. Its like a strat. Big chunk of solid wood with a bridge screwed down. They simply made a little decorative pocket where the bridge screws down. Nothing at all like an acoustic.
That neck pocket is really smart.
By hollowing out the middle, it increases the pressure on the outside edges and makes it a “tighter” join.
It also reduces the risk of the neck sitting not level, it’s how they make furniture bases sit flat and not rock.
Just have to make sure the neck itself is strong enough to not sink down in the middle and make a concave in the fretboard
man i want one of these so bad, i think it is just such a versatile guitar
7:30 A threaded insert too! Love those. Wish more people used them.
Just found and bought one of these yesterday - also a 2007 Not For Sale model. Switched out the pickups for SD Jupiters and it sounds fantastic. Regarding body resonance, the body really vibrates when I play open chords, and not in the rattley way.
Many thanks for creating this video, and explaining all the parts, especially the amazing bridge. I also appreciate guitar makers when they try "something different". Sometimes we guitar players need to not be so conservative and admit that guitar design didn't end in 1954.
Saw an article that said after they discontinued the range in 2011 Taylor gave remaining factory stock to charities and music schools stamp not for sale.
I am fond of guitars and basses, and have several who have followed me for many years now 35-40. It is a very nice and special guitar you have on the table, not many of that kind. But what draws my eyes away from the guitar is the fine tool collection you have built up, and I reckon we don't even see half of it, the rest are tucked away in cupboards and drawers. I love tools, where we live now I don't have a separate room for the guitars and tools, and use the bedroom a bit, you can imagine what the wife says about that, even though I don't sand wood in here. Then she would have thrown both me and my things out. But it bothers me a lot that I have to have my tools and machines stowed away in boxes in the attic. Now I'm looking for a large camper, because I have two large parking spaces below the house, and I'm thinking of parking the camper in the innermost space. And furnish it for a small workshop, it does not need to be registered and then it will be cheaper too 😃
I worked with a man in the 90s who was a very serious amateur hand bell ringer, and he pioneered a series of hand bells which were essentially shaped slabs of aluminium; people were stunned by the acoustics ( I think he was even on Tomorrow’s World). Maybe the use of aluminium here for the bridge, with surprisingly small contact points to the body is designed to have some acoustic benefit; whether it was successful or not may well be another matter.
I am not by any means a professional luthier but I found that when you tape up the fretboard lay one long peirce of tape along one side and tape the individual pieces of tape to it so when you remove the tape just pull on the long piece and all the little straps on the fretboard come in one piece. But thank you for all your fantastic videos you put out.
I thoroughly enjoyed watch you working on the Electric Taylor, I had trouble sleeping so came across you channel on RUclips, I have added you to my list, I'm an old Beginner aged 64 it was Zal Cleminson from the late great Sensation Alex Harvey Band who said Glen if you plug it in you'll never look back, wise words from a Rock Legend ,👍🏼🎸🎸🍀🍀🍀🍀
I'm excited to get your take on the guitars of other manufacturers from a builder's perspective. Love the idea for a series.
Watching Ben smell the guitar made me laugh because I have a cedar classical guitar and when it warms up you can smell it while you play. One of the things I really enjoy about that guitar.
PRS uses aluminum (unplated) on their non-adjustable bridge. I was surprised when I first too it apart, but it sounds glorious, so I think there's something to be said for a light, stiff metal in this application!
titanium thus
The name of the Book Is how not to build a guitar!
But do it the correct way!
Keep it up Mr. Ben
I own one with a gorgeous walnut top and mine also says behind the headstock "Not for Sale". A beautiful guitar
love this content works pretty well to see different guitars come together. thanks Ben.
I toured the Taylor factory about 15 years ago and saw that it was a complete CNC operation. I have owned 5 taylors and the build quality is quite high. At the time I was reading Christensen's (Harvard) "the Innovator's Dilemma". I submitted a synopsis of the book and applied for a job at and to Taylor. They did not hire me as an innovation consultant, but I noticed that their ads contained quotes from Christensen's book. I think management read my synopsis. and embarked on an innovation journey. This guitar is a result of this journey. As a firm experiments with new ideas, it may fail and this is one of their market failures. But the firm learns. Fail early and fail often. Do electrics have a future at Taylor? Who knows. But I'm sure the experiments at Taylor continue. Christensen realized that some innovations are simply sustaining in nature and others are disruptive (cannabalizing some existing products (Steve Jobs at apple). Their acoustics with the Rupert Neves electronics are stunningly good through PAs. The acoustic loudness is not as good as Breedlove, but Taylor outsells them. Many acoustic innovations remain for Taylor and these improvements can be seen in their new acoustics. Your contribution here of teardowns and analysis is quite prescient in documenting these innovative experiments. Hopefully the large manufacturers (Gibson and Fender) are taking notice of your blog. The very nature of an organization and their ability to innovate is contained in your analysis. Read Christensen's books on disruptive innovation. Other companies are doing it (D'Angelico) .
Taylor makes beautiful acoustic-electric guitars that are a real pleasure to play (I have three). I understand that they are always looking at ways to refine the manufacture of their guitars - not to cut corners but to improve production efficiency. I wonder if they were trying to break into the S-type/SG/LesPaul market but ultimately withdrew? Honda used to make a fantastic bike called the VFR 850 which I understand was 'over-engineered'. I understand they cost a lot to make and profit margins on the VFR 850 not great but they carried on making them because they sort of loved the bike. I wonder why Taylor stopped making this guitar?
I like this new direction.
SO interesting. I own one, just like this. A terrific analysis; thank you.
I found one of these about 3 months back. It has Taylor's mini-humbuckers and sounds great. I have played Taylor acoustics and a T5 for many years, perhaps that's why i have no issues with the neck profile. The weak point is the Schaller switch, very prone to failure and no longer available. Loved your approach to this video and agree with most of the points you raise about the guitar. Each to their own but I will definitely be keeping mine - albeit with some switch cleaner to hand!!!!
I hope you look into the 2022 Yamaha Revstar, too, in the near future.
I have been very tempted by those, good idea!
The Roland g808 and gr300 synth attachment i think is one of the coolest guitars in history. so many tone options with that onboard synth
Very interesting video. I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Thank you.
I’ve got a Taylor T3B, similar, from 2013. It has a thinner feeling neck. It is superb.
Martin, Taylor, Larrivee, make great acoustic guitars, but their electrics sometimes leave a lot to be desired, hit and miss usually.
It begs the question, why is a plank of wood with a neck bolted on like a Tele such a perfect guitar?
The "beauty" lies in the simplicity. Basic but done at a really high level.
I think this is has the potential to be a really really cool series of video s from you Ben. Anyone who has watched you know you are a master among masters. And I think you taking some of these guitars, and even improving some of there short falls, from your perspective would be really cool.
You’re going to laugh but I really like the way you masked off the fretboard prior to buffing. Folding tape over to make it more narrow…. Also using a bit of tape to keep the metal shield in place.
Interesting choices with the selector switch and how the coils are combined. I have a traditional Strat with the ability to put neck and bridge pups in series and it’s a cool, useful sound. In parallel you get a Tele-like sound.
2007 was the year i graduated highschool and 10/ 23 is my birthday. What a trip.
Ben, your capabilities as a luthier are unquestionable. Your analysis of the instrument build was very thorough. You doubts about certain aspects are valid but why the hell don't you get a competant guitarist in to play the instrument so we can really hear what it sounds like and get their take on playability.
If you are able Ben, you should try to get your hands on a Bond Electraglide and take it apart too!
There’s a beautiful solid-body Taylor at a store in Denver that I look at every time I’m there. It’s out of my price range but it’s definitely a guitar I wouldn’t mind having.
I acquired a Taylor Solid Body electric guitar in a trade. The simpler looking SB-1X Classic Model I think, in transparent white, swamp ash body. Sort of looks like the Fender Mary Kaye finish as you can see the ash grain pattern, like a transparent white blond. I like it a lot, because it has two mini-humbuckers and reminds a lot of the 1968 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe in its tones, very clear and present, but with some incisive punch. The five way Strat style pup selector gives two nice extra single coil tones also. It came with the OHSC, Taylor leather strap and hex tools and instructions for the guitar/bridge. Hopefully, I won't be doing any work on it. Seems pretty good action and intonation as is. Tones-wise, I consider it sort of a de facto Les Paul Deluxe, just in a less fancily appointed, flat top, beveled edge, dot neck "Special" model format.
not Narrow minded. All opinions are welcome Ben. I expect nothing less. Thanks as always
Tried one of these. felt like you described the neck, an acoustic. Yes it is well done for what it is.
I purchased a black classic which is a true solidbody for $450 on Reverb in 2015. It's one of the best guitars I have played. I love the neck but also play a Taylor 912c so the neck is familiar. It's not made for "shredding". The guitar in this video was sold as a chambered body. As a woodworker, I assume the use of MDF as a backer for the veneer was done to add stability, it would be nearly impossible for the top to crack. The bridge is incredibly easy to adjust and maintains intonation perfectly.
The Taylor Solidbody has great innovation. Unfortunately, it suffered commercially not because of build issues, but due to guitar snobbery 😂 ie... It's not a facsimile of a vintage guitar. The reaction at the time was "acoustic guitar builders can't build electric guitars", which is obviously nonsense. Taylor took what they learned from this design and put it into their T5 guitars which have been pretty successful. My guitar now sells for $1200+, not that I have any motive to sell it. 😜
I normally don't enter these manner of competitions, but in this case I absolutely have - and what a beautiful prize for some lucky person. Good luck everyone :)
Thank you for your support, and good luck to you!
Great video. I'm sure others have shared this, but Taylor made two versions of its 'solid body' guitar. The Standard, (which I think this is) had a chambered mahogany body and a quilted maple top. And the Classic which had solid swamp ash body.
Would love a series or some videos on the innovations of different brands or how different countries shaped guitar/bass building. For example I would love to hear about Japan's contributions and change from making primarily copies to making innovative, unique instruments. Ibanez is definitely worth a mention and played a part but I want to hear more about companies that get missed or had specific innovations such as Tune Japan, which helped popularize smaller bodied basses with complex pre-amp circuits. The stuff Tune was doing in the mid 80s with electronics was cutting edge (2 independent pre-amps in the same bass, hidden trimmer pots, gain for each pickup or string, multiple parametric mid eq's etc) and is still very difficult to find builders that will take electronics to the same extreme as Tune.
Like this format Ben, but I enjoy watching all your videos. Keep up the great work.
I have a white SB-1X with minihumbuckers and its my favorite of 12 guitars. The only thing I dont care for is how massive the frets are, so I'm going to have them shaved down a bit. But, I like it much more than I do the Les Paul or my fenders, and the Gretsch.
In any case, from hard rock to jazz tones, this guitar does it all with ease.
Love your new home shop Ben. I'm very jealous! Thanks for all the cool videos
Thanks for watching! Glad you like them!
Ugh! That bridge mechanism looks cool and comfortable, but what an act of Congress (or should I say Parliament) to change the height!
I'd like to see an Ibanez AR series guitar in your break down series. Love the idea.
I love my Taylor SB1 Standard. It's a pleasure to play and it sounds great.
There is a Taylor factory tour video on RUclips. I'm so impressed by how modern their manufacturing process is and how they are able to make some real improvements to the construction of the instruments.
The bridge feels like a mistake though.
When they first came out I played the top of the range of this model in a store in Glasgow. It was beautiful from top to bottom and played exquisitely. Having learned more through this video, It seems a bit disappointing in some of the construction.
I love it. I’d buy it from in an instant but Im in Canada. Thanks for the bid.
Thank you! Very interesting, innovative design! Everybody has to learn sometime. GREAT video - more of these!
really enjoyed an expert insight to mass produced guitars
Good job Ben!
Hell yeah, keep these kind of videos coming!!!
I have a Taylor 916CE from the same time period these were first made; always wondered about them. Have seen them pop up (used) in shops, and most recently priced below 1k.
What I know about guitars you could carve on the head of a pin with an ax. I am, however, a woodworker; having earned my living as such all my life. I vote yes, let's keep the series going.
This is going to be great series.
The Taylor is a very interesting guitar, but some things really surprised me. Given Taylor's reputation for making high-end acoustic guitars I'm shocked by the dodgy frets. The single bolt neck joint seems all kinds of wrong, but if it works then that's ok. The bridge does look good but I feel it's unnecessarily complicated and a real pain to adjust. In a world in which the humble Strat (and its many copies) is the best-selling guitar, the Taylor is just too innovative.
I can't wait to see what's next!
Great video! Can’t wait to see more of this series!
Dear Ben, I'd love too see you refurbish and modify some cheaper instruments in the future, maybe even do a "great guitar on a budget" kind of thing. I know it's been done a hundred times, but I'd be very curious to see your own spin on this kind of series.
Keep up the great work! Lots of love
That's for youtubers who don't know how to build guitars. Ben doesn't need to do this nor should he.
I noticed that you've got the Bigsby Book - Paul Bigsby's guitars were works of art. Hands up who else paused the video and counted up how many of those books they owned too?
I have an 06 solid body custom walnut that is fantastic! Absolutely love it!
What a great idea, count me in.
I love that they tried something different, and I enjoy it when manufacturers prioritize design over function to a point. Too many guitar makers make "Fender-style" guitars not only in looks but in build philosophy and that makes for quite the boring utilitarian design.
That being said, that bridge looks like a nightmare.