Our tour guide, Martin Cenoz
San Diego may be having the coolest, grayest summer in memory, but that hasn’t slowed my influx of houseguests. I’ve only gotten one pair of these visitors to take the Taylor Guitar factory tour, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s a shame. I’ve taken it three or four times, and I still find it entertaining.
Some of the most endearing things about the tour:
1) I love the fact that great guitars are being built in San Diego (and have been for 35 years). And they’re being built in quantity – some 72,000 of them last year, according to our guide the other day. Among guitars costing $1000 or more, Taylor now claims to sell more than any other company.
Exotic woods
2) I love peeking into the “Fort Knox” of Taylor, where the company has stockpiled $2 million in beautiful woods from around the world. Macassar ebony, maple, walnut, African mahogany, rosewood, koa, myrtlewood, Sitka spruce, and more. (Sadly, our guide told us there’s only an 8-year supply of Sitka spruce left in the world.)
Side-bending machine
3) I love seeing all the ingenious ways in which founder Bob Taylor has managed to mechanize the guitar-building process. Computerized saws cut out the pieces, machines hold the glued sections in place, others bend the sides, robots buff the instrument bodies and spray the finishes. Nonetheless the factory employs around 300 people.
For all the machines, many tasks still require the human touch
4) I love the fact that the 75-minute tours are free. They’re given almost every weekday (except for holidays) at 1 p.m., and you don’t have to make a reservation. You just show up at 1980 Gillespie Way in El Cajon. Here are directions.
A few years ago, the company added a small but sleek retail space offering Taylor-themed clothing, picks, and other gear. There’s also a nice recap of the company’s colorful history. With amusements such as this, who needs surfing weather?
