Sunday, December 16, 2012

In the history of acoustic guitar building, 38 years would be almost inconsequential to most. After all, when you see a company like Martin, which has been around for closing in on two centuries, 38 years is a relative blink of the eye.

Well, unless the company happens to be Taylor Guitars.

Taylor Guitars started in 1974 in Lemon Grove, California. While much has been spoken about their storied beginnings, it really is the most recent past which affords us the best glimpse into Taylor as a guitar builder.  38 years ago, no one was using CNC machines to build guitars. No one was using lasers to cut guitar tops, and no one was using a UV finish which cures in a matter of minutes. Bolt-on necks?  C'mon, man, nobody was doin' stuff like that.

That is until a guy named Bob Taylor started asking "Why not?"


Taylor does everything differently. They revolutionized guitar building through technology. They developed their own proprietary pickup system. They've pioneered in-store events that are so successful that other companies have tried, with only varying degrees of success, to imitate them. They've instituted an unheard of "custom shop" program, called "Build To Order", where every aspect of a guitar's design can be chosen by the end user, AND it won't take six months to a year to get it.

I've had the pleasure of visiting a few different guitar factories. I've been to Fender's factory in Corona, California where I saw how Strat and Tele pickups were wound, and how Fender Custom Shop pieces are built. I've been to the Gibson acoustic factory in Bozeman, Montana, where I got to buy guitars right from the factory floor for the store where I was working at the time (and, dang, don't I love walkin' around with a blank check!).  I've been to the Santa Cruz guitar factory; check that, it's much more of an old-world shop than a factory, and I got to see true luthiers ply their craft at every stage of a guitar's evolutionary process.

Then, there was Taylor Guitars University.

Carrie Warlaumont and I got to attend "TGU" (aka (Taylor U.) this past October, and let me tell you, it's an event like no other.  We've each attended before; she with Portland Music Co. and I in a completely different capacity: as an eight year member of the Taylor Guitars Factory Staff.


Taylor can't bring everyone in for this, so we understand the gravity of this multi-million dollar company deciding that we were two of a select few to attend.

The two day event begins with a bus ride from the hotel in San Diego's Old Town (the birthplace of California, by the way) to the Taylor campus in El Cajon, about 20 miles to the east. Once at the factory, attendees go on a rather comprehensive tour of the facility. This is really where Taylor separates themselves from other companies. It would be unheard of to get a tour at another company's factory from the owner of that company, but that actually happens pretty regularly at Taylor Guitars. Bob Taylor often leads the tour at TGU, and is able to offer a unique insight into the company, how it operates, and what it stands for.


This time around, though "BT" was out of the country, so we were taken on the tour by Gerry Kowalski, who's a long-time staffer at Taylor. The tour lasted the better part of two hours, and went into a few areas where the "regular" tour, which takes place at 1:00pm every weekday, never goes.

Gerry Kowalski (in the back by the arrow) explains how Taylor procures wood,
and how they store it before making guitars with it...
Just once I wish they'd put one of these "test tops" on an actual guitar... Just because...

Wood storage inside the "laser room" at Taylor Guitars...
I sold the first guitar ever to have this sound hole inlay while working at a Taylor dealer in San Diego. 
That guitar later became the Hot Rod Limited Edition...

The buffing room at Taylor Guitars...

A 2012 Fall Limited gets a run through the spray booth...

Racks of guitars, like this one, can be found all over Taylor Guitars...

Hmmmmmm... Are those ukulele necks I see in that reflection???

Affixing a body into a CNC machine for precision routing...

Slot-head necks getting their rough milling in a CNC machine...

Gluing the back braces onto the back of a nylon string guitar...

PMC's Carrie Warlaumont, Joe Bina and Andy Powers (both of Taylor Guitars), examine
wood sets for BTO's which will end up on the hooks in our store...

Carrie and Joe Bina check a body template against a stunning set of "off menu" Amazon Rosewood.
Not everyone can get their hands on things that aren't listed on the BTO menu, but we can!


Carrie and Andy Powers, who's the new creative force at Taylor,
match a Spruce top to a set of Cocobolo for a BTO...

Taylor's David Hosler talks about the Taylor Expression System, of which
he was instrumental in the design...

Fingerstylist extraordinaire Michael Lille, of Taylor Guitars, demonstrates an 8-String Baritone guitar...


Yours truly and my old friend Larry Breedlove. Yes, that Larry Breedlove.
(Photo by Eric Sakimoto)

The only bad thing about Taylor University is that it's over so quickly. But the knowledge they impart on the very select group of dealers they invite is invaluable not only to the dealer but, by extension, to the dealer's customers.


At Portland Music Company on Broadway, we not only have one of the most extensive selections of Taylor Guitars in the northwest, but we know just about everything there is to know about them, too...







Text and photos by Steve Parr, except as noted.

Steve Parr is a recent addition to the Portland Music Co. on Broadway staff. Prior to his move to Portland, he served as Canadian Sales Manager for Taylor Guitars for seven years.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Six Strings And An Attitude...

Pretty much everyone at Portland Music Co. on Broadway is a guitar player. We just dig guitars, and we dig playin' 'em. So, it's kind of convenient that we all work in a music store which has walls that are covered in, you know... guitars.

While there are many fine brands of guitars out there these days, only a select few get to be on the hooks at Portland Music Co. We want brands which offer something that's getting more and more difficult to find these days: VALUE.

When we look for a brand to adorn our walls, we need to be impressed, and we're not an easy crowd by any stretch of the imagination. If we see in a brand value for our customers, we'll pursue that brand. It's as simple as that.

One of the stalwarts of the acoustic guitar industry is, of course, Martin Guitars. Martin opened their doors in 1833, and they've been steadily building guitars ever since. Think about that for a minute. They've been building guitars for almost 180 years. With a track record like that, you can be assured of two things. First, that the company isn't going anywhere. Second, since they've been around since the dawn of musical time (more or less), they know what they're doing (and they do it well).


When you walk into Portland Music Co. on Broadway, you lift your gaze only to be subjected to a full on Martin assault. Hanging high are a plethora of Martin Guitars:


Just a small portion of the Martins on hand...
Martin has been the benchmark in the acoustic guitar industry for almost two centuries, and with good reason. They basically created the acoustic guitar. Every company which has come after them owes a not-so-subtle nod to C.F. Martin & Company.

If you're looking for what might be considered a regular production Martin, we certainly have those:

A Martin 000-15M...
This is the acoustic guitar by which all others are judged: The Martin D-28...
This D-16 features Mahogany back and sides and an Adirondack Spruce top...


What we also have are those guitars that you might not find at just any Martin dealer; those special, harder to find Martins. Some are Signature models, and some are full-blown custom models, but they're all ridiculously nice models:

An OM Custom in Tasmanian Blackwood and Adirondack Spruce...
An abalone lover's dream...
Flame for days...
A D-42 in Blackwood. And lots and lots of abalone...
The back of the Blackwood D-42...

A detail shot of the D-42...
A 00-DB Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) Signature Model...
A Johnny Cash D-35...
A Jorma Kaukonen Signature Model...
The headstock of the Jorma Kaukonen Signature Model...
A detail shot of the Jorma Kaukonen Signature Model

So, let us lift a toast to the "big dog" on the porch. Let us tip our collective hat to the ones who started it all: C.F. Martin & Company of Nazareth, Pennsylvania...








All text and photos by Steve Parr

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Here at Portland Music Co. on Broadway, we love all things with strings. Sure, you can come to us for saxophone rentals and trumpet repairs, but we really dig stringed instruments.

The thing is, though, is that it's easy to lose sight of some of the really great instruments that are available when you focus so much on guitars. Hey, I'm a guitar player, so that's what I like to see. That's what gets my attention.

So, it was with that very thought in mind that I took a little walk around the shop today, to look at those things that have strings, but aren't guitars. There aren't a lot of them, but there are enough, and they should stand up and be counted!

So...

The year was, probably, 1969 or so, and I was playing in our living room while my Mom was watching either the Mike Douglas Show or the Merv Griffin Show. It's hard to remember but, cut a guys some slack: I was seven. One of the guests was a guy from Hawaii named Don Ho.

Don Ho was the epitome of "island cool", with his rose tinted glasses and his Hawaiian shirts. But Don also had a ukulele, and could rip through his "Tiny Bubbles" like Jimmy Page ripped through the lead part in "Stairway To Heaven". Okay, it was on a very different level, but Ho was clearly a master of his instrument, and he made the ukulele cool:


Don Ho... Purveyor of cool...

Roughly around the same time, there was another guy making a name for himself with a ukulele. His name was Herbert Khaury. Unlike Don Ho, though, Khaury wasn't smooth and cool, and he wasn't trying to make any real, true musical statement with his instrument. It seemed as though he was trying to actively destroy everything good about the ukulele. He's best remembered for resurrecting that never-should've-been-resurrected 1929 classic "Tiptoe Through The Tulips".

Khaury was better known by the moniker "Tiny Tim":

Tiny Tim... Not as hip as Don Ho...

Well, fast forward forty years and, despite everything it seemed like Tiny Tim did to the solemn name of the instrument, it's making a comeback, and that comeback is strong.

Like guitars, ukes come in a variety of shapes, sizes and, yes, price ranges. I'd always thought of the ukulele as a toy; not a true musical instrument. That belief was challenged, though, when a friend in San Diego showed me the uke that he'd paid not hundreds of dollars for, but thousands.

I was dumbfounded then, and I remain somewhat surprised at the popularity of the instrument. That said, though, it doesn't take long, noodling around on one, to get the bug. And, above and beyond everything else you might think you know about ukuleles, there is one undeniable truth regarding them: It's impossible to be sad when you play one.

We've got a large selection of ukes on hand in our store, from the goofy to the grand:

A selection of low cost ukes, sure to put a smile on someone's face...

A Kamaka tenor ukulele, made from solid Koa...

A Kamaka Concert uke, from Honolulu, Hawaii...
All Kamaka makes is ukuleles, but other manufacturers have added ukes to their lines of guitars. Collings has regular production of them, Taylor has introduced them with their "Builder's Reserve" sets, and Martin has been making ukes, in one form or another, since 1907:

The peghead of a Martin ukulele...

With prices between around fifty bucks to well over $1,000.00, there's a uke to fit every budget and skill level:

A "tree" of ukuleles, festooned with leis and festive holiday plumage...

As fun as they are, though, ukes aren't the only non-guitar stringed instruments gaining popularity.

Some years back, I was enamored with a group called Nickel Creek, specifically the flat-out ridiculous mandolin chops of Chris Thile. The guy would handle a mandolin like Minnesota Fats would handle a pool cue.

A mandolin isn't nearly as easy to play as a uke; at least not for me. The neck is much narrower and shorter than a uke. My hands wouldn't exactly be described as "dainty", but every so often I'll throw caution to the wind and pick up one of the many mandolins in the store.

A dear friend of mine, Haley Johnson (daughter of fingerstyle master Doyle Dykes) showed me three chords on the mandolin. Now, I don't even know what those chords are, but what's fun is, when I play those three chords for someone who doesn't play mandolin, they think I'm a virtuoso. When I play them for someone who does know how to play mandolin, they know I'm a hack. That's fine, though; I'm just looking to have a little fun with something that isn't a guitar.

Like ukes, mandolins cover the range of cheaply made to world class, with price tags to reflect each. I've found that a real nice balance is being found in Eastman mandolins. They're well made, play great, and won't require you to take out a second mortgage just to buy one:

An Eastman F-Style mandolin that won't break the bank...

Finally, you can't talk about stringed instruments that every guitarist secretly wishes he could play
without talking about the banjo.

The banjo is one of those instruments which, when played properly and well, is a lot of fun to listen to. You might even be surprised to learn who actually plays banjo. Back in the 70's, one of the hottest comedians alive was Steve Martin. His irreverent brand of comedy was something no one had seen before. In the 80's and 90's he got into acting, and starred in movies like "The Jerk" and "Father Of The Bride".

What no one knew about him during those years was that the guy was a monster banjo player. These days, more people actually know him for his work with Earl Scruggs and the Steep Canyon Rangers than for his stand-up routines. He's won more Grammy awards for his music than for his comedy.

And he did it with a freakin' banjo.

Most banjos you see these days have five strings, though, and not the six that we myopic guitar players are more accustomed to dealing with. So, leave it to a company like Gretsch Guitars to offer up something that every wanna-be-banjo-playin' guitar player can get behind: A six string banjo:

A Gretsch Dixie-6 Banjo...

Sure, the purists down at the local bluegrass picker's bi-weekly jam might scoff at you but, hey, so what? You're throwin' down some tasty licks on your banjo, and they can only wish they knew how to play guitar as good as you.

And, aside from that, you haven't lived until you've riffed the opening strains of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" on a banjo; pure magic.

So, there's just a short visit with some of the instruments hanging in Portland Music on Broadway.

Set some time aside and stop in and pay us a visit...












Text and photos by Steve Parr
Tiny Tin and Don Ho photos from the web