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| About 10 years ago, Joe bought a Taylor Guitar....a 410 ce. So visiting the Taylor Guitar service center, visitor center, and factory tour in El Cajon, CA was at the top of the "Let's go here places." while in San Diego. |
After business was taken care of, we went to the Visitor Center. It's divided into 2 parts...gift shop and showroom. The gift shop was full of all the "gift shop" items you would expect to find...t shirts, hats and caps, mugs and glasses, books. The nice thing was that there were also guitars you could pick up and play. Joe was interested in a Baby Taylor since we have limited space and 4 pups in the MH, but really liked the GS Mini after playing it. While we were there, we met Chris. He is the Visitor Center Coordinator and a nice young man. We discussed guitars, comparing one to another, and of course pups. He has a boxer great dane mix. Also he suggested the Hilltop Deli for lunch since we had an hour and it was walking distance.
This was the view from the hilltop. Lunch was yummy...ham and swiss with honey mustard, lettuce and tomato on toasted sourdough bread with a side of pasta salad...way too much food. We should have shared!
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| Joe took his guitar to the service center to be checked out. No big concerns...new strings. Joe has always left his guitar in tune even though he has read not to...turns out he was right. We met Randy, who took care of Joe's guitar, and he agreed...always have tension on the strings. |
After business was taken care of, we went to the Visitor Center. It's divided into 2 parts...gift shop and showroom. The gift shop was full of all the "gift shop" items you would expect to find...t shirts, hats and caps, mugs and glasses, books. The nice thing was that there were also guitars you could pick up and play. Joe was interested in a Baby Taylor since we have limited space and 4 pups in the MH, but really liked the GS Mini after playing it. While we were there, we met Chris. He is the Visitor Center Coordinator and a nice young man. We discussed guitars, comparing one to another, and of course pups. He has a boxer great dane mix. Also he suggested the Hilltop Deli for lunch since we had an hour and it was walking distance. |
| The showroom displays all the Taylor Guitars made... |
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| Joe is reading about the 400 series. |
This was the view from the hilltop. Lunch was yummy...ham and swiss with honey mustard, lettuce and tomato on toasted sourdough bread with a side of pasta salad...way too much food. We should have shared! |
| Our tour guide |
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| Hand drawn shapes...no knots or defects. |
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| Bob Taylor and his team have brought many new innovations to the guitar manufacturing process. He has shared this technology with the guitar industry at large. We were totally surprised you are encouraged to take pictures and even videos of his entire manufacturing plant. This included the robotics developed specifically for guitar manufacturing by his team. |
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| This robot applies the finish. In past years this took weeks to apply, dry,and sand over and over. Today it is all done in a matter of hours. |
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| We had a great time. The tour is free Monday - Friday at 1:00 pm. I don't pretend to know all about making these beautiful instruments. I do know that each one is a work of art and oh what a sound. Thanks for stopping by our blog. Life is good! Enjoy today and "Y'all come back!" |
My hubby used to play and I sure would like for him to start again. This would really be a neat tour to take. I love watching the craftsmanship involved in creating something.
ReplyDeleteWe love SoCal, but too far for us to travel this winter. Maybe next year as we have just bought the South West zone with Thousand Trails. Interesting story about the guitars.
ReplyDeleteI bet daddy-t was in heaven!!! What a fun outing. I love to hear him play his guitar! Love you!
ReplyDeleteLooks like so much fun! Taylor guitars.......any relation? So happy you are having fun. I'm having fun following your fun! :-)
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