Blue Guitars and Tandy Leather

January 29,2013

This is The Blue Guitar. Chris (from Taylor Guitars ) had suggested this store for a great guitar buying experience. It is located at 5959 Mission Gorge Rd., San Diego. Chris was not wrong!

 

This is DeForest. He is the proprietor of The Blue Guitar. His selection is awesome and he set the stage to make the selection process so easy. Joe had asked about the GS Mini spruce and GS Mini Mahogany...he had both, he tuned both , set them both up on stands and then left for Joe to play and enjoy. We knew before we got there (from the internet) that his price was right so that was not even an issue.

A tough decision...spruce...

We left with the mahogany !

...or mahogany. 

They jammed...

Another stop on Tuesday was at Tandy Leather in La Mesa . One of Joe's hobbies is leather work.

They have a huge selection of tools and gadgets...so many things to look at.



Joe is deciding on leather for belts. They have a great selection and locations all over the U.S. We have also ordered on-line.



Joe made these saddle bags for the Harley last spring. He got the idea when we were in Cody, WY. He had checked the horse saddle bags to see if they would work...too big. So he designed them and cut out a pattern on paper...cut the leather and began stitching. All the stitching is done by hand, usually with 2 needles. The stitching over the seat is really pretty... a basket weave edge treatment that took longer to do than hand cutting and stitching the bags.
 Then he dyed them...he wanted black bags....I sortta liked the natural look.

Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars

January 28,2013

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. 



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...

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

Hand drawn shapes...no knots or defects.



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.



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.



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!"