Why is Taylor staining the new 614's????

[Glennwillow]

Bob Taylor and Andy Powers have stated that Taylor's research has concluded that most customers are not interested in even trying out a blonde guitar. So staining maple backs and sides opens up their 600 series guitars to more potential customers. The current 600 series of guitars is available without stain with a special order, so the option is still there for those who like blonde guitars.

As others have stated, there's a good reason for Taylor's promoting maple as a guitar tonewood, since other tonewoods are becoming more problematic to obtain in large quantities.

Builders have been staining maple violin and cello backs and sides for a very long time without much complaint.

- Glenn

[SpruceTop]

I like the stain on the new Taylor 600 Series (I've got two) but would like it even more if it was a couple of shades lighter than its current shade.

[leew3]

Originally Posted by RP

As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Whether one has a preference for blonde maple or Taylor's newer brown sugar maple, I really don't think that this is a matter of using stain to cover inferior wood....

RP, You're right of course. I reread my post and it does seem to imply that they were doing this, sorry that wasn't my intention. I was recalling not that many years ago when Taylor used a sunburst finish on some 714s and Bob openly said that though the Adi tops were of very high quality, they just didn't look as good as he'd want them to on that line of guitars. In short, it's likely more an issue of aesthetics and some responsiveness to the market rather than the cynical ploy my earlier post seemed to imply!

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I just find it kind of comical that maple is referred to, with a completely straight face, as an "alternative" tonewood. Maple is the single MOST common tonewood used for backs and sides in most stringed instrument families.

Wade makes a great point. Violin family instruments and many others use maple extensively. It is a great wood. But I would guess (no actual research) that fewer than 15% of all acoustic guitars sold over the last few years have been maple bodied. To me that makes it an "alternate" tone wood. Many buyers are fixated on rosewood and mahogany out of pure habit, and everything else is a minority.

I happen to own two maple bodied guitars -- a six string jumbo and a twelve string GA.

[Swamp Yankee]

I like maple as an alternative tonewood, it's somewhere between myrtlewood and tulip poplar.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by RP

Andy Powers said, in so many words, in a past issue of Wood & Steel that the reason for the stain was to give people a chance to play a maple guitar before realizing that it was in fact maple. Changes in the bracing, thinner finish and use of protein glues/torrefied tops are said to give the newer 614s a different tone than previous ones, and he felt that biases against maple would stop players from trying out these new models....

[QUOTE=Earl49;5470758]^^ This is the answer. It is a way to introduce and promote alternate body woods (maple) and the 614's are re-voiced to not sound quite so traditionally "maple-ish". Many / most people buy with their eyes first, and are used to dark brown guitar bodies.

Perhaps that's an indictment of the guitar world in general and perhaps we're more like violinists that I thought. Serious violinists order of selection is 1) Maker, 2) year, 3) flaming, 4) scroll design, 5) sound.

Originally Posted by HHP

I think one of the best finishes I have seen on a musical instrument is one used by Weber Mandolins. They call it Black Ice.
https://themandolinstore.com/wp-cont...octave_(5).jpg

I understand your point, but Taylor isn't using that grade of maple. Ok... maybe I've provided the answer But even so, who would want to cover up such natural beauty? The sample images below aren't as nice as the black ice image by HHP but even so. I guess there are a lot of things today that are billed as "progress" and are simply the marketeers at work doing what they do best. As I alluded earlier, pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

[Howard Klepper]

Taylor was going for a warmer, darker tone. The stain achieves that.

[Johan Madsen]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

I remember seeing my buddy's beautiful 2008 614ce. His had a gorgeous three piece back and the flaming on the sides of his guitar was simple the art of nature. I couldn't believe how gorgeous a guitar could be, so much so that I got gas for a 614 myself and when the opportunity arose I jumped on it. I confess that the flaming on mine is not as nice as his, but still pretty darn nice. The flaming and the natural maple (at least to me) was as much a draw to the guitar as was the sound.

And so I've recently had the opportunity to play one of the new re-voiced 614's and I'll tell ya, if you're considering an 814, play the 614 first before deciding. The new re-voiced 614's is one of the sweetest sounding guitars I've ever played. Just a great all-around guitar.

BUT WHY THE HECK DID THEY STAIN THE SIDES AND BACK????? Staining that beautiful maple is akin to paving paradise and putting up parking lot (to coin a phrase). Does anyone know why Taylor chose to do this??? I have my thoughts, but does anyone KNOW???

One last thing... How do they continue to call these by the same model names??? My buddy's 614 with three piece back, original ES pickups, finger-interlaced head joint resembles little of my 614 with a two piece back, a scarf joint and ES1 system. What's similar?- Top, bridge, nut and tuners... That's it! And now with forward shifted bracing, torrified top, stained back and sides and ES2, again similar, but not really the same guitar.

Inquiring minds just want to know.

I never understood why either , I like maple's natural color

[Christopher Cozad]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Taylor was going for a warmer, darker tone. The stain achieves that.

If only I had thought of that years ago...

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Bob Taylor and Andy Powers have stated that Taylor's research has concluded that most customers are not interested in even trying out a blonde guitar. So staining maple backs and sides opens up their 600 series guitars to more potential customers. The current 600 series of guitars is available without stain with a special order, so the option is still there for those who like blonde guitars.

I wonder what markets Taylor did this "research" in and how the selection process of the participants for the research was performed.

Basing a guitar purchase on "the color" is something I would think a non-player who is a guitar playing wannabe would do for their first guitar.

Then again, a blue guitar would never be high on my list of "guitars to get"

Interesting issue.

[stringjunky]

[QUOTE=vindibona1;5471063]

Originally Posted by Earl49

^^ This is the answer. It is a way to introduce and promote alternate body woods (maple) and the 614's are re-voiced to not sound quite so traditionally "maple-ish". Many / most people buy with their eyes first, and are used to dark brown guitar bodies.

Perhaps that's an indictment of the guitar world in general and perhaps we're more like violinists that I thought. Serious violinists order of selection is 1) Maker, 2) year, 3) flaming, 4) scroll design, 5) sound.



I understand your point, but Taylor isn't using that grade of maple. Ok... maybe I've provided the answer But even so, who would want to cover up such natural beauty? The sample images below aren't as nice as the black ice image by HHP but even so. I guess there are a lot of things today that are billed as "progress" and are simply the marketeers at work doing what they do best. As I alluded earlier, pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

I prefer the stained tone.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Bob Taylor and Andy Powers have stated that Taylor's research has concluded that most customers are not interested in even trying out a blonde guitar. So staining maple backs and sides opens up their 600 series guitars to more potential customers. The current 600 series of guitars is available without stain with a special order, so the option is still there for those who like blonde guitars.

As others have stated, there's a good reason for Taylor's promoting maple as a guitar tonewood, since other tonewoods are becoming more problematic to obtain in large quantities.

Builders have been staining maple violin and cello backs and sides for a very long time without much complaint.

- Glenn

Originally Posted by TBman

I wonder what markets Taylor did this "research" in and how the selection process of the participants for the research was performed.

Basing a guitar purchase on "the color" is something I would think a non-player who is a guitar playing wannabe would do for their first guitar.

Then again, a blue guitar would never be high on my list of "guitars to get"

Interesting issue.

Thanks for the comments. And yes, maple is going to be the tonewood of the future. And now having played a re-voiced 614, I know this is a killer guitar and put side by side with others, regardless of tonewoods, will come out on top. The sound of the new 614ce is truly amazing. Really....

... And if 90% of a sale is marketing, just as Taylor has marketed "striped ebony" (which looks very cool on my 814) I believe that that ebony look will become the more desirable for new guitars (especially as rosewood becomes more scarce) and Tayor has the power to market maple as the "DESIRED TONEWOOD" and leave the color as they have been to distinguish itself from all the others.

And yeah... Violins costing 10's maybe 100's of thousands of dollars have all been made with maple back and sides for centuries.

I have an unstained maple Guild and a stained maple Waterloo. Both are beautiful. Maple is an awesome tonewood.

==

[jalbert]

There's another reason. Quoting the Winter 2015 edition of Wood & Steel, p. 22 (emphasis added):

The stain’s color, Brown Sugar, not only beautifully highlights the fiddle- back figure with a deep, vintage flair, it also evens out the subtle variations in hue between the maple sapwood and heartwood. The stain was also used on the rock maple neck. Andy opted not to stain the spruce tops because he liked the dark patina created from the torrefaction process.

The way I read it, it means they can use pieces of maple they otherwise wouldn't be able to use for cosmetic purposes because of color variation.

[Brucebubs]

Taylor have exhausted all their attractive maple stocks and are now re-cycling old packaging crates.
Staining them hides all the old knots and nail holes.