Why does the cutaway for your 200 Series and nylon-string Grand Concert models have the “soft” contour rather than the Venetian-style curve featured on most Taylor cutaway models?

Bob, why does the cutaway for your 200 Series and nylon-string Grand Concert models have the “soft” contour rather than the Venetian-style curve featured on most Taylor cutaway models? I have to think there’s some reason other than just aesthetic preference. 

 

– Tanya Dixon in Tucson, Arizona

 

 

Yes, Tanya, there is a very mechanical reason. The guitars made in Tecate are made with layered sides: three very thin layers of wood glued together under high pressure. If the cutaway has a negative bend, we cannot get the wood out of the mold. The press mold is a female part with a male part pressing straight down into it. So all the curves must face up. The Venetian style cutaways are made with solid wood that is bent, not pressed and glued. There are three separate and elaborate bending tools for that process. The wood progresses from one to another and then to the final one in order to be fully bent. This also allows a more complex contour that doesn’t become stuck in the mold. The layered sides cannot be glued progressively. It all has to happen in one action.

 

W&S 2022 Issue 2