You can certainly pay a lot for a Taylor guitar - it's important to shop around. It should always be on a web shopper's list to check eBay - not only will you save money on used Taylor guitars, but the prices on new ones can be well below what you find elsewhere, even on the net. Merchants use ebay as a way to sell excess inventory, last year's models, etc.

Using the net to find the exact Taylor guitar you really want can be extremely rewarding - some careful shopping on eBay could net net you the Taylor of your dreams for a fraction of the cost of the same guitar at a local musical instrument retailer. Get a lot more guitar for your money, and there really is very little risk if you check seller feedback ratings along with making sure the seller has a good volume of eBay sales under his belt.

Taylor Guitars is an El Cajon California based luthier, widely regarded as one of the finest and most prestigious makers of acoustic guitars.

In 1973, at age 18, Bob Taylor began working at American Dream, a small guitar-making shop owned by Sam Radding where Kurt Listug was already an employee. In 1974 Sam Radding decided to sell the business. Taylor and Listug became partners along with Steve Schemmer and bought American Dream which they renamed Westland Music Company hoping to conjure the image of a larger company in the minds of the public. Needing a more compact logo suitable for the guitars' headstock, the founders decided to change the name to Taylor as it sounded more American than Listug and because as Kurt Listug put it, "Bob was the real guitar-maker." Listug became the businessman of the partnership for which he was to prove well suited while Bob Taylor concentrated on design and production. Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug expanded their small shop into a major guitar manufacturing company while maintaining creative control and ownership. As of 2006 Taylor Guitars has more than 450 employees. The factory is located in El Cajon, California with worldwide distribution. A second plant has been opened 40 miles away in Mexico where the smallest guitars of the Taylor line, the Baby and Big Baby are made along with the Taylor guitar cases. All other Taylor guitars are made in El Cajon, California.

In 2005, Bob Taylor set up a separate company which is dedicated to making a small number of high quality guitars available via a few select dealers within the US. The R Taylor workshop is located within the main Taylor factory at El Cajon which has enabled Bob to draw upon an extensive supply of top grade wood as well as a highly skilled workforce.

Taylor guitars are made with a patented bolt-on neck; the NT neck (new technology). It differs from other necks, whether bolt-on or glued, by supporting the fretboard all the way to the 19th fret with a continuous piece of wood. The standard practice is to support the fretboard up to the fourteenth fret with the unsupported portion being glued to the constantly moving soundboard. The NT neck fits into a pocket on the top of the guitar body with the desired angle being achieved by small, accurately milled neck spacers (shims). After time, some guitars require the neck angle to be realigned (referred to as a neck reset). This process is greatly simplified by allowing the replacement of different sized neck spacers to return the neck to the required angle. Taylor's proprietary pickup system, the Expression System consists of a patented humbucking induction pickup mounted in the neck and a pair of dynamic soundboard transducers wired to an on board preamplifier designed by Rupert Neve. The first generation system was powered by a pair of AA batteries. Starting in 2007 the electronics use a 9-volt battery.