Raymond
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2014
- Messages
- 370
Yes, in many ways, and yet not so much in others. I've seen a lot of Bob's videos, and of course I still get Wood and Steel, though I haven't bought a Taylor in a while, but I do read it.
Bob seems obsessed with his processes; not just with getting every last ounce out of his materials, but with his machinery, his business activities, his automation, and so on. He's the Henry Ford of acoustic guitar making. Bob asks, "How can we make our nice guitars faster with less waste?"
Bob rarely talks about tone any more, or writes about it.
I'm sure Paul knows all that process stuff, and uses the best of it, but his interests seem to be directed more to sound, tone, etc. When he gives a talk, it's about how his woods, his processes, and so on make the guitar sound better; Paul asks, "How can we make our guitars better guitars?"
Example:
When Bob talks finishes, he talks about how his electrostatically applied UV finishes cure quickly and make the process of building faster (though lately he also talks about the environment in connection with this).
When Paul talks about his finishes, he talks about their affect on the tone of the guitar. Period.
On Friday I had to stop into GC to pick up a Sennheiser 421 mic for a project. My regular sales guy was on the phone with a customer, and I wanted him to have the sale, so I meandered into the acoustic guitar room.
They had several high end Martins, Taylors and Gibsons in there (it's a Platinum GC), and while they mostly sounded very good -- both my former production PRS Tonare Grand and my current PS one are very clearly superior instruments for my purposes. Really, heads and shoulders better for me.
I was a bit surprised by the Martins, as I think they've caught up to the Taylors for playability, and they sounded great; I think I preferred them to the Taylors. The Gibsons were also surprisingly good - for a while they sounded a bit dodgy as far as I was concerned, but I heard improvement up and down the line.
Still, none held a candle to my PRS. Not even close.
And that, I think, typifies the difference between Paul and Bob. Bob's pretty happy with where he's at. Paul's constantly outdoing himself.
I never thought of it that way, the bit about concentrated more on the process than the tone aspect. But now that you mention it, you do have a point.
But.....the transition to Andy Powers is starting to change things a bit. Bob gave Andy control of the flagship 800 series last year and he has made the most significant changes to it since it started, with a new bracing and even thinner finish which is done for projection and tone.