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Last year, Taylor Guitars capped its 50th Anniversary by introducing a new guitar collection celebrating the contributions of co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug to the guitar world. The Legacy Collection revives five of Bob Taylor’s classic acoustic models, curated by the legendary luthier and innovator himself. “To imagine that we’re doing guitars that harken to our past, our present and our future all at the same time,” Bob says, “I really like that.”
In developing the collection, Bob preserved the essence of his originals while integrating performance and playability upgrades introduced during his tenure as designer-in-chief. “It’s an up-to-date version of what those guitars would be,” Bob explains, “but with the same sound.”
Visually, these guitars feel classic—clean, understated and unmistakably Taylor. While Bob’s original aesthetic preferences are showcased in his Legacy models, the nod to the past runs deeper than trade dress.
From his earliest builds, Bob favored slim-profile necks because he found them easier to play. That preference set a design precedent that established Taylor’s reputation for smooth-playing, comfortable necks. Legacy models feature slim mahogany necks built with Taylor's patented New Technology (NT) design. “My first neck was a bolted-on neck but not an NT neck,” Bob says. “These are NT necks because it’s a better neck.” Introduced in 1999, the NT neck allowed for unprecedented micro-adjustability while offering a consistent, hand-friendly Taylor playing experience.
What makes this collection unique within the Taylor line is Bob’s use of his X-bracing architecture, favoring his time-tested internal voicing framework over more recent Taylor bracing innovations to evoke a distinctive tone profile. Since Andy Powers—Taylor’s current Chief Guitar Designer, President and CEO—debuted his patented V-Class bracing in 2018, V-Class has become a staple in Taylor’s premium-performance guitars. Still, Bob’s X-bracing pattern produces a richly textured sound with pleasing volume, balance and clarity that long defined the Taylor voice. All Legacy models feature LR Baggs VTC Element electronics, which Bob says “harkens back to those days.”
The team at Taylor thought the best way to demonstrate the sound of the Legacy guitars was to ask Andy Powers, Bob’s successor, to play them. A world-class luthier and musician, Andy has spent the past 14 years leading Taylor’s guitar innovation. In addition to V-Class bracing, his contributions include the Grand Pacific body style, the ultra-refined Builder’s Edition Collection, and most recently, the stunning Gold Label Collection.
Below you’ll find a series of videos that feature Powers playing each Legacy model along with information about the guitars.
Legacy 800 Series Models
First launched in 1975, the 800 Series was Taylor’s first official guitar series. Today, it remains home to some of the brand’s most acclaimed instruments, including the flagship 814ce, Builder’s Edition 814ce and new Gold Label 814e.
The Legacy 800 Series features the 810e Dreadnought and two Jumbos: the 6-string 815e and 12-string 855e. Each model serves up a refined version of the Dreadnought and Jumbo body shapes Bob inherited from Sam Radding—the original owner of the American Dream music shop where Bob and Kurt first met. “I was making my guitars in the molds that Sam had made at American Dream,” Bob recalls. “There was a Jumbo and a Dreadnought. That’s all we had.”
All three Legacy 800 Series guitars feature one of Bob’s favorite tonewood combos. Solid Indian rosewood back and sides are paired with a Sitka spruce top, yielding warm lows, clear trebles and a scooped midrange.
Aesthetic appointments include a three-ring abalone rosette, mother-of-pearl Large Diamond inlays, white binding around the body and fretboard, and Bob’s “straight-ear” peghead design. Both Jumbo models also showcase a mustache-style ebony bridge—a nod to Bob’s early Jumbo builds.
Legacy 810e
The 810 Dreadnought holds a special place in Bob Taylor’s heart. “My first 810, the one I made for myself, was a thrilling guitar for me to make,” he says. “It’s the one and only guitar I played. It didn’t matter how many guitars we made at Taylor, that’s the one I took out and played.” The Legacy 810e brings back that bold, room-filling Dreadnought voice along with the easy playability expected from a Taylor.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 810e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 855e
Taylor’s first 12-strings found an audience in 1970s Los Angeles. “I was making guitars that would find their way to McCabe’s in Santa Monica and Westwood Music,” Bob says, “and these guitars were easy to play. Twelve-strings were a popular sound in that music. It was a modern country/folk/rock music genre that was accepting our guitars because they were easy to play. They also liked the sound of them because our guitars were easier to record.” The Legacy 855e, with its resonant Jumbo body, slim neck and gorgeous octave sparkle, carries that tradition forward.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 855e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 815e
The Legacy 815e revives Taylor’s original Jumbo 6-string, delivering a big, lush sound with beautifully blooming overtones.
Legacy Grand Auditoriums
In the early 1990s, Bob Taylor heard a consistent refrain from dealers: “Not everybody wants a dreadnought guitar anymore.” Players were asking for something with comparable volume but different proportions—something more comfortable, yet still powerful. This feedback inspired Bob to design a new body style with more elegant curves, more accommodating proportions and a balanced tonal response. The result was the Grand Auditorium, which Taylor introduced in 1994 to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Thanks to its musical versatility and easy playability, Bob’s Grand Auditorium attracted a wide variety of players. “We came into our own with our Grand Auditorium,” he says. “People were describing it as ‘all around.’ It’s a good strummer and good for fingerstyle, but it’s not totally geared toward strumming or totally geared toward fingerstyle.” Also referred to as the “Swiss-Army Knife” of guitars or the “Goldilocks” guitar, the GA quickly became a favorite among guitarists across playing styles, musical genres and different playing applications including recording and live performance. “That guitar made studio work successful,” Bob says. It gained a wider fanbase with the debut of the “ce” version, which introduced a Venetian cutaway and onboard electronics. “That became one of our hallmarks,” says Bob. “If you want to plug in your guitar, buy a Taylor.”
Today, the Grand Auditorium is Taylor’s best-selling body shape.
The Legacy Collection features two cedar-top Grand Auditoriums inspired by past favorites: the mahogany/cedar 514ce and rosewood/cedar 714ce. Both models incorporate Bob’s original X-bracing pattern for a tonal character reminiscent of their 1990s and 2000s counterparts. Shared aesthetic details include a green abalone three-ring rosette, ebony bridge pins with green abalone dots, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard and Taylor gold tuning machines.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 815e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 514ce
The Legacy 514ce features solid mahogany back and sides paired with a Western Red cedar top, yielding a punchy midrange and dry, woody sonic personality that pairs beautifully with cedar’s soft-touch sensitivity and warmth. It’s a standout choice for fingerstyle players and light strummers who crave nuance and depth. Distinct visual details include faux-tortoise body and fretboard binding, black-and-white top trim, and mother-of-pearl small diamond fretboard inlays.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 514ce | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 714ce
The Legacy 714ce also features a cedar top, this time matched with solid Indian rosewood back and sides. The result is a richly textured sound with deep lows, clear trebles and a warm, mellow response. Inspiring as it is, this specific wood pairing isn’t currently offered in any other standard Taylor model. Additional aesthetic details include green abalone dot fretboard inlays, black body and fretboard binding, and black-and-white “pinstripe” body purfling.
While the Legacy Collection spotlights Taylor’s past, newer models from the Gold Label, Builder’s Edition and Somos Collections show the company’s legacy is always evolving. Explore the Legacy Collection at taylorguitars.com or visit your local authorized Taylor dealer.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 714ce | Playthrough Demo
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The 1929 Gibson L-5 Andy Fairweather Low plays on Invisible Bluesman was a gift from Eric Clapton and was previously owned by J.J. Cale.
Forget about tangents, dovetails, and hairpin turns when conversing with Fairweather Low. They come with the territory. “My dad liked Lonnie Donegan,” he recalls of the British skiffle king, “and he brought ‘Putting on the Style’ into the house, and ‘Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor’ and ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman,’ which he was. ‘Rock Island Line’ was Lonnie’s only hit in America. I got to play with him later on, with Van Morrison. I also got to play with the Chieftains and Van, and I toured with [English jazz bandleader] Chris Barber. We played on Jools Holland’s show. That was an honor. Georgie Fame was in Van’s band when I was, and I’ve been in the Blue Flames [Fame’s group], and Georgie’s been on two of my albums. He covered ‘Wide-Eyed and Legless,’” a 1975 hit for Fairweather Low.
Despite that patter, he’s not a name-dropper; he’s just talking about his life. A life that has included teen-idol status fronting Amen Corner, the subsequent band Fair Weather and solo albums, inactivity, and then a second career as elite sideman and session guitarist with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bill Wyman, David Crosby, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Dave Edmunds, Richard Thompson, the Who, Joe Satriani, Kate Bush, the Gaddabouts (with Steve Gadd, Edie Brickell, and Pino Palladino), Kevin Brown, B.B. King, Ringo Starr, Tom Jones, Bonnie Raitt, Mick Fleetwood, John Mayall, Procol Harum, and the inevitable “others.” His songs have been covered by Elton John, Thelma Houston, Joe Cocker, Richie Havens, and Three Dog Night. He even jammed, albeit clumsily, with Jimi Hendrix and later provided background vocals on Hendrix’s remake of “Stone Free.”
SoundStream
These days his band, the Low Riders, is Andy’s main priority. Previously, he has named Donegan, Harrison, Keith Richards, Hank Marvin, Ry Cooder, Albert King, Leon Redbone, Jimmie Vaughan, Blind Blake, and Rev. Gary Davis as favorite 6-stringers. In the following interview, he reveals his biggest 6-string influence, and exposes himself as an unrepentant guitar junkie.
You cut a number one blues album.
Two years ago I did an album, Flang Dang, where I played everything except the drums, and that to me was my full stop. I took a third of my pension out to make that album. Got no result whatsoever, so I figured I’m just going to enjoy playing live. Then Malcolm Mills, the head of Last Music Company, said, “People don’t know enough about your blues playing. We should do an album and call it The Invisible Bluesman.” On “My Baby Left Me,” obviously there’s a big tip of the hat to Robert Johnson—sort of “Kind Hearted Woman.” This is the strangest feeling. I’ve been sort of throwing about in the water, playing these songs for 20 years. All of a sudden I’m number one.
What is the old Gibson on the cover?
That is J.J. Cale’s guitar [a 1929 L-5] that he gave to Eric. I’m doing the B.B. King pose, from the old picture with his foot on a stool. I asked Eric if I could borrow that guitar, and he said, “Of course you can.” I loved J.J.’s Shelter records in the ’70s. Such an exciting time. He was in a box all his own.
Fairweather Low patched this guitar with gaffer’s tape when it fell before a gig, then he got it repaired. While it no longer has a crack, he applied the tape again after he discovered it makes the instrument sound darker.
Andy Fairweather Low’s Gear
Guitars
- 1929 Gibson L-5 (borrowed from Eric Clapton; previously owned by J.J. Cale)
- Knight Arena
- Three Eric Clapton Signature Strats with custom pickup arrays
- Black Strat w/one humbucker (rear)
- Knight Arena single-cutaway
- Supro Ozark with a lap-steel pickup
- Teisco Spectrum 5
- Vox Phantom w/gold-foil pickups (neck and middle) and a P-90 (bridge)
- Red Strat w/three humbuckers and parts from an
- Two Airline Res-O-Glas models
- Silverstone electric w/three pickups
- Guild S-200
- Danelectro bass
- Danelectro baritone
- Gibson Chet Atkins CE
- Ramirez classical
- Black Gibson L-5
- Martin Eric Clapton Signature Model OOO
Amps
- Cornell
- 2x10 cab w/Jensen speakers
Strings
- Flat wounds
How did you decide which guitar you were going to play on which song?
On “Bright Lights, Big City” and “Gin House Blues,” I have to play the Strat with the humbucker. I’ve got a white one and a black one. On “So Glad You’re Mine,” another Big Boy Crudup song that Elvis did, I played a Knight Arena guitar. It’s made by a father and son, Gordon and Robert Wells, and it’s fabulous. When I play “Gin House,” its wire-wound strings on the Strat, but everything else is flat-wounds.
You were 15 when you saw the Rolling Stones in Cardiff.
February 28, 1964. Bill Wyman’s coffee table book has the dates and set lists. It wasn’t like a great big hand came down or finger pointing in any direction. It just seeped through the air, like a virus, and all of a sudden I wanted to play guitar. Their version of “Route 66” was the first guitar solo I learned note for note.
Did you go specifically to see them?
They were just on the bill. Also on the bill was Jet Harris, who was with Shadows’ bassist. Mike Sarne and Billie Davis were top of the bill, and there was Bern Elliott & the Fenmen. The Stones started with “I’m Talking About You.” It never leaves you. The first time I saw the Who play, in 1965, or the Stones again, in ’66, playing with Inez and Charlie Foxx… those moments. I saw Sam & Dave, Arthur Conley, Eddie Floyd, and Otis Redding at Finsbury Park, on the [1967] Stax tour. People like Booker T. & the MG’s were so far away. Come to think of it, they’re still that far away. I talk a lot about early guitarists, and in truth it’s got to be Steve Cropper. He’s got the biggest depth in what I do. “Don’t Mess With Cupid,” “Ninety-Nine and a Half,” “Soul Dressing,” “Bootleg”—there’s loads of them. And definitely his rhythm playing on the Wilson Pickett version of “Don’t Fight It.” He was perfect.
What was the Amen Corner tour like with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Move, Pink Floyd, and the Nice?
Onstage, I say, “I played with Jimi Hendrix”—and I did. Then I follow it with, “I played very badly with him.” He sidled over to me at 3 in the morning and told me, “You’re in the wrong key.”
“Jimi, I don’t have a clue what key you’re in.”
This was 1967. He wanted to play with Amen Corner, doing “I Can’t Turn You Loose.” We were just a very young soul band at the time. So he borrowed Clive Taylor’s bass, flipped it over, and I sang it.
A couple of months later, we had a residency at a club, and he decided he wanted to get up and play guitar. He took Neil Jones’ guitar, and [hums muted opening to “Voodoo Child”]. I knew Clive wasn’t going to be able to play, so I played bass. I moved around the neck a lot, figuring at some point I’m going to hit the appropriate key. Don’t write in telling me it’s in E; I know that—or Eb if it was on Jimi’s guitar.
Fairweather Low has his Vox Phantom rigged with two gold-foil pickups and a P-90.
U.K. charts were different from American charts. Amen Corner’s “Gin House” was No. 3 in 1967, and “Albatross” by Fleetwood Mac was No. 1 in 1968.
It was pretty wide and varied. When we did the 1967 Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival, it was the first time Fleetwood Mac played. At one point, we were the highest paid act. We got rumors of this band Fleetwood Mac getting paid nearly as much as us. We thought, “That can’t be happening. They’re not on the charts.” But “Albatross”—what a record! I got to play that at the Peter Green memorial show at the Palladium, with David Gilmour on steel. Rick Vito was fabulous. He was definitely the most valuable player in that whole setup. I told [producer] Glyn Johns, “You’ve got to get him.” If anybody needed to be anybody who wasn’t there, he was it.
Glyn Johns produced the Joe Satriani album you’re on.
The big connection is Glyn. That was an interesting time. When Joe was interviewed, the first question they asked was, “Why Andy Fairweather Low?” Which is the first thing I’d ask. I can’t think as fast as he can play. But I had a few tonal things. His demos were so good, like “Luminous Flesh Giants.” He was very gracious to me. Joe had previously produced everything he’d done, and wasn’t used to this setup. Every day he’d make a beeline for me and show me what to play. “Use this finger, don’t use that finger.” By the time we got to 7 p.m., I had a headache. Then Glyn would say, “Joe, the reason these boys are here . . . why don’t you just let them play?” Then we’d play, and we’d get the track. The next day it was the same thing. I think Joe was struggling with letting go of the reins, allowing himself to go down this road. I’m glad. I had a great time.
I played a Supro Ozark with a lap steel pickup on one track. I sold it and a couple of other guitars. I was going to sell a bunch of them. When the guy came back and kept offering more for my black L-5, I went, “I’m done.” Not selling any more. I didn’t realize the attachment that I would have for those things.
You’ve got some oddball guitars.
Because I saw video of Ry Cooder at Sweetwater, playing a Teisco Spectrum 5, I eventually got one. He makes it sound like a bloody piano! The thing about Ry Cooder—whether it’s Gabby Pahinui, the Buena Vista Social Club, or that Jazz album—whatever you think of him, it’s the tip of the iceberg. You’re not even getting one-eighth of what’s below. On the Mambo Sinuendo album, with Cuban guitarist Manuel Galbán, there’s a version of “Secret Love.” The tone on his guitar!
There was a benefit concert for a fabulous guy called Fred Walecki, who had Westwood Music in L.A., and I was onstage with Ry. Definitely other side of the stage, because there are a few guitarists who don’t need another guitar player. Ry is one, Jeff Beck’s another one, and Pete Townshend is. I found out when I played with the Who. Pete wasn’t there because he was cleaning out in America. For three weeks with Kenney, John, and Roger, I sort of filled in, just to be a guitar player in the room. Then Pete came back, and we went through the first day of playing together. What anyone will realize is that when Pete plays an A chord, there’s nobody in the world that can make it any bigger. There was no point in playing when he was playing. I went into the control room and told him, “I think I’ll go off and play some tennis.” I did his Psychoderelict tour in 1993. Tricky, but fond memories of that.“I played with Jimi Hendrix. I played very badly with him.”
What’s going on with the Vox Phantom with gold-foil pickups?
I was doing this concert in Santa Monica for Fred Walecki, who had throat cancer. Ry had a guitar with those pickups, and said he got them from Fred. The next day I went to Fred, who only had two: $15 each. They’re now in the neck and middle on that Vox, and there’s a P-90 in the bridge position. I play “Pipeline” on it, for that ’60s tone.
I got an Airline, known as the J.B. Hutto model, for $750. But I struggled to make it work, intonation-wise. Gordon and Robert [Wells], who made my Knight guitar, took all the electronics out of that and put them into a pink Strat, with all the knobs. But I’m a one-tone man. Everything up, one position, leave it. On the J.J. Cale song “Can’t Let You Do It” from Eric’s I Still Do album, I’m playing that Strat with the Airline parts.
Much to his surprise, Fairweather Low’s new album hit the top of the U.K. blues and jazz chart, despite being a low-key, off-the-cuff affair in the studio.
In terms of session work, did you ever get thrown any curve balls?
Two times. I was doing something with Glyn at Olympic Studios, and in the other studio was Georgie Fame with a big band. He said, “Why don’t you come in and do the session?” It was, “Alright, fellas, letter B four bars in….” All I did was look at the other guitar player, Bernie Allen, and watch what he did. I realized I was way out of my depth. I got through it, but only because I watched him.
The next time, working with Glyn again, it was with Linda Ronstadt. We finished the album on Friday, and she was going in on Monday with George Massenburg to do something with Aaron Neville. She asked if I’d stick around and do something. I said, “Yeah, let me see what you’re going to do.” The first song I could get my head around, “Please Remember Me”—only playing rhythm. The second one was a Jimmy Webb song, where no chord was ever any chord that I had any idea existed. If it was a D, it had an F#; if it was C, it had an E. I spent the whole weekend trying to make my sense of these chords. We get into the studio, and I’m in the booth strumming away on “Please Remember Me.” Then I’m wondering what we’re going to do now. Before I could raise my hand and say, “I’ve got to tell you, I can’t do this,” they said, “You know what? We’re not going to do that song.” [laughs] But I was right on the edge, in front of everybody, gonna have to go, “It’s too much for me.”
“You can be the greatest musician in the world, but if you’re a pain in the ass on the gig, you won’t last.”
How did you end up backing George Harrison, and playing slide?
Roger Forrester, who was Eric’s manager, called and said, “George is going to Japan; Eric’s band is going to back him, and George wants you to do all the intricate slide parts.” “Okay, I’ll think about it.” I put the phone down and realized I don’t play slide. I had met George backstage at a Ry Cooder show; he must have assumed I was into slide playing. Things were not going great financially, and this was a life-changing moment. So I had to make a decision. I either turn up, and they all realize I can’t do it, or I own up now and risk losing the gig.
I asked Roger for George’s number, and I rang him up. I said, “I know this tour’s coming up, and you want me to do the slide parts, but I don’t play slide. I mean, if you tell me what you want me to do, I know the principles and all that, but I can never seem to make it sing.” He said, “I’ve never heard you play, but everybody seems to like you. Why don’t you just come up to the house?” I turn up at Friar Park with my Volkswagen Polo, and he comes out to meet me and looks at my car … because George is a big car guy. He goes, “Do you have to drive that?” [laughs] We got on really well, lots of jokes. Living in the Material World I knew inside and out. My bass playing is based on Klaus Voormann on that album, so melodic. George said, “Let’s do something.” “Material World,” I knew it; I could sing the slide solo. Little did I know I was going to have to learn that thing; plus I had to play “My Sweet Lord.”
“You do the intro.”
“No, George, you’re the slide player.”
So I had to wear this intro that everybody knows, and you better play it right. It’s a bit like the front of “Layla,” which I might have to play as well. We were doing “My Sweet Lord” one night in Japan and I forgot to press the pedal that makes the guitar audible. There was a towel on top of my amp, and I just put it on my head. One of those rock & roll moments.
Andy Fairweather Low is a legend of the British stage and studio, having played with Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, and a host of other 6-string greats.
George’s slide style is so distinctive. But there are videos of that tour, and you nailed his sound really well.
Thank you. At the Concert For George, it was a Friday, and Joe Brown was going to do “That’s the Way It Goes.” Typical of Eric, he said, “Andy’ll do it.” I think the show was on Tuesday or something. I got away with it, but I didn’t sleep. George’s solos, you have to know them before you even play them. It’s as simple as that. In fact, that applies to Robert Johnson or whatever you’re learning. When I’d finished “That’s the Way It Goes,” Eric comes onstage and says, “You’re sweating a bit.” I said, “I am, for goodness sake. You should have done this.”
Didn’t George play slide melodies up and down the length of the string, rather than across?
Which I did. I got to play Rocky [Harrison’s psychedelic painted Strat], the 6-string bass that’s on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and his [Fender] 12-string on Concert For George. Olivia Harrison allowed Rocky to be played on the rehearsals and the concert, but it had to go back to Friar Park every night.
What’s the big archtop you’re playing on Eric Clapton’s Unplugged?
It’s a Super 300 that Alan Rogan lent to me. The Martin I played was Eric’s; best sounding Martin I ever played. The only guitar I owned was the one that’s on “Tears in Heaven”—a Ramirez classical that I still have.
“I played with the Big Town Playboys for about 16 months. We did a tour of Europe, got back from Germany, and they gave me my check. Thirteen pounds [laughs]. It was worth it, man, so exciting.”
Tell me about the Martin you play onstage that’s held together with gaffers tape.
That’s an Eric Signature Model OOO. We were opening up for him in Poland, and it fell out the back of the van, in its case. Got some gaffers tape and taped it back together, and when I played it that night everyone, including me, thought it sounded better. Back in England, I had it fixed, but I didn’t like it. So I put the tape back on. Eric likes a really bright guitar. Mine takes a bit of that top end off, so it’s warmer.
What’s your main amp?
It’s a Cornell based on the Fender Vibro-King. I started off with a Bandmaster, and moved on to the Bassman with four 10s, and then the Vibro-King with three 10s. Bit by bit, no matter how many times you replaced the valves, replaced the speakers, polished the circuits, they just got tired. They never sounded as good as the day you bought it. Denis Cornell came to a gig and said, “Show me what you want.” I turned up the Vibro-King to about 4, which was enough to sound dirty. He said, “Are you serious?” I said, “Yes, I want you to make me an inefficient amp.” Now I’m down to two 10s, which is basically a Tremolux cabinet. “TV Mama” on Lockdown Live [from 2021] starts with that growl. Get it out there. Frighten them!
After years of sideman gigs, you formed the Low Riders.
You can be the greatest musician in the world, but if you’re a pain in the ass on the gig, you won’t last. Everybody in the band gets along really well. It’s a cooperative. The roadie gets exactly the same as me. Because when the gig is over, I’m sitting down having a glass of wine; he’s packing away and driving us somewhere. He’s worth as much as I am.
I played with the Big Town Playboys for about 16 months. Ian Jennings and Mike Sanchez are top players. We did a tour of Europe, got back from Germany, and they gave me my check. Thirteen pounds [laughs]. It was worth it, man, so exciting. I’m proud of being in that band. I did a live double-album with them, Off the Clock.
I’m lucky. And I know it, too. I can’t see this round-peg of me fitting into any hole of anything that’s going on now. I’m glad I had my time when I did. I loved working with those people, but I quit touring because I just needed to play more.
Lloyd Baggs made his first acoustic guitar when he was a fine-art lithographer and soon found himself building instruments for Ry Cooder, Jackson Brown, Janis Ian, and other stars. Today he is an innovator in acoustic guitar pickup design.
If you have made your first few guitars but somehow they didn’t sound like pre-war D-28s, you may have a few questions about why and how to get closer. If you’re brave enough to continue and are committed to bridging the gap from just being able to assemble a guitar to knowing how to build great-sounding instruments predictably and consistently, you’ve just entered The Twilight Zone.
When I started building acoustics in the 1970s, there was no literature on how they work—let alone how to manipulate tone. Luckily, there was a wealth of information on this in violin-making literature. There were discussions about how mass and stiffness interact, top and back tuning, air resonances, standing waves, etc. Pioneers discovered that a top does not move in and out at once like a perfect speaker, but, as the frequencies get higher, it keeps dividing into smaller and smaller vibrating parts, like a bunch of mini speakers. Each of these mini speakers has a place where it’ll be the loudest, called a resonant frequency. (More recently, laser interferometry has been used to reveal or “freeze” body vibration patterns to see how the various resonances in the body behave and at what frequencies.)
Thinking that some science would be a shortcut to becoming a better builder, I crudely adapted some of the violin makers’ tests. My “laser” was a cheap guitar speaker, power amp, and frequency sweeper. Sprinkling some salt or pepper on the top or back of a guitar and playing a loud frequency sweep into the nearby speaker would excite the wood, and the salt would dance around until, at some frequency, it would congeal into a shape to reveal the vibrating patterns of its resonant frequency. It was like having X-ray glasses—to observe the resonances and see the effects of shaving braces, adding or subtracting some mass, thinning the top here or there. Once one could see under the hood, a luthier could then deliberately alter some part, move a brace, or make some other change to alter or move some resonance.
This 1937 Martin D-18 is an example of steel-string perfection for many acoustic guitar aficionados.
“From the loudspeaker standpoint, the guitar is a lousy speaker because not only does the top move, but the back, sides, and neck are moving with every note, too.”
The Glittering Present
Fortunately for aspiring luthiers today, we are living in a golden age. There is a wealth of information available about every aspect of building and more tools to study vibration in apps for our phones than what was available collectively back in the day. There are also a number of individuals who have more deeply studied the physics of the acoustic guitar and have made immense strides to quantify material characteristics and predict acoustic behavior. Bryan Galloup, Giuliano Nicoletti, Andy Powers, Richard Hoover, and Tom Bedell come to mind as builders who have embraced science to enhance predictable outcomes. Giuliano has published an excellent book called Mastering the Sound of the Acoustic Guitar. There are also a number of excellent lutherie schools that use and teach students the scientific methods.
So, on a deeper and eye-watering level, how does the acoustic guitar actually work? If you think of an acoustic guitar like a loudspeaker, the sides and the back are the box, and the top is the speaker. The strings, connected to the top via a saddle and a bridge, are the energy source. The best loudspeaker manufacturers go to extreme lengths to be sure the box is rigid, with minimal vibration, and that only the speaker cone moves. The guitar is a lousy speaker because not only does the top move, but the back, sides, and neck are moving with every note, too. Every piece has multiple resonances that interact with each other. The way these resonances interact is a big factor in how the guitar sounds.
Unlike a typical 3-way speaker, where each individual speaker acts as a perfect piston to cover a range of sound, a guitar top converts energy into sound at all frequencies and only behaves as a pure piston or “good speaker” in the lower frequencies. Above those low frequencies where the top moves in and out as one, called the primary resonance or piston mode, the vibration of the top is chaos orchestrated largely by the position, stiffness, size, and weight of the bracing plus the mass, stiffness, and curvature of the top. About an octave above the primary resonance, roughly half the top will actually be going up while half of the top will be going down simultaneously. Then, moving up still further in frequency, one third of the top may be going up and down while the other two thirds are moving down and up. As the frequencies get higher, smaller and smaller pieces of the top move simultaneously and sometimes in opposition to each other.
It would be helpful to think of the guitar top as a string where only the fundamental moves the entire string as one piece. After that, the string divides into higher and higher frequencies. In a guitar, the top divides into smaller and smaller “mini speakers” as the frequencies get higher. The big difference between a guitar top and a string vibration is that strings divide evenly into resonant modes or harmonics in halves, quarters, eighths, and so on, while the places where the guitar top divides into individual resonances are seemingly random. The places where these resonances occur are often where the string energy will be translated into the loudest acoustic output. Most of the resonances are active at the same time, influencing and interacting with each other and determining what of the strings’ energy pool will be heard. The most important concept to understand is that the available string energy is lost or absorbed by the structure in ways largely determined by the resonances. The way string energy is lost into the structure of the guitar and converted or traded for acoustic energy is largely responsible for why a particular guitar sounds like it does.
“Add to this the wide variations in strength, mass, and tonal characteristics of various woods and how the neck is attached (yes, even the neck has its own resonances), and the acoustic guitar is a crazy complex soup of interacting parts.”
Baggs built this eye-catching acoustic for Ry Cooder, a demanding expert on tone, in 1977. He built another for the artist two years later.`
With his book, Mastering the Sound of the Acoustic Guitar, Giuliano Nicoletti has created a manual for organic lutherie that applies scientific principles to building steel- and nylon-string acoustic guitars.
Aim Low?
For a great-sounding guitar, the first trick is to make the top flexible enough so that its primary resonance is low enough to absorb enough string energy at low frequencies for a rich, warm response, while not exploding under string pressure. And, while you’re at it, to deliberately tune the remaining resonances so they work together in some sort of harmony. If you think of the guitar’s resonances as notes in a chord, a major third will sound warmer and more pleasing than a minor seventh with an augmented ninth. The top bracing in conjunction with the top radius, thickness, mass, and stiffness will determine the frequencies and character of the multiple resonant modes. If you’ve ever heard of a luthier “tuning the top” or “tap tuning,” this is what’s going on here.
Add to this the wide variations in strength, mass, and tonal characteristics of various woods and how the neck is attached (yes, even the neck has its own resonances), and the acoustic guitar is a crazy complex soup of interacting parts. But then, with a little shave here, a slight readjustment of bracing position there, a change in the bridge height, reduction or addition of some mass, some adjustment of top thickness here or there, altering the doming radius of the top or back, and hundreds of other variables, the modes can be adjusted in frequencies so the major resonances will work together in greater harmony and the tone of the guitar will be pleasing. Sounds easy enough, right?
It’s common knowledge that a larger guitar will usually have better low frequencies, but what the heck is the air inside the box and soundhole doing? If you blow sideways across the soundhole, you’ll hear what’s called the pop-bottle or air resonance of the guitar. Air is springy, and as the top vibrates up and down, “plugs” of air are forced in and out of that hole at the air resonance frequency, which then reinforces the lower frequencies. The size of the hole can also influence where this resonance occurs. In practice, the air resonance of a typical guitar is about an octave lower than its top resonance.
L.R. Baggs’ popular Element pickup system is centered on an undersaddle transducer designed to follow the movement of a guitar’s top.
And just what does the back do? Besides enclosing the box and playing along with the top, a major structural purpose of the back is to hold the neck from collapsing into the top. Because of this function, backs tend to be stiffer than tops and resonate at higher frequencies. Of course, the back also has multiple resonances that interact with those of the top. How exactly is still a mystery to me, but for sure the back plays a big role in the sound of the guitar.
One question I hear a lot is, “How does the saddle affect tone?” In the whole scheme of things, not too much, really, but it is important. All materials act as a filter to pass certain frequencies and block others, so the material choice of the saddle will color a guitar’s tone. Bone has generally garnered the most affection as a saddle material as it seems to transmit harmonics well while not being screechy, providing a nice, full-balanced tone. Many have, with moderate success, attempted to duplicate its qualities in synthetic material.
How does all of this influence pickup design? Amplification is just that, and one hopes that what comes out of the speaker faithfully resembles the guitar, but only louder. Going back to the X-ray glasses, an intimate knowledge of how the guitar works has certainly been very helpful to recognize and capitalize on the unobvious modal stuff in the vibration of the instrument to create more faithful pickup systems.
Finally, I get a lot of questions about pickup choice. The best pickup largely depends on what sort of music you play, where you play, and how loud it is. For instance, a studio miked sound would not be appropriate for a loud heavy metal band as the guitar would be lost. What works on a loud electric-guitar-oriented stage would be an unfortunate choice for a singer-songwriter or a bluegrass musician. And while there are lots of great choices nowadays, there is still no such thing as a perfect pickup. Ultimately, you are always going to sound like you.
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Built for the Journey Ahead
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