Bob Taylor, co-founder of Taylor Guitars in El Cajon, Calif., shows the beautiful grain pattern of walnut from Central California. The wood will be milled and shaped into the sides of acoustic guitars.(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Partially completed guitar bodies are organized according to wood type at the Taylor Guitars factory in El Cajon, Calif. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Taylor Guitars craftsman Matt Chapman gives a final look at the dozens of spring clamps on the glued pieces of the cocobolo wood body for a Presentation Series acoustic guitar. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
A craftsman sands a guitar body at the Taylor Guitars factory. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
A machine operator watches an automated sprayer inside a sealed glass chamber apply the finish to a guitar body. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
The steel strings are attached to an acoustic guitar at the Taylor Guitars factory in El Cajon, Calif. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Dustin Fant does the final inspection on an acoustic-electric guitar at the Taylor Guitars factory. Fant plays every guitar before it is shipped to the customer. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Bob Taylor, co-founder of Taylor Guitars, plays one of his classic accoustic guitars in the showroom at the Taylor Guitars factory. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Joyce Jones of San Diego reaches for a Taylor baritone 8-string guitar to try out at the Taylor Guitars headquarters in El Cajon, Calif. She’s an amateur guitarist who owns two Taylors already. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
A Robert Taylor-signed label is inside the body of a custom TF model guitar from Taylor Guitars. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
