The Taylor Guitar Book: 40 Years of Great American Flattops

The author of this book, Teia Gerken, is a world class finger style Taylor player. He is passionate about these instruments and it comes through in these pages. This is a detailed history from Bob Taylor’s very first guitar through many of his innovations and production techniques that have produced some of the words finest guitars. If you like Taylor guitars, you will love this book!

Great book. Good story. Lots of pictures of Taylor guitars, especially some of the rarer guitars. The book also includes a series guide and an index of sorts for decoding serial numbers. If you love Taylor, buy this book.

A great book on the history of Taylor Guitars, and filled with lots of fun photos of guitars from the past. A great book for Taylor owners!

My husband loves it

Excellent book if you're looking for a background in Taylor Guitars

Great book about the history of Taylor guitars. I loved that it included a photo of Bob Taylor in the early 1970's. This is just how he looked when I brought in my guitar to American Dream.

As advertised and every bit as good as I has hoped. If you like Taylor guitars, this book is a "Must Have."

Informative book with great photos...

Great book... everything you'd ever what to know about Taylors

A superb book for any owners/fans of Taylor guitars Lots of lovely clear colour photos and a really interesting and informative text! An excellent book on the subject of these lovely instruments Very highly recommended!

This is very well written book. Teja Gerken has produced a concise, informative text which is easy to read. Anyone wanting to find out about the history of Taylor Guitars and the Taylor company should find this book a satisfying read. I am a Taylor guitar owner of over 20 years standing and I admit to being a devotee of the brand. I have previously read Michael John Simmons book, "Taylor Guitars : 30 Years of a New American Classic" ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taylor-Guitars-Years-American-Classic/dp/3932275446/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450697156&sr=1-5&keywords=taylor+30+years ) and Bob Taylor's own book, "Guitar Lessons : A Life's Journey Turning Passion Into Business (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guitar-Lessons-Journey-Turning-Business/dp/0470937874/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450697232&sr=1-1&keywords=bob+taylor ) and Teja Gerken's book does cover a lot of the same ground. However, it is firmly focussed on the guitars and should appeal to all lovers of the acoustic and electro-acoustic guitar. There are issues with this book which are common to many similar books which I have read. The first is the layout. This consists of a regimented format of 2 pages of text, 2 pages of illustrations, followed by 2 pages of text and 2 pages of illustrations .......... you get the idea? It may be that this format is due to production logistics or simple economics, trying to keep the production costs low, I really don't know. It is very irritating, however, to be forced to spend time flipping backwards and forwards to relate text being read to illustrations relevant to said text. It would have been so much better if the format had been 1 page of text and 1 of illustrations or even mixing text and illustrations on the same page. This problem is exacerbated by text and relevant illustrations being several pages apart. This is evident throughout the book. A typical example of this is with regard to the Baby Taylor models. The text about these guitars commences on page 61 but the illustrations of the Baby Taylor models are on pages 50 and 51! The book lacks any information about the Taylor website, customer support (a key element of the Taylor business model), the "Wood & Steel" publication, catalogues, advertisements (some of which won awards) and advertising campaigns so it is not a comprehensive overview of the first 40 years of Taylor guitars. It is a book primarily about the guitars and their development and that is what most guitar enthusiasts will want to read about. The illustrations are excellent - very clear and with good colour definition. The paper quality is also very good. I would recommend this volume to anyone, even with the issues I have outlined. It is available at a reasonable price and it definitely fills a gap in the market. I only found one real error in the book upon first reading and I've already contacted the publishers with regard to this for correction for future editions.

I'm a huge fan of Taylor guitars, and I am deeply interested in their history, so getting this book just made sense. The information is good, the pictures are great, the quality of the book is excellent. My only complaint is about the layout. There tends to be 2 pages of text, followed by 2 pages of photos and descriptions. Most of the time, paragraphs or sections/chapters do not finish at the end of that 2 page spread of text, so you either flip to the next page of pictures and get distracted from the content you were just reading, or you flip again to finish the text and then flip back to the pictures. Maybe keep the text together, with a few photos interspersed, with larger sections/multiple pages of photos at the end of a chapter. Ultimately, if you're a fan like I am, this is a great book. However, with the 50th anniversary quickly approaching, I'd probably hold off on this particular book and wait to see if there's a 50th anniversary edition coming.

In recent years my appetite for anything guitar related has grown and grown! I recently got a Taylor guitar and having read an interesting summary of their origins and design development in a monthly guitar magazine wanted to know more. This is a great read and perfect for any Taylor guitar owner or guitarist interested in instrument history and design. The book is nicely printed and the photographs are many. It is a neat book to pick-up with a coffee when you have five minutes but will also hold attention for longer reads. I have given the book 4 stars (rather than 5) as the photographs (while good) are often on different pages to related text and on occasion, some to and fro work is required. Recommended!