TAYLOR BUILDER'S EDITION 324CE

review
TAYLOR BUILDER’S EDITION 324CE
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GUITARIST AUGUST 2020
O
ne of the greatest obstacles a
guitar company – or individual
luthier, for that matter – has to
face is to convince the eyes, ears, hearts
and minds of its customer base that a new
and ecologically sound wood the company
is beginning to use is a good idea. After
all, steel-string acoustic manufacture has
been convincing us for generations that
the tried-and-true timbers such as spruce,
rosewood and mahogany are the tonal
royal family and prospective usurpers are
often treated with either complete disdain
or a polite, “I’d rather not, thanks.”
Traditional acoustic guitar woods have
been in use for approximately 100 years,
since Martin began its pioneering work
with steel-strung instruments during
the early part of the 20th century. The
‘good vibrations’ of spruce, rosewood
and mahogany can be heard ringing out
for as long as music has been recorded
– and some of us look back with a
glowing nostalgia at the works of Joni
Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash and their
contemporaries whose timeless music
was almost exclusively underpinned by
Martin D-28s.
What You Need To Know
What’s ‘Urban Ash’ all about, then?
Also known as ‘Shamel ash’ or
‘evergreen ash’, the trees are found
in cities across Southern California,
providing shade, windbreaks, wildlife
habitats and so on. After 70 years or
so they reach the end of their cycle
and need to be removed. Taylor’s
master designer Andy Powers
experimented with various urban
species and found that Shamel ash,
“in almost every physical way I can
measure it, is reminiscent of really
good Honduran mahogany”.
That’s a big claim…
And it wasn’t made lightly. There
are many species that have reached
the end of their lives as part of the
“green infrastructure” of California’s
cities, and Andy Powers was invited
to test a few. After several prototypes,
he settled on Urban Ash to lead the
charge of Taylor’s latest initiative.
So, this is just a part of what Taylor
is doing for the environment?
Yes. You might have heard of Taylor’s
Ebony Project that dates back to 2011
when the company became co-owner
of a sawmill in Cameroon to ensure
the wood’s sustainability. Taylor has
initiated a replanting programme
to guarantee the least possible
impact on resources. The Urban Ash
programme is another step in the
company’s drive to go green.
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TAYLOR BUILDER’S EDITION 324CE £3,239
CONTACT Taylor Guitars PHONE [phone] WEB www.taylorguitars.com
The fretboard is
made using West
African ebony
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT461.rev_taylor.indd 80 10/06/2020 12:19