Taylor Guitars

Bob Taylor, aged 18 in 1972, began working at a guitar-making shop owned by Sam Radding called American Dream, where Kurt Listug was employed. Radding sold the business in 1974 and Taylor, Listug, and a third employee, Steve Schemmer, bought American Dream and renamed it the Westland Music Company.

Needing a compact logo for the guitars' headstock, they changed the name to Taylor, which they thought sounded more American than Listug. Kurt Listug said, "Bob was the real guitar-maker." Listug became the partnership's businessman and Taylor handled design and production. They began selling their guitars through retailers in 1976. In 1981, facing financial difficulties, Taylor Guitars took out a bank loan to purchase equipment.

By 2012, Taylor Guitars had more than 700 employees in two factories; in El Cajon, California, and in Tecate, Mexico, where lower-priced models and guitar cases were made. In early 2011, the company opened a Taylor distribution warehouse in the Netherlands to serve the European market. In January 2014, the U.S. State Department honored Taylor Guitars with an Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE), citing the company's commitment to responsible practices in obtaining ebony for its instruments, which included purchasing a sustainable ebony mill and increasing its output of usable timber from 10% to 100%.

On January 1, 2021, the company became fully employee-owned. In May 2022, Andy Powers was made CEO, President, and Chief Guitar Designer of the company.

Taylor's 145,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is located in El Cajon, California, about 20 miles east of downtown San Diego. A free guided tour of the Taylor Guitars factory is open to the public at 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday except some holidays. Premier Guitars published a four-part tour of the Taylor Factory, narrated by Bob Taylor, in 2008.