YouTuber Phillip McKnight toured Taylor Guitars in Southern California after touring an Indonesian factory that is the largest manufacturer of guitars in the world. McKnight says he was surprised how Taylor, with its two factories in California and Mexico, combines automation, handwork, employee ownership, and even manufacturing parts for non-musical instrument products.
He talks in depth with people at Taylor about how they make guitars, what they choose to do by hand and what they automate and why. He explores there attention to quality and use of sustainable materials. He explains the differences between what the company does in its San Diego area factory as compared to what it produces in its factory across the border in Mexico.
One of the things that particularly surprised McKnight was that Taylor makes products for other companies, some of which could be considered competitors and others that aren’t even in the musical instrument industry. For example, Taylor makes guitar cases for Collin, another quality guitar manufacturer. Taylor also makes ebony knife scales that are used in the handles of the classic Buck 110 folding knife…