FROM THE TOP ANDY POWERS I TAYLOR GUITARS
INTERVIEWED BY KATIE KAILUS
HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY? Nearly every morning, I start with a morning stretch- ing routine followed by coffee. Of all the cups of coffee I might enjoy during the day, the first one in the morn- ing is my favorite. If there’s an opportunity to go surfing before I head to the shop that day, I’ll have loaded a board the night before so I can be in the ocean at first light. Then, I go out to our factory to get on with the day. Sure. My mom and dad enjoyed music and both played instruments for recreation. My dad was a car- penter by trade and introduced me to woodworking. I started building guitars and ukuleles when I was a little boy because I really liked those instruments. By the time I was a teenager, I was doing repairs for the local music shops, restoring instruments for individual players and building new custom instruments. That was working out pretty well. I studied music and played professionally aside from my lutherie practice. In my late 20s, Bob Taylor approached me about joining up with him and his co-founding partner, Kurt Listug, to help carry Taylor Guitars forward as a guitar manufacturer guided by a guitar maker. CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE BIT ON YOUR BACKGROUND AND HOW YOU FOUND YOURSELF AT TAYLOR GUITARS? INTERESTING. CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR PASSION FOR WOODWORKING. WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR DESIGN PROCESS? I love hearing stories where a person first tries their hand at something and has success, but my experience with guitar wasn’t anything like that. The first attempt at making a guitar exploded into splinters before I could even get the strings tuned up to pitch. After — or maybe because of — that failure, I was forever hooked on trying to do better on my next instru- ment. Influence in the world of design is unbelievably broad as I see it. A person could take creative infer- ences from nearly anything — an experience, a scene, a sound, a sensation — and incorporate those into their work. In counterpoint to that vast field of design fodder is the grounding influence of the makers and musicians who have come before us and the legacy they have left us to study and learn from. IN MAY 2022, YOU WERE NAMED CHIEF GUITAR DESIGNER, AS WELL AS PRESIDENT AND
CEO OF TAYLOR GUITARS. HOW HAS YOUR ROLE AT THE COMPANY CHANGED SINCE? Being a homegrown company, Taylor Guitars tends to be organic in how our work and roles develop. For me, the transition from guitar designer to chief guitar designer, president and CEO was a gradual one. The scope simply grew, and I gained more responsibilities as time went by and had opportunities to work more directly in the other areas of our business. I’ll admit it’s a challenge, but I’m fortunate to work with a great team of folks who are experts in their own fields. WELL, CONGRATS ON REACHING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR. WHAT DOES TAYLOR GUITARS’ 50TH MEAN TO YOU? Thank you. A 50th anniversary is certainly a reason to celebrate, and in this case, we as a company are fortu- nate to have our founders still here with us. It’s a time to rally around the company they started and nurtured. I’m proud to be included in part of that story’s past, and at the same time, we’re gearing up toward a future of 50 more years and beyond. This is an exciting moment for us as a company. SPEAKING OF THE FOUNDERS, WHAT’S SOME OF THE BEST ADVICE BOB AND KURT HAVE GIVEN YOU OVER THE YEARS? In my opinion, what makes for good advice isn’t nec- essarily a profound quote, but practical guidance that serves to guide daily decisions however big or small. With that in mind, I’m fortunate to have learned a lot from Kurt and Bob’s experiences and to hear them sum- marized into actionable pieces of advice. For example, we often say, ‘In 10 years, we’ll be glad we did this.’ That’s a wonderful thought because it divides between what you know you should be doing to improve the future from the things you know won’t matter much. ‘Invest in the inevitable’ is another similar idea, as it encourages us to look down the road to those things you can count on and build a plan around those to guide through the volatility of the moment. WHEN LOOKING DOWN THAT ROAD, WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO SEE TAYLOR GUITARS GO IN THE NEXT 10 — OR 50 — YEARS? We know from history that music and the ways musi- cians use their instruments will continue to evolve organ- ically. As we look ahead, we want to continue building
32 I MUSIC INC. I JUNE 2024
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