Before Taylor purchased a Fadal vertical mill with Mastercam software, the company's 28 employees were turning out 8 to 10 guitars a day. Today, 400 employees, with the help of 9 CNC routers are making 200 instruments a day. “Our introduction to CNC production 11 years ago created an entirely new method of thought - a vision - not of cost savings or increased production, but of opening our thinking to almost unlimited possibilities in the design and quality of our instruments.
"It seems like production increased every time we used CNC to improve quality," Taylor recalls, "but, more importantly, we were - and are - able to design features and entire instruments that would have been impossible before."
While other guitar manufacturers have taken advantage of CNC, none has expanded its use into the basic mechanics of historic guitar design as Taylor has done in its new neck system. Taylor says the neck-to-body fit is only made possible because of the close tolerances made possible by his company's use of software and CNC machinery. The new design eliminates tension and stress from the assembly bolts because they draw together perfectly matched parts. |