You're likely to hear these terms used when the subject of Taylor bracing pops up. Scooped, or "scalloped" bracing, has become fairly standard on steel-string acoustics, with different types of scalloping used for different purposes. Scalloping is a critical technique for producing a brace that offers enough structural strength to support the top or back, while refraining from being excessively bulky.

"Revoicing" refers to the re-shaping and re-positioning of braces, in order to alter or enhance the sound of a guitar. For instance, if we were looking to achieve a more "bell-like" tone, we might shave wood off a particular brace. Flexibility in the top is key in creating a guitar's tone, and too much wood can make a soundboard too rigid, so by doing this, we would be striving for a delicate compromise between preserving the bracing's stabilizing capacity and reducing unnecessary heft.

"X" bracing provides a continuous flow of strength from the upper bout to the lower bout, thus adding rigidity in spite of the soundhole's location in the middle of the soundboard. If we were to shift the X "forward", towards the soundhole, we would gain some additional vibrating "real estate".

In 2004, we revoiced our Grand Concerts (500 Series and up), using these techniques, among others, thus completing the first stage in a program intended to strengthen and further differentiate the individual voice of each guitar we build. The first GCs to have their braces reshaped and repositioned were the 30th Anniversary Limited Editions.

The Grand Concert has always been an ideal guitar for fingerstyle and recording because of its small size, and scalloped bracing designed to produce the "Taylor tone" without any excess "boominess". The revoiced Grand Concerts have a new, deeper resonance, but retain the projection and "sparkle" of their predecessors.

For several years, Taylor has been using CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machines to precision-carve our bracing. However, there are no computer programs used in the design process. Bracing design is an old-fashioned process of trial and error: we build a guitar, we play it, we listen, and if it doesn't sound the way we want it to — the way Bob Taylor wants it to — it's back to the drawing board.