ABALONE: the "pearly" interior shell-lining of the same-named mollusk, frequently used for inlay and other decorative purposes; especially prized is the small "green heart" abalone.

ACTION: the distance of the strings from the playing surface of the fingerboard; thus, "high" action means the strings are raised farther away from the fingerboard, and "low" action means they're closer to the fingerboard; qualitatively, "good action" is a matter of personal preference, but, generally speaking, lower action is easier to play.

ACTIVE PICKUPS: pickups and electronics that use electricity to enhance the direct sound coming out of the pickups.

AMPLIFIER: an electronic device for amplifying voltage, current, or power; a guitar amplifier boosts the signal from a pickup or microphone.

ATTACK: when a single musical note is played on an instrument, it forms a tonal "envelope" with a beginning and an end; the attack is the first portion of a note's envelope, the point at which it starts at relative silence and reaches its maximum volume.

BEAR CLAWS: most visible on light-colored tops, these are small, "swirly" irregularities in the grain pattern, usually a few inches in length and one to two inches in diameter; unless cosmetic uniformity is a critical concern, bear claws are often visually striking and lend the instrument some personality; this anomaly got its name from loggers, who would peel back bark to look for marks reminiscent of those made by a bear sharpening its claws on the tree trunk (this would be the edge-on view of what we see in the guitar top).

BINDING: the frequently decorative strips of plastic, wood, fiber, or other flexible materials used to strengthen the edges of the guitar, where the top and back meet the sides; also "purfling" or "edging".

BOARD FEET: a unit of measure one foot long, one foot wide, and one inch thick (or its equivalent); in surfaced lumber, the board foot is taken from the lumber before surfacing.

BOLT-ON NECK: refers to the use of bolts or screws to secure the joint formed where the neck meets the body, instead of the more traditional dovetail joint and glue; popularized by Fender for electric guitars, and by Taylor for acoustic guitars.

BOOKMATCHING: refers to the matching of two pieces of wood used for the top or back of a guitar; the two pieces are cut from the same billet of wood, then "opened" (as one would a book) to create a mirror-image on either side.

BOUT (PRONOUNCED "BOWT"): the curved portions above (upper bout) and below (lower bout) a guitar's "waist;" from a frontal perspective, the upper bout would be the guitar's "shoulders" and the lower bout would be its "hips".

BOTTLENECK: both a style and a technique; mostly associated with blues guitar, it involves sliding a smooth metal, glass, or plastic bar or tube along the strings to create a "slurred" or "glissando" effect; the term originates from the days when blues musicians would use the broken neck of a bottle for the same purpose.

BRACING: the splayed pattern of supportive wooden struts that strengthen the top and back of a guitar and affect tone; "scalloped" braces are those that have been shaved or carved to lighten the guitar and/or to allow for tone-producing flexibility, especially on the top of the guitar; also "strutting".

BRIDGE: a plate of wood or other material attached to the soundboard of a guitar, below the soundhole; the bridge serves to anchor the strings, and, in conjunction with the saddle, conducts the vibrations or energy from the strings into the soundboard.

BRIDGE PINS: the little spike-like pegs that fit into holes on the bridge of a flat-top acoustic guitar to secure the strings; commonly made of plastic (Taylor uses ebony).

BURL: large, dense, heavy, frequently gnarly outgrowths on trees (e.g. walnut) whose fancy, compressed grain figures, when sliced, make them ideal for exotic wood veneers; commonly used as decorative material on the consoles and dashboards of expensive automobiles; burls frequently are harvested during the process of cutting down dead trees for guitar tonewood.

CAD/CAM: CAD is an acronym for the "computer-aided design" software used in art, architecture, engineering, and manufacturing to assist in precision drawing. CAM stands for computer-assisted manufacturing. At Taylor, both come into play in a big way. We use CAD, and specifically 3D geometry graphic software, to design just about everything we need, including the guitars. All computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) Fadal fixtures, shaper jigs, side benders, body molds, inlay patterns, and every part of the guitar (especially the neck and neck pocket) are drawn in the computer using some type of 3D graphics program.

After the geometry is drawn, CAM toolpath programs are written to actually carve, cut, and shape the parts, using CNC machinery that includes the Fadals, lasers, and NC routers. Even our factory layouts are drawn in the computer. At any given time, seven or eight Taylor specialists are using CAD/CAM technology.

CAPO: a device temporarily clamped to the fretboard to "barre" the strings across any of the lower fret positions, thus creating "open" strings on higher fret positions and enabling the performer to play in different keys. Capos come in all types and configurations (some are adjustable to barre only certain strings). Using one also lowers the action and sometimes affects intonation.

CATALYST: a substance that modifies and increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process; catalysts play a part in the making of our finish material.

CELLULOSE: the main constituent of all plant tissues and fibers, used in the manufacture of many fibrous products, including paper, textiles, and explosives; derivatives of cellulose are used in our finish products.

CENTER STRIP: the vertical seam on the back of the guitar, formed where the two book-matched pieces of wood are glued together; frequently dressed with a decorative material to match or complement the binding.

CITES: stands for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (of Wild Fauna and Flora); this organization, which boasts a membership of 145 countries, bans commercial international trade in an agreed-upon list of endangered species, and regulates and monitors trade in others that might become endangered.

The 1992 CITES treaty prohibited the harvesting and exportation of coveted Brazilian rosewood. Although this coveted tonewood is not indigenous to the Amazon rainforest, the rapid depletion of the species and the lack of a re-forestation program eventually led to a treaty by which Brazil is prohibited from harvesting and exporting its rosewood. The Brazilian rosewood Taylor uses to make guitars is "pre-treaty" wood that has been curing in log form for many years.

CNC: Computer Numerically Controlled milling machines, also known by the brand-name, Fadal, which have a margin of error as low as one ten-thousandth of an inch; they enable us to cut and shape guitar parts, and thus build guitars, with much greater precision than is possible working by hand alone.

COLD CHECKING: the web-like or checkerboard pattern of fine cracks in a guitar's finish, frequently caused by expansion and contraction due to extreme cold (hence the name) or heat.

COMPENSATED SADDLE: A saddle set at a specific angle (and with the B-string slot pre-adjusted) for optimal intonation, as opposed to a "straight" saddle.

COMPOUND DOVETAIL: when describing a certain kind of neck-joint favored by traditional guitar makers (but not by Taylor), "compound" refers to it being dovetailed in two directions simultaneously: the mortise-and-tenon is dovetail-shaped, so it will slide in, and it's wedge-shaped, so that when it slides in it eventually hits bottom; without question, this makes a very strong wood joint; unfortunately, the glue-joint is buried up inside that connection, so removing the neck can be problematic.

COUNTERSINK: to set the head of a screw at or below the surface of a material. We countersink screws into the fingerboard on the Baby Taylor and Big Baby, where the fingerboard extension rests on the top.

CROSS-GRAIN: having the grain or fibers running diagonally, transversely, or irregularly; also knows as "silk", this is a characteristic visible on some spruce tops that gets a lot of misplaced attention; it is not a "flaw".

CUTAWAY: a curved indentation in the upper, treble-side bout, near the neck, which allows access to the upper frets; a "Venetian" cutaway is rounder and smoother (it is the style used on most Taylors with cutaways); a "Florentine" cutaway comes to a sharper point (requiring a miter joint), is more complex and labor-intensive, and is featured only on the Doyle Dykes Signature Model (it also is available as an option on all full-size guitars).

DAMPIT: a tube- or hose-like soundhole humidifier that is suspended inside the guitar's sound chamber, where it can release moisture in discreet amounts to prevent or counteract the effects of drying caused by low relative humidity.

DECAY: the decline in the level of volume or reverberation of the "envelope" of a musical note in which the envelope goes from maximum to some mid-range level; also, the rate of that decline (see "attack").

DOVETAIL: the combination of a flaring tenon and the mortise into which it tightly fits to make an interlocking joint between two pieces (as in wood); dovetail neck-joints are favored by traditional guitar makers, but not by Taylor.

DREADNOUGHT: large-body, thick-waisted acoustic guitar pioneered by Frank H. Martin and Harry Hunt in the early 1900s; today, the term is used generically to describe that body style.

END BLOCK: a piece of hardwood affixed to the inside, tail-end of a guitar, intended to provide structural support and reinforcement where the sides come together, as well as an anchor for the end pin; also "tail block".

END JOINT: the ornamental seam on the tail-end of a guitar where the sides come together; [on Taylor's plastic-bound guitars, we call the end joint (which is a 1/4-inch strip of ebony) a "tail strip;" on our wood-bound guitars, we call it a "V-block" because it is shaped like that letter (it is made of rosewood with two purflings on either side, the same color as the bindings--red, blue, or green, depending on the model)].

END PIN: raised button, usually metal, seated in a hole in the middle of the "butt," or outside tail-end of the guitar, to which a guitar strap can be fastened; if the guitar is outfitted with a pickup, the end pin also can serve as a "jack" (entry hole) for the plug on an electrical cord.

FEEDBACK: the usually annoying a sound produced when a string or microphone picks up and amplifying its own signal from a loudspeaker; because of their nature, some tonewoods used to make acoustic guitars are more prone to this problem than others; the maple used on Taylor's 600 Series is less prone to feeding back, and that makes the 600s ideal for live performance and studio work.

FIGURE: the distinctive pattern produced by a wood's grain, annual rings, rays, coloration, or knots.

FINGERBOARD: the thin piece of wood that forms the smooth playing surface of the neck, and which features saw-cut slots that hold the frets; ebony, rosewood, and other dark hardwoods are commonly used; also "fretboard".

FINGERJOINT: similar to the "scarf" joints that have been used on classical guitars for years, fingerjoints are so-named because they look like interlocking "fingers"; such a joint used, say, to connect a peghead to a neck (as on our new-tech guitars), actually increases the strength of that area * tests have shown it is just as strong as, if not stronger than, solid wood; fingerjoints also allow us to get more use out of our mahogany by making it unnecessary to cut a neck and peghead from a single piece of wood; and because we don't have a heel in the way from the start, as we do with a one-piece neck, we can "press-in" our frets, rather than pound them in, thus producing a far more accurate fret job and opening up possibilities for using other types of fret wire.

FINISH: a material used in the final treatment or coating of a surface, such as that on a guitar; Taylor uses a high-tech, polyester-type resin that is cured by ultra-violet light, and which we developed ourselves.

FLATPICK: a small, flat object, usually plastic, held between the thumb and forefinger or index finger, and used to strike the strings of an instrument; also known as a pick or plectrum.

FLAT-SAWN: wood that has been cut perpendicular to the rays; the log is first sawed in half, then each half is mounted so that it moves up and down against a knife, slicing is parallel to the center line and at a tangent to the growth rings in the tree. [see "quartersawn"]

FLAT TOP: a steel-string guitar with a flat soundboard, such as those made by Taylor.

FLORENTINE: [see "cutaway"]

FRET MARKERS: inlays commonly set at the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and 12th frets (and higher on some guitars), intended to provide the player with a quick visual reference for positioning along the fingerboard; these can range from simple, utilitarian squares or dots made of wood, metal, or pearloid, to ornate designs or symbols made from more exotic materials.

FRETS: rounded metal strips hammered into slots on the fingerboard and spaced at precise intervals, so as to produce specific pitches when the strings are depressed against them.

GIG BAG: a soft, padded, relatively "lightweight" travel bag, usually but not exclusively used for casual (i.e. not long-distance) transportation of guitars or other instruments; on Taylor gig bags, all seams are rolled and double-stitched, all stress points are reinforced, and end seams are lock-stitched; a large, tab-book-size accessories pocket on the front is adorned with a quality-stitched, tone-on-tone Taylor logo.

GRAIN: refers to the direction or orientation of wood cells, particularly the fibrous element.

GRAIN FILLER: also known as "paste filler", this is a thick substance used for filling open-grain woods and for staining necks; traditionally, a brown, oil-based paste filler is applied to all guitars (except maple and spruce) to fill the wood pores in preparation for finish-spraying; this paste not only fills the pores, it also homogenizes the color variations in such woods as rosewood, walnut, and koa; in developing our revolutionary finish, Taylor also modified our clear, sprayable coatings to create a clear paste that can be used to fill the pores, and can be cured with UV light. As a result, the spectrum of colors inherent in rosewood, for example, is allowed to shine through. Each finished rosewood guitar retains its unique character, because there is no "shoe-polish-brown" filler wiped over the wood beforehand to mask its natural coloration.

GUITARRON a large, deep-body bass instrument, held like a guitar, boasting as many as six strings, and used primarily in mariachi and other forms of Latino folk music.

HARDWOODS: the woods derived from angiospermous trees, as distinguished from coniferous trees; angiospermae are broad-leaf trees that produce fruits and flowers and are deciduous, meaning that in temperate zones they shed their leaves every autumn; with the exception of coniferous spruce and cedar, the woods used to make Taylor guitars are angiospermous hardwoods.

HARMONICS: the bell-like, upper tonal components of a note, relative to the fundamental, most easily heard at certain points on the fingerboard by lightly attacking a string directly over a fret but without fretting it.

HEADSTOCK OVERLAY: a usually thin decorative or contrasting design, article, or material, such as rosewood or ebony, positioned to cover a guitar's headstock or peghead.

HEARTWOOD: the older, harder, nonliving central wood of a tree that has ceased to conduct sap and serves the sole function of support; heartwood is created as the sapwood moves farther away from the active growth region of the tree and dies; it usually is darker, denser, less permeable, and more durable than the surrounding sapwood.

HEEL: the part of the neck that widens to join the body; usually with a concave curvature to accommodate the hand so the guitarist can reach the upper frets.

HEEL BLOCK: a piece of hardwood affixed to the inside of the guitar where the neck joins the upper body, for the purpose of providing structural support and reinforcement; also "head block" or "neck block".

HEEL CAP: on some guitars, the decorative veneer used to cap the small, triangular tip of the heel.

HUMIDITY: [see "Relative Humidity"]

HYGROMETER: an instrument used to measure relative humidity levels; Taylor recommends the use of a hygrometer to gauge the relative humidity inside one's guitar case.

INLAY: decorative designs on the fingerboard, the peghead, and/or the body of a guitar; usually, the patterns are cut into the wood and filled with such materials as abalone, oyster, mother-of-pearl, plastic, light metals, etc.

INTONATION: as a general music term, this refers to the ability to play or sing on pitch; for our purposes as guitar makers, intonation refers to how a given instrument plays in tune with itself; a guitar string should produce the same note played as a harmonic at the 12th fret as it does when you fret that string at the same place; when a repairperson setting up a guitar puts it on a scope (strobe tuner) that compares the 12th-fret harmonic with a fretted 12th-fret note, he's checking its "intonation".

ISOLATE SEALER: a preliminary coat used before the application of a paste filler on some models; most of the tonewoods Taylor uses to build guitars will accept the filler without undue prepping; one exception is rosewood, whose natural oils make it resistant to finish; our rosewood guitars receive a preliminary coat of isolate sealer to create an adhesion bond between the wood and the filler; without such a sealer, the finish would neither adhere nor be curable in the UV oven.

KASHA, DR. MICHAEL: practicing physicist whose theories about tone production in acoustic guitars have influenced a number of contemporary luthiers, including Steve Klein and the late Richard Schneider (who taught Kasha Design Master Classes in Carlsborg, Washington); in simple terms, Kasha believes that the sound chamber of an acoustic guitar is more friendly to some frequencies than to others, and his structural designs attempt to bring all available frequencies into better balance to produce richer tonalities.

KERFING: tapered or wedge-shaped strips of wood glued around the inside seams of a guitar to add strength and stability where the sides meet the top and back; "kerfed" means articulated with closely spaced slits that render the wood strip flexible; also "lining".

KERFING CLAMP: a metal clamp designed by Bob Taylor and Matt Guzzetta to more evenly and firmly hold the kerfing in place during the gluing process (as featured on pages 42-43 of the July 1995 issue of Acoustic Guitar); traditionally, luthiers have used (and many continue to use) ordinary clothespins.

KILN DRYING: the process of achieving and stabilizing a wood's desired moisture content by placing it in temperature-controlled "ovens" where excess moisture is removed by heat.

LAC: a resinous secretion of the lac insect (found in southern Asia); used in making shellac.

LACQUER: a synthetic coating made by dissolving nitrocellulose or other cellulose derivatives together with plasticizers in a mixture of volatile solvents ("natural lacquer" is an oxymoron * two mutually exclusive terms).

LAMINATED: when used to describe an acoustic guitar, refers to the use of thin plies of wood glued together to form a top, back, and/or sides (as opposed to "solid-wood"); frequently used on less-expensive guitars (all full-size Taylors are solid-wood guitars).

LAPPED: in machining, to "lap" means to polish an object to perfect flatness; other words used to describe this process include "flattened" and "mated"; Taylor makes a neck joint whose components are beautifully lapped.

LUTHERIE: the craft of guitar-making; the world of guitars and guitar-making.

LUTHIER: a maker of lutes, violins, and other stringed instruments, especially acoustic guitars.

MACCAFERRI, MARIO: (1900-1993) musician, designer, and engineer.

MARBLING: natural color variations (usually light brown streaks) frequently found in ebony; some manufacturers stain or paint ebony black to mask these striations, but Taylor considers marbling a natural and desirable characteristic of this dark wood, so we don't artificially color it.

MITER JOINT: a joint formed by pieces matched and united upon a line bisecting the angle of junction, as by the beveled ends of two pieces of molding, especially when the pieces form a right angle.

MONOMER: a molecule that can be chemically bound as a unit of a polymer; also, a chemical compound that can undergo polymerization, which is a chemical reaction in which two or more molecules combine to form larger molecules that contain repeating structural units; Taylor's revolutionary UV-curable finish contains a blend of monomers (and oligomers) that, while in liquid form, are thin enough to spray.

MORTISE-AND-TENON: a type of joint or juncture used to connect two pieces of material; a mortise (also "mortice") usually is a rectangular cavity in a piece of wood, stone, or other material, shaped to receive a tenon; conversely, a tenon is a projection on the piece to be attached, shaped to fit into the mortise.

MOTHER-OF-PEARL: the lustrous interior lining of certain mollusks, frequently used for inlays, fret markers, and other decorative work; also "pearl".

MUSTACHE BRIDGE: refers to a bridge whose shape suggests a handlebar moustache.

NECK ANGLE: the angle of the neck in relation to the body; Taylor guitars have a steep or "higher" neck angle in relation to the body; on acoustic instruments, the degree of pitch often determines the longevity of the guitar, strength-wise.

NECK JOINT: the place on the guitar where the neck attaches to the body.

NECK PROFILE: the width and shape of a guitar neck.

NECK RESET: an operation undertaken specifically to return a guitar to factory specs, and more generally to maintain the structural integrity of a guitar over its long life; usually necessary only after many years of use.

NEW-TECHNOLOGY (NT) NECK: introduced in January 1999 after two years of research and development, Taylor's revolutionary neck design completely changed the way the neck attaches to the body, the relationship of the fingerboard to the neck and body, and the way the neck itself is made; in a new-tech or NT neck, the fingerboard extension does not lie on the guitar top, but is set into a precision-cut slot on the guitar top, where it is secured to the interior blocking system; this leaves the fretboard independent from and unaffected by changes in the body caused by humidity, etc.; underneath the fingerboard is a half-inch of the neck mahogany, supported by special blocks inside the body cavity; special "spacers" are available that enable a repairperson to adjust the action to the player's playing style or preference in a matter of minutes, and to accommodate changes in humidity while on the road; the new three-piece neck features a "stacked" heel and a fingerjoint at the peghead; the NT neck design renders the neck-joint stronger and more adaptable, is easier to access, and conserves wood resources; in April 2000, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Taylor patent number 6,051,766 for the "adjustable guitar neck".

NITROCELLULOSE: a pulpy or cotton-like polymer derived from cellulose treated with sulfuric and nitric acids, and used in the manufacture of explosives, plastics, and solid monopropellants; nitrocellulose lacquer is the common, traditional finish used on guitars, as opposed to the UV-curable finish developed by Taylor.

NOTATION: a written system of notes, figures, and symbols used to represent musical tones and dynamic values in a composition.

NOTCH FILTER: a fixed-level, variable-frequency filter found on some preamps that isolates a specific frequency (usually in the low-mids area of the tonal spectrum) to eliminate feedback or unwanted resonance from the body of the guitar.

NUT: the strip of bone, metal, or synthetic material that acts as a spacing guide for the strings where the neck joins the headstock; like the saddle, the nut also affects tone, in this case by conducting the strings' vibrations into the neck (see "Tusq").

NUT SLOTS: the notches on a guitar's nut that hold the strings in place.

OLIGOMER: a polymer that consists of two, three, or four monomers (see "monomer").

ORANGE PEEL: the "porous" appearance of a guitar's surface that results from the finish soaking into the wood's pores over time; usually, this happens when intermediate steps were not taken to close the wood pores with a "filler" prior to applying the finish coat.

ORGANIC: having properties associated with living organisms (i.e. oil, wood fiber).

PEARLOID: synthetic mother-of-pearl, made by mixing plastic and pearl dust.

PEGHEAD: see "headstock".

PICK, PLECTRUM: a small, thin device (made of ivory, wood, or plastic) used to pluck a stringed instrument.

PICKGUARD: a very thin plate (usually made of synthetic material) glued to the soundboard below the treble side of the soundhole, ostensibly to protect the finish from scratches and gouges (some manufacturers put pickguards on both sides of the soundhole).

PASSIVE PICKUPS: pickups that don't use electricity to enhance the direct sound coming out of the pickups.

PICKUP: for our purposes, a coil wound with fine wire that converts the sound produced by guitar strings into electrical signals.

PLASTICIZERS: any of various substances added to plastics or other materials to keep them soft or pliable (see "lacquer").

PLAYABILITY: the ease with which an instrument can be played, relative to the player's comfort and the effort required to produce the desired result.

POLYESTER: any of a number of synthetic resins, produced chiefly by a reaction of dibasic acids with dihydric alcohols. In guitar-finishing it refers to a basic chemical makeup, and has as many variations as the term "human" has in referring to people.

POLYMER: any of numerous natural or synthetic compounds consisting of up to millions of repeated linked molecular units, each being a relatively light and simple molecule.

PREAMP: an electronic device designed to amplify extremely weak electrical signals before they are fed to additional (usually more powerful) amplifier circuits; any such signal-boosting device; short for "preamplifier".

PURFLING: sometimes referred to as "marquetry," purfling frequently comprises two or more types of binding strips whose surfaces, when laminated, create a specific design; see "binding".

QUARTERSAWN WOOD: a log cut into quarters lengthwise along its axis, parallel to the rays (the lines that run out from the center of the log); quartersawn tonewood is the preferred wood for guitar making due to its stability and uniform figure.

RADIUS: a line segment extending from the center of a circle or sphere to the circumference or bounding surface, or the circular area defined by a stated radius; the neck on a Taylor guitar has a 15-inch cylindrical radius (it is not compound or tapered, but is 15 inches all the way down).

RELATIVE HUMIDITY: humidity is a state of (usually invisible) moisture in the air; relative humidity (RH) is the amount of moisture in a given volume of air as compared to the amount that it is capable of holding, and measured as a percentage; if the RH is 30 percent, that means the air is holding 30 percent of the moisture it is capable of holding; as air temperature increases, so does the air's capacity to hold moisture; if the air temperature rises and its moisture content (humidity) stays the same, then the relative humidity becomes a lower percentage; when the temperature inside a building is raised, as so often is the case in the winter, the RH indoors will drop; the only way to re-establish the proper RH is to add moisture to the air (the function of a humidifier).

RESIN: any of a number of clear or translucent substances, either from plant origin or synthetics, used in producing lacquers, adhesives, plastics, polyesters, epoxies, silicones, etc.

ROSETTE: decorative inlay around the soundhole, frequently consisting of designs in several concentric circles.

RUNOUT: the orientation of wood cells being other than parallel to the edge (face) of the board; often difficult or impossible to detect visually, severe runout can be detrimental to strength and sound transmission (also known as "slope").

SADDLE: a strip of bone, metal, or synthetic material that fits into a slot on the bridge and acts both as a spacing guide for the strings, and, together with the bridge, as a conductor of the vibrations or energy from the strings into the soundboard (see "Tusq").

SADDLE PICKUP OR PIEZO TRANSDUCER: a transducer is a device that is actuated by power from one system and supplies power (usually in another form) to a second system; a piezo transducer is placed under a guitar's saddle, where it picks up vibrations from the strings, after which the signal is boosted and then controlled by one tone and one volume control on the upper side of the instrument.

SADDLE SLOTS: the notches on a guitar's saddle that hold the strings in place.

SCALE LENGTH: describes the total length of a vibrating open string; a formula is applied to the scale length to determine fret positions, with the 12th fret being the half-way point; most flat-top, steel-string acoustic guitars have a scale length of between 24 and 26 inches (string tension increases with scale length).

SCALLOP: see "bracing".

SEASONING (WOOD): the removal of water and the removal and/or hardening of less volatile materials such as oils, fats, resins, and gums, as well as the structural changes that take place over time.

SHIM: a thin, often tapered piece of material used as a leveler or filler between such materials as wood, stone, and metal; the removable, interchangeable "spacers" used to achieve specific neck angles in Taylor new-tech neck joints are a form of shim.

SHIPLAP: wooden sheathing in which the boards are rabbeted so that the edge of each board laps over the edges of adjacent boards to make a flush joint (a rabbet is a channel, groove, or recess cut out of the edge or face of a surface, usually to enable one edge to receive another, as in paneling). On a Taylor Acoustic Bass or a Baby Taylor, the fingerboard brace interlocks and shiplaps onto the block.

SIGNAL CHAIN: the connected sequence of preamps, amps, equalization components, effects boxes, mixers, routers, microphones, speakers, and other equipment that carry and process the sound of a guitar from instrument to audience.

SILICA GEL PACKS: Silica gel is an effective desiccant, or drying agent; sugar-packet-size silica gel packs are used to reduce moisture levels in small, confined areas, such as food containers and cases containing sensitive photographic equipment and musical instruments; under conditions of high relative humidity, it is advisable to leave several of these packets in one's guitar case; to ensure that they don't exceed their moisture-holding capacity and become ineffective, it is wise to replace them every few months during prolonged periods of high humidity.

SOUNDBOARD: the top of an acoustic guitar; also "belly," "plate," "table," "deck".

SOUNDHOLE: a large hole in the soundboard, usually directly under the strings, designed to increase sound projection.

SLIDER UNITS: electronic devices added to a guitar to enable the player to adjust tone and volume via slide controls; guitars with slider units, such as the Fishman Prefix Pro Blend, are built with a veneer patch installed in the guitar's side to strengthen the area where the hole is cut.

SOFTWOODS: coniferous (cone-bearing) trees with evergreen needles or scale-like leaves that grow in cool, temperate northern regions; the only softwoods we use on Taylor guitars are spruce and cedar * all others are hardwoods; also known as Gymnospermae.

SOLVENT: a material capable of dissolving another substance (see "lacquer").

SOUNDHOLE PICKUP: unlike our saddle pickup (see above), this is mounted inside the soundhole of the guitar.

SPACERS: To ensure that every one of our New-tech (NT) necks fits into the specially cut pockets in the guitar at the same precise angle, we laser-cut wooden "spacers" in increments of two-thousandths of an inch both for the fingerboard extension and the heel. First, a Taylor-designed digital neck gauge is used to pinpoint which spacer increment is called for by measuring the relationship of the pocket to the top of the bridge. Next, the appropriate spacer is chosen from a rack of spacers, and is placed in the pocket (it slides into place and is secured without any glue). After the guitar leaves our factory, a repairperson can use different spacers to micro-adjust the action to the player's playing style or preference in a matter of minutes, and to accommodate changes in humidity while a player is on the road.

STRAP PIN: like its counterpart, the end pin, this is a raised button to which a guitar strap can be fastened; usually attached to the heel, the neck area near the heel, or (less commonly) the side of the guitar body nearest the heel; also "strap button".

"SWEET SPOT": that point in the process of setting up a guitar - positioning the saddle, adjusting the neck angle, etc. - where the builder feels that the instrument will function at its optimal level; a Taylor guitar's "sweet spot" has a neck angle set steep enough to neutralize (as much as possible) the tug of the string tension on the neck and body, but not so steep as to create problems associated with low action.

SYNTHETIC: produced by a synthesis of elements or materials, especially not of natural origin; man-made.

TABLATURE: a method for transcribing music that shows the positions of notes on the frets and strings, usually identified by the letter-name of the chord (also known as "tab").

TAIL STRIP: the thin line of wood that runs down the middle seam on the outside butt-end of a guitar body; a decoration where the two halves of the back are joined; also known as "backstrip" and "end joint".

TECH-SHEET: a Taylor-created document containing information or instructions pertinent to the construction, use, and care of an acoustic guitar; copies are downloadable from our website.

TENON: a projecting member in a piece of wood or other material for insertion into a mortise to make a joint.

TONE TRANSFER: The transfer of tone from a guitar neck into the body cavity through the neck joint.

TRANSCRIBE: to make a written copy of songs or music, in either notation or tablature form.

TRANSDUCER: a device for transferring energy from one form to another, used to describe a form of pickup used for amplifying acoustic instruments.

TRUSS ROD: sometimes made of hardwood or graphite, but more commonly of steel, this dowel-like rod is fitted lengthwise into a neck to counteract the pull caused by string tension; the Gibson company introduced the "adjustable" truss rod in the 1920s.

TRUSS ROD COVER: a small piece of wood or other material used to cover the opening where one gains access to the truss rod for the purpose of making adjustments (on a Taylor, the truss rod cover is located just above the nut).

TRUSS ROD WRENCH: a tool used to adjust the truss rod in a guitar neck; wrenches are included in the cases of all our guitars, and also are available from our Customer Service Department.

TUNERS: refers to the pegs, attached to the headstock, that are used to wind, tighten, and/or loosen strings; also, "tuning heads," "tuning pegs," "friction pegs," "machine heads".

TUSQ: a synthetic simulation of "bone" or "ivory" used on all Taylor nuts and saddles; Taylor started using Tusq on all but the 400 models in September, 1993, and switched to Tusq on the 400s in January, 1995; previously, our nuts and saddles were made of "micarta," which is a fancy name for an ivory-colored synthetic material called "phenolic".

12-FRET/14-FRET NECK: refers not to the number of frets on a fingerboard, but to the fret at which the neck joins the body.

VARIABLE-TOLERANCE PARTS: "tolerance" refers to the amount of permissible deviation from factory-specified structural dimensions; a manufacturer who allows flexibility regarding variation from a standard makes "variable-tolerance" parts; Taylor mills parts to precise, consistent dimensions, and does not use "variable-tolerance" parts.

VENEER: one or more very thin sheets of wood that literally are sliced from a log and used to cover other materials (commonly plywood) to create the illusion of "solid" wood; Taylor uses veneers only on the Baby Taylors * our full-size guitars and basses are all solid-wood.

VENETIAN: [see "cutaway"]

VOLATILE: evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures [see lacquer].

WAIST: the inward-curving middle of a guitar.

X-BRACING: Martin originally invented "X" bracing, so-named because the main brace forms an "X" shape across the inside surface of the guitar; it served as a significant line of demarcation between the traditional, fan-braced classical guitar and the modern steel-string guitar.

ZIP KICKER: an accelerator for cyanoacrylate, or "super glue" adhesives, which can be applied either before or after the glue; we use zip kicker when we glue together certain parts of the guitar.

The information contained in this glossary was gleaned from a variety of sources, including Bob Taylor, Steve Klein, Terry Myers, and John D'Agostino. Among the published reference books consulted were The Acoustic Guitar Guide, by Larry Sandberg; The Guitar Handbook, by Ralph Denyer; and The Ultimate Guitar Book, by Tony Bacon.