Guitar Lessons: A Life’s Journey Turning Passion into Business by Bob Taylor
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011.
$24.95; 288 pp.
Guitar Lessons is written by Bob Taylor, cofounder and president of Taylor Guitars, and is more than an autobiography. It also is a book about business. As Taylor writes about forming and growing his business, he shares a lot of the challenges he faced along the way and provides insights that makes the journey more personal and inspiring. He shares how he overcame these challenges and made his passion for guitar making into a lucrative business. Taylor describes Guitar Lessons as a “book of business lessons learned through experience and told in story form.” I think this book will appeal to woodworkers, guitar players, and business owners.
Lucky Rmb3 is the winner. His comment was chosen at random.
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Also read "The Wheel & I -- John Crean: Driving Fleetwood Enterprises to the Top" if you can find a copy. It was privately published in 2000 and is a book about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps in a very hands-on way, literally by understanding the nuts and bolts of your products and business, and by close association with your customers.
I'm planning to build my own guitar soon. Sure would be nice to be able to play it.
Sounds like a plan.
This would be great. I have been playing for 30 years and repaired other stringed instruments during that whole time. I have been thinking about building one. This would help. Thanks
Me and my 8 guitars cannot wait to get this book!
Ooo...now this is definitely a book I'd like to have/read.
As an owner of a small woodworking business this would be a facsinating and helpful read.
I cannot wait to read his book. There was a time when only Martin guitars would be considered by professional musicians in need of a commercially available instrument. Bob Taylor produces the only guitars on the market that are considered equal or superior to Martin's.
I have two of Bob Taylor's finest!
This book would be helpful insight for my business
Please add me in to your contest.
Sounds interesting. Count me in!
I've got a good feeling about this contest!
A guitar builder's book or a guitar player's book????
I could use a guitar lesson!
I'd love to win this book. I always wanted to build a guitar to wed my passion for music and woodworking.
Thanks,
--- Steve
I would love to learn how to build a guitar and play it!
Would love to try a guitar build, lots of specialized tools however
I would love a copy.
Pick me! Pick me!
Nice addition to my library.
Count me in
I'm interested.
comment
I won't complain about a free book ;)
Taylor's are #1
I am a professional woodworker and I'm also a amateur bluegrass guitar player. I've been a fan a Taylor guitars for many years and I'm currently saving up for one right now. I think Mr. Taylor is a true American success story.
Bob Taylor absolutely makes the most beautiful guitars, both in sound and looks. He has a passionate love for beautiful woods and the sounds which they can create.
I have attended two Taylor guitar roadshows and have played some of his rare, one off models and I can tell you, the sound you can create with a $20,000.00 guitar is quite awesome! The sweet and pungent smell of the woods from the rare guitars is primordial!
I wish he would have a "guitar camp" where he would have classes in guitar making, and where the students would have the opportunity to design and build their own guitars.
I would be the first to sign up for the class!!!!!
I know that he has had thirty years to work out the design problems and that it would be so fulfilling to learn from him.
Please enter me in the drawing for the Bob Taylor book, "Guitar Lessons". I am inspired by Bob Taylor, Luthier extraordinaire and savvy businessman.
Sounds great!
Rock on.
no clever comment,just win this book
Great guitars.
I would like to finish a Dulcimer, and then move to Guitar building. Be nice to play it some with this book.
I have been woodworking for over 40 years. Musical instruments have always intrigued me. Looking forward to reading this book.
I would like to have this book! Sign me up.
I would LOVE to have this book. My husband plays guitar, and I am a beginning woodworker. I will probably never make a guitar, but that is exactly why I would want to own a book about it!
Making a guitar would be a fun project. Wining a free book on guitar making would make it that much more enjoyable. Thanks for the opportunity.
Along with myself, I think my daughter would likely enjoy reading it since she is pursuing an associates degree in business.
Sign me up, I want to build a guitar!
Please entry me into this contest-thanks!
Always wanted to build a guitar; please count me in.
Don't just string me along..... Select my comment for winninght Guitar book!
Don't just string me along..... Select my comment for winninght Guitar book!
It would be nice to win the book 'Guitar Lessons' and be bestowed with a healthy dose of osmosis at the same time.
Music's always been a thing.
I help kids play, I help kids sing.
To teach by day a wonderous art
has been a gift I bring my heart.
The craft with wood's a newer friend
I'm learning skills that never end
Though novice I may be with wood
I hope to have it do some good
Around our house and at my schools
the projects call out, get your tools
build cabinets, tables, music things
to show the joy that crafting brings
To build by hand's a thing of skill
I keep on trying, hope I will
Have crafted words please take a look
I'd really like to win this book.
Tom Richardson
It started playing guitar while in high school.
I played in a country music group, progress to
rock group while in college and then picked up a classical guitar while serving in the Navy when the ship that I was on stopped in Barcelona Spain. I happened across a shop called the Fabrica De Barcelona where number of craftsmen hand crafted guitars. I purchased one of those instruments
and can say without a doubt that the finest guitars are made by the hands of true craftsmen like Bob Taylor.
I have been woodworking as a hobby building furniture and toys for the past 40 years and just two years ago I again came across an individual building guitars, violins and mandolins in his modest home workshop using native woods that grew in his Northern Vermont locality.
Reinspired by the craftman in Vermont I believe the book "Guitar Lessons" would provide the insight
I need two craft my own guitar,which would be the highlight of my woodworking experience.
Bob Taylor realized he wanted to make guitars at a very early age. He had built 3 guitars and one banjo while in high school. In 1974, at the age of 20, he and 2 others bought the guitar shop they had been working in for $10,000 and started their own company. Today Taylor Guitars is one of the most successful and respected makers of guitars in the world with over 400 employees and $377 million dollars in sales . "Guitar Lessons" is both an autobiography and a business book. It is a fascinating look at a company that started with 3 employees and a clear vision, but little to no business experience. If you are interested in an inside look at the making of high quality guitars, or more interested in how a dedicated craftsman can start and grow a successful business, "Guitar Lessons" is a good read.
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