Art Davis
Luthier
I joined Taylor Guitars in 1987 as a luthier with ten years experience dealing with guitars and their owners. My Taylor experience lasted through 1997 and during that time I remained intensely devoted to learning the tasks that would make me indispensable to the guitar, it's owners, supporters and my employers. As far as I know, I'm the only person that has had "Luthier" as his title on a Taylor Guitars business card.
Over that incredible and educational decade-long run I was involved in almost every facet on the building side of things. Acoustic guitar historians might have seen photos of me in the book Taylor Guitars: 30 Years of a New American Classic. I was the 'hand model' and was consulted for all the early technical notes as well as one of the videos shot by the news crews or for repair instructional videos. It was an incredible era and we're hoping to achieve our own level of success with A. Davis Guitars.
I started out with some instruction from Bob Taylor and then working (and learning) from Tim Luranc and Larry Breedlove. I would work in the milling department, making parts or running stuff through the sander. When we moved to Santee from the original shop in Lemon Grove, I helped with the move as well as some carpentry (as a rank apprentice) in the new shop.
For the first few years at Santee, I worked in the final assembly or "string up" department. We would get the finished bodies and necks and assemble the guitar, inlay the fingerboard, install the frets, make the nut and saddle, install the tuners, string them up and adjust them. The goal was to be better and faster, though being at the end of the line (and having the tools and the workbench to work with finished instruments), we'd often do much of the rework or filling in throughout the factory. At certain times if there were problems, we would be doing anything from sanding a bad batch of finish off the bodies or buffing out finished bodies to packing and shipping work. Everyone there was working at top efficiency, so anyone that had smooth going in their department would help another department to stay in the game.
I left Taylor Guitars for about six months in summer of '90 and returned in December. The 'string up' department was skeletonized after the desertion of most of the well trained guys in the department and the individual tasks were separated. One person assembled and fretted, one made nuts and saddles, one put the tuners on, etc. I became the supervisor almost immediately and Terry Myers left to work for Breedlove, who had started his own company a year or so before that. It was quite a challenge, working with some real headstrong people, training them to become guitar builders and do the job that had sent so many packing. At that time, we were working with a fingerboard sanding machine that was pretty tricky. It kept the department in the game while all the other departments were getting some real top notch tools and machines. During this time we caught up on all the production we had missed during the recession of '91 and moved the shop to El Cajon where it is today.
At that point, I had become a top notch repairman. I trained visiting repairmen for the seminars and created solutions for quite a few problems that baffled others. I was the go-to guy in the difficult repair cases, yet remained the barking dog who rammed the stuff through the department so we wouldn't be bogged down with repairs come summertime.
In 1997, Terry was my boss and Larry was back after selling his share in Breedlove. Everyone who's heels I had nipped at in my time with the company was waiting for me to say something that would have me sent packing. I didn't disappoint.
After leaving Taylor as the equivalent of a 37-year old Master Sergeant or Seaman First Class, I figured out that skills can get you a job but only good politics can keep it. Even after every hint, lesson or head-pounding I had received over the years I still didn't know what that was. Ten years later and eight years into the A. Davis Guitars experience, I think I'm finally getting the picture. I still resist and I'm still happy that wood can't be easily insulted. I'm also satisfied with what's been learned and accomplished since going solo in 1999. Our guys who handle the marketing and artist relations-type stuff have done a great job opening doors with renowned players and other folks just glad to have found a luthier who is devoted to making the guitar great so the stupidity gets overlooked.