Taylor Guitars is one of the world’s best-known acoustic guitar makers, with roots in San Diego and a history of changing how guitars are designed and made. But founder Bob Taylor’s work has taken him far beyond the factory floor. A trip to Cameroon to investigate an ebony sawmill exposed a problem with wood used in his guitars and sent Bob on a decadeslong journey involving forests, sustainability and some surprising research.
We visit Taylor Guitars in El Cajon and talk with Bob about the company’s evolution, his approach to guitar making and what happened when he started asking where the wood in his guitars actually came from.
" This tree grew for 100 years, 200 years, and we're going to waste a piece of it? I don't think so," Bob said.
And that’s where elephants come into the story.
Guests:
- Bob Taylor, co-founder and president of Taylor Guitars
- Craig Evans, director of marketing for Taylor Guitars
- Nick Kennedy, content writer and contributor for Taylor Guitars
Sources:
- Fifty Years of Feel (Jim Kirlin, Taylor Guitars)
- The Surprising Connection Between Elephants and Your Guitar (Scott Paul, Taylor Guitars, 2025)
- I traced my guitar company's supply chain upstream. It led to elephants. (Bob Taylor, The Washington Post via Taylor Guitars, 2026)
- Lacey Act Declaration Requirements (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2025)
- Rob Cavallo interview about "Excalibur" (Taylor Guitars via YouTube, 2012)
- Declines of ebony and ivory are inextricably linked in an African rainforest (Vincent Deblauwe, Matthew Scott Luskin, Serge Désiré Assola, Olivier J. Hardy, Simon Jansen, Céline Loubières, Gaston Guy Mempong, Jean Mathurin Ntsihe, Gilbert Oum Ndjock, Eric Rostand Onguene Kwecheu, Luke L. Powell, Bonaventure Sonké, and Thomas B. Smith, Science Advances, 2025)
- Scientists discover how elephant extinction threatens everything from rainforests to musical instruments (Alison Hewitt, UCLA Newsroom, 2025)
- Ebony Project (Congo Basin Institute)
- Taylor Transitions to 100% Employee Ownership Through an ESOP (Taylor Guitars, 2021)
From KPBS Public Media, The Finest is a podcast about the people, art and movements redefining culture in San Diego. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Pandora, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have feedback or a story idea? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at thefinest@kpbs.org and let us know what you think.