[CStanton]

On James Taylor's 'complete book set', the cover is of him with a guitar. I'm looking for the brand. It's a W with circles at the intersections


o......o......o
..\.../.\.../
...o.......o

::Without the periods::

Something like that.


Any ideas on the brand name?

[Sidney Schwartz]

Never seen anything like that. It could be something he had custom built.

Sid

[allthumbs]

I'll pass your question on to a forum I belong to. Somebody must know unless it's a limited boutique guitar.

[CStanton]

In this picture, he is using an Olson... nice guitar. He's got two or three
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...s=dvd&v=glance

This is the guitar I am referring to. It is also on the vinyl jacket for FLAG
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0769...18#reader-link


Thanks friends.

[allthumbs]

Wechter (sp) acoustics That is the name my friends came up with. They are pretty sure.

[CStanton]

http://www.wechterguitars.com/models/index.htm

There they are. They are not showing the W symbol, but are nice guitars. I don't doubt that JT didn't own one or two. But - I cannot find a parlor guitar on their site that is the size of the one in the picture on FLAG. That's the one I'm really looking for.

Thanks for your help allthumbs. I'll rip the link apart...

[allthumbs]

The guy who told me this is an expert in the field so I would go with this one.


He used to play guitars built for him by Mark Whitebook. Superb guitars. The builder was forced to shut down because of health problems I believe as a result of wood dust.

[CStanton]

From the link above, "Abe Wechter has been designing and building guitars for 30 years."

The FLAG album was released in 1979, so that would put the image with JT and the parlour W about 26 years. I don't know Abe Wechter's craftsmanship or if he released such high quality products only four years after he started. If he did, I'll have to stop by. Paw Paw isn't too far, and I'm sure there's a good showroom nearby.

Thanks again for the tip allthumbs.

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by CStanton

From the link above, "Abe Wechter has been designing and building guitars for 30 years."

The FLAG album was released in 1979, so that would put the image with JT and the parlour W about 26 years. I don't know Abe Wechter's craftsmanship or if he released such high quality products only four years after he started. If he did, I'll have to stop by. Paw Paw isn't too far, and I'm sure there's a good showroom nearby.

Thanks again for the tip allthumbs.

At that stage of his career, he would most likely be playing Mark Whitebooks custom guitar rather than an off the shelf guitar IMO

[allthumbs]

And there you have it.


Mark Whitebook, along with David Russell Young, represented what you might call the "second wave" of California luthiers. They followed in the footsteps of Roy Noble and Fred Gerlach, building steel-string guitars to extremely high standards in the Los Angeles area in the 1970s. Whitebook also made guitars for James Taylor, Karla Bonoff, and many other well-known musicians. He retired from instrument building primarily because he developed extreme allergies working with rosewood and cedar, and he is now involved in developing medical tools.

[6string]

a better pic

[allthumbs]

You might dig this interview
http://www.james-taylor.com/text/GP5-84.txt

[CStanton]

Thanks everyone and allthumbs. It's got to be it.


I'll keep looking for one. I'd love to play it and see how they feel. I assume they're fantastic.

[allthumbs]

They probably go for the high side of 5000 bucks