Bob Taylor launched his career crafting Dreadnoughts and Jumbos, working with shapes he inherited from Sam Radding, the owner of the American Dream guitar shop, where he and Taylor co-founder Kurt Listug got their start.

“Our Dreadnought early on was pretty boxy, and the Jumbo was kind of a big square thing, too — kind of the American Dream take on the J200 or the big Guild stuff, back in the ’70s,” Bob recalls.

The legacy of both shapes carried with them potent, traditional sounds that Bob gradually reworked into a refined Taylor tone and more smoothly contoured look. The rosewood/spruce 810 became a Taylor stalwart and was for many years Bob’s preferred model, favored for its robust tone and understated, workmanlike aesthetic.

In 2003 the Dread underwent a major revoicing to give it a more competitive identity among flatpickers. A cannon, it boasted 50 percent more volume and a stronger bass response, and yielded a potent growl when players dug in without upsetting Taylor’s sonic balance. Bob also applied some of his short-scale ideas to the 710ce-L9 limited in 2005, and it was a winner. Like the short-scale GC, the slinkier feel allowed players to lighten up on their attack and play up the neck. It gave the Dreadnought more versatility than it had ever seen. Short-scale or standard, it delivers a vintage Dreadnought sound for the 21st Century.