Taylor made, and quality service

Music is a mood-altering drug, and I have mainlined all my life. The Gibson Blue Ridge, with very unfashionable square shoulders, has seen me through since 1973. It was one of a collection up to 1996 when I put the rest in store and they were destroyed in a fire. The spaces between the frets are scalloped out through endless playing, and the neck has a sculptural feel to it. The Gibson's voice has muddied a little over the years. It doesn't have the clarity of a similarly aged Martin, and it has lost some brightness. But then again, so have my ears, so maybe this is me. The Blue Ridge was an entry level Gibson, and many had laminated backs and side. I was just lucky with this one, which is solid sitka spruce on top, and solid rosewood at the back. It has plenty of dings now, but is still a lovely instrument. For years it played better than I did, but as it got worse, I got better, and we are more or less even nowadays. The Taylor is guitar heaven. I was tempted by USA Fenders, a Music Man, and a range of seductive shapes and tones, but when I played this thing the competition was done. It is just a wonderful guitar with tones to die for, and it's a really innovative design. The truly amazing thing here is that after 14 months or so I had a problem with the switching. As you want to switch in the middle of playing something and have micro-seconds to do it, the switching has to be reliable and work every time. Mine wasn't reliable at all, and only with fiddling around could you switch pick-ups.It went back to shop. No good. It went to a specialist who was bewildered. They gave up. I was despairing, and sent a letter via snail-mail to Bob Taylor in California. It's his company, so why not go to the top ? Worth a try, right ? But would it ever reach him ? Then an email popped up. Hi Dave, sorry to hear about your switching problem. I just want to tell you that I got your letter and help is on the way. Expect to hear more very quickly. Bob The man himself ! In person. It was like coming home and finding that God had left a message on the answer machine. And dynamic or what ?  I loved the last sentence. It was the kind of positive I wanted in my switch. There was something here that inspired confidence. Wow. He was as good as his word. A guy called me the same day and within a week my guitar had been collected, couriered away, fixed, and safely delivered home again. All free of charge, all perfect on return. I mailed Bob to thank him and got this reply: You are welcome. Over the next few months and few years we are determined to bring the entire US Taylor experience to the UK and the whole of Europe. It's our goal and we take it seriously.  Now that's service. I loved the Taylor before, but now I am a devotee. Can you think of anywhere in the UK that would give this kind of service ? Closing thought from Bob Taylor It really shouldn't be that hard to get a guitar fixed. Simples !