Taylor on the way home!

Taylor has supplied email confirmation that the guitar is on the way back! They are even picking up the return shipping, and have sent it 2-day FedEx.

I'm told they replaced the entire pickup system.

Taylor update

UPS messed up. My guitar did not make the promised three-day delivery date of 9/25. So the good news is that I will get a refund on the $143 shipping charge (but they can't process that until the guitar is actually delivered late on 9/26).

I've been calling Taylor almost daily checking on how they plan to get it back to me, since I have to leave on 10/4 to get to Greensburg. While I have a backup guitar, the idea of going through all this trouble only to have my Taylor sitting in a shipping truck somewhere for an extra week until I get back home is driving me nuts.

Thankfully, Taylor says they use FedEx for shipping, so I expect I'll get a little bit better service.

Inquiring minds... maybe

Below is text from an actual inquiry about the play before our October 5th encore performance:

"Dear Mr. Schrum, After reading the flyer for the production of your monologue, I pray that it does not profane the Virgin Mary. Yes, there are many funny incidences from yesteryear about which we can laugh, but the sisters who taught us were, for the most part, truly good, dedicated women, faithful to the teachings of the church. How I pray that this is all in fun and not meant to belittle these good people for your personal gain.

The Baltimore Catechism was a marvelous book. I still remember "why did God make me?" "to know Him, to love Him, and to serve him in this world and be happy with Him in the next". I hope that you took this to heart. God be with you. --Bob {last name not supplied}"

To this, Steve kindly replied and said:

"...my final words in the performance explain why I think my Catholic School experiences were positive ones."

And the response was...

"Dear Mr. Schrum, I am so grateful. I do pray for you that, if you are not part of the Church community, that you reconsider. The Church is truly the bride of Christ and I rejoice that I am privileged to be a part of it. And the more that I learn of Her riches, the more I rejoice. God be with you."

Taylor out for repairs...

After numerous problems with the pickup system in my Taylor (314CE-LTD) both during and after the IM shows in June, I finally broke down and decided to send it to the factory (in El Cajon, CA) for repair.

Taylor guitars used to have a Fishman pickup system, but back in 2002 or 2003, they switched over to their own custom Expression System (ES) which includes a series of transducers, a pickup and a preamp that provides a low impedance signal (instead of the typical high-impedance signal from other systems).

When it works, the system sounds great. Very clear and natural. Very little of the peizo "thwack" that is customary with Ovations and other acoustic-electrics. Some owners with early versions of the ES system have experienced problems, and it looks like I am one of them.

The problem is, the ES system takes two AA batteries, which sit end-to-end in a compartment like a hot dog. There's a number of flaws with how the battery makes the connection inside the compartment. There’s at least two places (the knob and where the two batteries meet in the middle) that can fail. On some gigs, I'd have signal for one song, but then after jostling around a bit, I wouldn't have sound for the next song. Since the only time I really make use of the electronics is for gigs... that's a problem! (The guitar plays and sounds great acoustically, so when I record I just use a condenser mike).

I've had problems with the guitar at almost every gig over the past year, and in fact I recall having trouble from Day 1, but always thought it was just me. Recently I started to get some other rattles inside the guitar, which could have been from all the jumping around troubleshooting it. At that point I figured it was best for the experts to look at it. Now I'm on pins and needles waiting for it to get back safely. The shipping and insurance were outrageous, but I figure if this helps me solve the problem, it is worth it.

I dropped the guitar off at our local Mailroom shipment center, and despite having pulled up in front of the UPS truck on 9/19, the guitar didn't actually leave town until 9/20. The next IM show is on 10/5, so I have my fingures crossed that it can get back here. The folks at Taylor told me they would put a rush on it. We'll see if they pull through.