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I viewed the Taylor Factory Fridays video on Bracing, and they pointed out a routed groove around the perimeter of the top and back of a coupled of guitars, both large body's. They called it a "patented route". No other details were provided. Firstly, I wonder if it's really possible to patent a simple groove routed in a top and back. More importantly, I wonder what they are trying to achieve. My initial guess is that they are just freeing up the top/back plates at the edges, but I'm no authourity. Does anyone know anything about this, or have any ideas?

BTW, those videos are very informative regarding factory production line building. The Taylor operation is very impressive. They also brought back some old memories from the 70's when I worked at the old Dobro plant in Long Beach, CA............briefly.

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

I asked Frank Ford about this when they first started doing it. Maybe he'll chime in. They revoiced the tops attempting to achieve a different/ better sound. If I remember correctly this is about a .020 groove routed just inside the lining area.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Kevin Ko was the first I ever knew to do this and he was doing it at least 5 years ago.

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