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Arts & Entertainment

At Caruso Music, A Finger-Picking Good Time

Taylor Guitar manufacturer struts its stuff at Caruso Music--and local musicians come out to play

More than 50 acoustic guitar fans attended the Taylor Guitars Road Show 2011 at Caruso Music in New London on Thursday night for what Monte Montefusco, national sales manager for Taylor Guitars, described as "wine tasting for guitars."

At the start of the event, store owner Rich Caruso told the crowd he needed to clarify a press report that the store was closing. The store is not closing, he said, but he is looking for another location in the area to better accommodate an expanded line of high-quality acoustic guitars and the humidity-controlled room needed to house them. He told the crowd, "I hope you guys will find us wherever we are."

As Montefusco explained the different components of the Taylor line of guitars, professional musician Marc Seal, who stars in the television series The Ultimate Guitar Show, demonstrated a sample of each sound.

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There was much to learn. Taylor makes guitars with five different body types ranging from "baby" to "jumbo." Tonal nuances vary depending on the type of wood used, the combination of wood used, and the different body styles. Perhaps the most exotic-looking guitar on display was made of deep toned Hawaiian koa wood--and it came with a price tag of about $11,000.

Halfway through the two-hour workshop came the moment many people had been waiting for: participants were given the opportunity to play on a selection of more than 30 Taylor guitars, including 14 brought in by the manufacturer for what Caruso described as "a guitar petting zoo."

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Montefusco said that California-based Taylor does about 200 of these shows across the country each year to introduce guitarists to a wider range of Taylor guitars than they would normally see in stores. The aim, he said, is "to increase our market and build customer loyalty."

Attendees were particularly interested to learn of the concern the manufacturer has for forests that supply the wood from which the guitars are made.  Montefusco said Taylor monitors its sources of exotic woods and has a partnership with Greenpeace to create and manage sustainable growth forests in Alaska to provide future guitar stock from trees that needed more than 150 years to reach maturity before harvest.

"They're so concerned about the wood supplies," said guitar player Mike Lombardi of Hebron. "We have to have this stuff in the future so we can't waste it now."

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