Doyle Dykes Anniversary Edition Model from Taylor

Jul 22, 2005

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Taylor Guitars and Doyle Dykes are celebrating 10 years of a creative partnership, a deepening friendship, and the success of Doyle's guitar workshops on Taylor's behalf, by releasing the Doyle Dykes Anniversary Edition guitar (DDAE). The DDAE is modeled after the original Doyle Dykes Signature Model (DDSM), a flamed maple Grand Concert beauty that was introduced in 2000 as a Limited Edition and, due to its popularity, added to the Taylor line in 2001.

Like the DDSM, the DDAE features classic "Chet-Atkins-style", half-moon abalone fret markers, and a tight-grained Sitka spruce top adorned with a 600 Series abalone soundhole rosette. The ebony peghead is graced with the master fingerstylist and frequent Grand Ole Opry performer's signature, inlaid horizontally in mother of pearl on the headstock (readable when the guitar is in the playing position), flanked by matching sets of Taylor gold tuners with Ebonoid buttons.

The ebony headstock of the DDAE crowns a 24-7/8-inch neck of Hard Rock maple. Taylor's standard scale length is 25-1/2-inches, but Doyle inspired the creation of a new neck length when he told Bob Taylor a few years ago that he had been experiencing hand fatigue brought on by a combination of his taxing playing style and extended touring over many years.

Taylor designed a new DDSM for his friend, and discovered that, in addition to offering ergonomic benefits, the 24-7/8-inch scale yielded a unique, silky twang; he has since incorporated the design into a number of Limited Edition models, including the 30th Anniversary Grand Concert (XXX) LTDs.

Doyle Dykes was exclusively an electric guitarist until he played his first Taylor acoustic in 1995 and discovered that he preferred the Taylor necks to those of his favorite electrics. He soon joined the Taylor Workshop Program and spent the next decade blazing a path to fingerstyle fame, changing the world of acoustic music forever, and becoming a Taylor Guitars figurehead in the process. Gifted with breathtaking virtuosity and "down-home" charisma, Dykes has conducted literally hundreds of workshops for tens of thousands of fans at Taylor dealerships in the United States, Canada, and overseas, most of them for SRO crowds.

The DDAE will ship in late summer, 2005.

For more information, visit their web site at www.taylorguitars.com.