2009 Taylor xxxv-ga-bz engelmann spruce

Taylor Guitars was founded in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug in El Cajon, California, and over five decades grew from a small repair shop into one of the most significant acoustic guitar manufacturers in the world. Taylor's approach — rooted in precision manufacturing, forward-thinking engineering, and rigorous quality control — produced instruments that changed what players expected from an American-made acoustic guitar. By the time the company's 35th anniversary arrived in 2009, Taylor was building some of the most sought-after acoustic guitars in production, and the company celebrated the milestone with one of the most ambitious and varied limited edition collections it had ever attempted.

The Brazilian rosewood models occupied the very top of that collection. Brazilian rosewood — Dalbergia nigra — has been regulated under CITES Appendix I since 1992, making it effectively inaccessible for new guitar production except from pre-existing legal stocks. Taylor's access to their ultra-limited reserves for the anniversary series was exceptional, and Bob Taylor hand-selected each rosewood set personally from the company's supply, designing each instrument around the individual characteristics of the wood. The result was a small number of instruments representing the pinnacle of Taylor's production capabilities, and among them, the XXXV-GA-BZ — the Grand Auditorium configuration — stands out as one of the most versatile and musically complete of the anniversary models.

This example, Serial #1011179032, pairs an Engelmann spruce top with the hand-selected Brazilian rosewood back and sides in Taylor's Grand Auditorium body — the body shape that defined Taylor's reputation for balance, articulation, and tonal versatility across playing styles. The GA's waist and proportions sit between a dreadnought and an OM, producing a guitar that responds equally well to a light fingerstyle touch and a confident flatpicking attack. Fitted with Taylor's Expression System electronics for amplified performance, 35th Anniversary fingerboard inlay, abalone rosette and top trim, gold tuning machines, and ebony fingerboard and bridge throughout.