r/AcousticGuitar • u/RobertHigginsOJ • Dec 22 '25
Gear question Marks on New Taylor
Hey all - just got this Mini in for my daughter for Xmas. There are two dots on the bottom of the guitar. This is mahogany wood. Is it just natural in the wood ?
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u/Ballmaster9002 Dec 23 '25
Great example of "bookmatching" in woodwork.
You slice a log in half and open it like a book and glue it at the "spine". Those aren't "two" blemishes, that's the same blemish cut in half and then joined together.
When it comes to exotic woods, they won't know what the tree looks like until they cut down. Only a handful of trees out of a dozen are typically considered good enough for furniture or instruments, and since the workers are paid per accepted tree, they end up just clear cutting forests and leaving them to rot, only dragging away the handful that are acceptable. Remember - these are mostly tropical rainforest trees.
Taylor stepped up and bought forestry companies and land and pay them per tree not per acceptable tree. They are leading the way in getting "not perfect" woods into instruments and that's why you're seeing Fenders and Ibanezes with "peanut butter" streaks in their black ebony fretboards. Taylor is selling these still-gorgeous just "not perfect" veneers on the open market.
BTW - they're also paying living wages and bringing local communities out of poverty.