Question: If I could, please let me gloat about my brand new GS8e! It has growling bass, tremendous mids, and glorious, soaring trebles. It is the most even guitar I’ve ever played. How did you determine how thick the top, back and sides should be?  Was it trial and error? If it’s too thin, I could see it being brittle and not as strong acoustically. If it were too thick I could see it really deadening the sound. 
Josh Reynolds

Answer: Josh, you have guitar building rules down pat! But kinda like how I know how to fly a plane. Push the stick forward and the houses get bigger. Pull the stick back and the houses get smaller. And like a pilot who knows the rest of the story, so do we when it comes to making the best-sounding guitars. Trial and error? Certainly, but that was done a long time ago. Now, we just know what to do. The difference between a side that’s too thin and one that’s too thick is the smallest micro-fraction of an inch, and we just know what they should be on a Taylor guitar.