We’re pleased to announce a new string partnership with our friends at D’Addario. We are officially making the transition to D’Addario’s premium XS coated Phosphor Bronze guitar strings on our steel-string acoustic guitars.
This collaboration marries decades of category-leading innovation from each company, combining Taylor’s award-winning guitar performance with D’Addario’s string manufacturing expertise. The end result is another step forward in Taylor’s efforts to give players an exceptional playing experience in feel and sound.
Effective immediately, Taylor’s U.S.-built models will be strung with XS Phosphor Bronze strings, while Mexico-built Taylor guitars will begin transitioning to the new strings starting this summer.
“We’re excited for this new chapter of partnership with D’Addario,” says Andy Powers, Taylor’s Chief Guitar Designer, President and CEO. “The XS strings are really consistent and produce a great response. They have all the metrics that make a guitar sound musical: pitch accuracy, dynamic range, feel, sustain. They work exceptionally well.”
Powers felt the performance virtues of the strings fit particularly well into his guitar design philosophy for Taylor’s ever-evolving guitar lineup.
The string partnership reflects an inherent creative kinship between the two companies. Taylor and D’Addario were founded within a year of each other, they share similar histories, values and cultures, and each is known for boundary-pushing acoustic guitar innovation, always looking for ways to improve the sound, feel and performance of the guitar.
“This is so much more than an iconic guitar company and string manufacturer coming together,” says Jim D’Addario, founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Innovation Officer of D’Addario “It’s about what can happen when insatiably curious people get together for the sole purpose of elevating what’s possible for musicians. Taylor truly embodies that ethos.”
The two companies also have a history of collaboration. In 2017, their joint efforts resulted in a specially designed D’Addario nylon-core string that made it possible for Taylor to launch the award-winning GS Mini Bass, which delivered unprecedented control and low-end punch in a short-scale acoustic bass guitar, resulting in a remarkably comfortable playing experience.
Taylor’s decision to adopt D’Addario’s XS strings is based on the XS line’s superior performance benefits, including maximum tuning stability, extremely long-lasting string life, enhanced durability and break resistance, and an ultra-thin coating process for a smooth feel. Launched in 2021, XS Strings are D’Addario’s most innovative string line to date. (Taylor also uses D’Addario strings — Pro-Arté Carbon — on its nylon-string models.)
D’Addario’s track record of performance consistency was another important consideration for Taylor’s Andy Powers.
“More than anything, what I always look for is whether the strings all behave in the same kind of way,” he says. “As a guitar maker, I want the exact same character from one string to the next. Otherwise, you can ruin everything about the guitar.”
In each XS string set, the wound strings feature an ultra-thin protective film coating, while the plain steel strings feature a unique polymer treatment — which keeps all six strings protected from performance-impacting contaminants. D’Addario’s proprietary Fusion Twist technology and NY Steel core wire deliver unprecedented tuning stability and enhanced break strength on each XS string. The XS line is available in the most popular acoustic guitar string gauges in Phosphor Bronze and 80/20 Bronze.
Taylor x D’Addario: The Conversation
Earlier this year, in preparation for the launch of our string partnership, Bob Taylor and Andy Powers visited D’Addario’s headquarters in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York, to participate in a conversation with Jim D’Addario. Fretboard Journal publisher Jason Verlinde moderated the chat, as Bob, Andy and Jim reflected on their relationship, their respect for each other, the philosophies of their respective companies, and why they make compatible business partners.
