Orpheum vs Martin Authentic

guildman63

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2010
Messages
2,996
Reaction score
20
Location
Massachusetts
While we here in LTG already know, I realized that there is no mention in this thread that Ren is indeed staying with Guild and will become a surfer dude in SoCal. Looking forward to his first creation under new ownership, which could be a seafoam green, surfboard shaped guitar. :tongue-new:
 

6L6

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2006
Messages
1,921
Reaction score
112
Location
San Francisco, CA
I haven't been able to lay my hands on an Orpheum yet, but I sure look forward to doing so!

I am into year 3, however, of owning my 2011 Martin '37 D-18A. All I can say is that it's tone and sustain are just off the charts! It is now K&K Pure Mini-equipped and sounds equally great when plugged in.

The guitar is very lightweight and literally rumbles in your chest when you play it. Incredible! Here's a couple pics:

IMG_1290.jpg


IMG_1291.jpg


After listening to some YouTube clips of the Orpheum, it's clear these are also incredible instruments. Can't wait to try one out!

Bill
 

twocorgis

Venerated Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
13,923
Reaction score
6,520
Location
Lawn Guyland
Guild Total
18
I haven't been able to lay my hands on an Orpheum yet, but I sure look forward to doing so!

I am into year 3, however, of owning my 2011 Martin '37 D-18A. All I can say is that it's tone and sustain are just off the charts! It is now K&K Pure Mini-equipped and sounds equally great when plugged in.

The guitar is very lightweight and literally rumbles in your chest when you play it. Incredible! Here's a couple pics:

IMG_1290.jpg


IMG_1291.jpg


After listening to some YouTube clips of the Orpheum, it's clear these are also incredible instruments. Can't wait to try one out!

Bill

I didn't know you had one, Bill. They are stellar guitars.

There was one languishing (and developing a seam crack in the front) at my local GC a while back, and it was wonderful anyway. I knew the store manager well, and he was dreading the day when corporate said to dump it for stupid cheap, and the next thing he'd see it show up on eBay by a flipper. He called up one day and said that call had indeed come from corporate, and I could have it for $3K. I went to the store and brought my D18DC for comparison. I strung up both with the same Martin strings, and honestly, while the Authentic might have sounded slightly better, it wasn't enough to overcome the $1200 I would have had to lay out, and the fact that the Authentic didn't have an adjustable truss rod. Up to this point though, it's still the best square shoulder dread I've ever played, and when you consider how much I love my Crosby, that's not faint praise at all.

Here's my favorite view:

4679662565_13fd2c53bb_b.jpg
 

chazmo

Super Moderator
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
25,466
Reaction score
7,123
Location
Central Massachusetts
Staring at my Orpheum 12, it strikes me how it is very much the Guild that never was. If Al Dronge had been born 30 years earlier... maybe...

By all accounts, the Martin Authentics are wonderful guitars. Perhaps even too true to their progenitors. For a while, I really thought seriously about getting a 1931 D-28A. Bottom line, though, is that I could never justify buying one of these.
 

twocorgis

Venerated Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
13,923
Reaction score
6,520
Location
Lawn Guyland
Guild Total
18
Really? The Martin Authentic have no adjustable truss rod? I had no idea. But I found out they don't. Good info.
Ralf

The reason they're called "Authentic" is that they're built to the exact spec of whatever year is in the model name. I don't think adjustable truss rods were around in 1937, so that's the way the D18 Authentic comes. I too know what Charlie is saying about the D28 Authentic 1931. That guitar caused me to literally run out of Rudy's in SoHo after playing one, before I sold a kidney or something to pay the near $7K price!
 

chazmo

Super Moderator
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
25,466
Reaction score
7,123
Location
Central Massachusetts
Yup, it's true, Ralf. That's the thing... They really are taking the Authentic concept to its extreme.

Hey, Sandy! I have this image in my head now of you running out of Rudy's! :) :)
 
Top