Bought a Martin

adorshki

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They could all say ACME on the headstock…
They still got a catalog.

wile-e-coyote-acme-products-catalog.jpg
 
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I have my Guild D-50 I bought in 1975 and still love the sound and playability of that guitar. My wife recently bought me a Martin CEO-7 and for a small body, mahogany and Adirondack spruce topped guitar it was heads and tails above anything else I have tried in anything close to the price range. It is a lose copy of a Gibson by Martin with it's own sound and feel. I can't wait for it to open up. I like what I like and don't let brand or looks stand in the way. I hope you enjoy your Martin as much as I am enjoying mine!
Thanks John
 
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dreadnut

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I chose my D-25M over a Martin D-18 in 1976, but as someone mentioned that wasn't a stellar time for Martins. But let's face it, they've been around longer than anyone else, they invented the Dreadnaught, and I've played many at Elderly that I would gladly have in my stable if I'd had the cash - including a Jim Croce Signature model, a "Car Talk" model based on Click and Clack, the Tappett Bros. from NPR, and especially a '95 D-45 that was on consignment for $2,500 that I should have traded my car for and hitchhiked home with in retrospect. But there's always "just one more guitar" isn't there? Anyway after I scored my DV-52, I told my wife "That's it. This is more guitar than I ever thought I'd own." Even after owning an '81 F-512.
 

Antney

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What kind of strings do you recommend for a Martin?
 

Neal

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I don't own one, and never have.

I have, however, played a bunch of Martins in Guitar Centers all over America, and only one called to me (a '73 D-18 I almost bought). Maybe the strings were dead on all 500 or so I played, but I never found a new one I wanted to walk out of the store with.
 

deebeewhy

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I'm with two corgis on this. Martin sells a ton of 15 & 16 series instruments. Small-bodied 'hog is for me a transcendent thing. But until you hit the 18 level or above, you are in their economy range. When the Martin rep came to a local GC a few yrs back, he brought some of the most amazing instruments on the planet and let the public hack away at them. I played, among others, the Stephen Stills signature D-45, which made me feel for 20 minutes like I was floating high up above my worries. Nothing could compare!
 

deebeewhy

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Neal: I am not surprised, but that seems to me more a knock on GC than on Martin. I have found the same thing with Gibson acoustics at GC, but when I go to Truetone in Santa Monica, all the Gibsons are superb. There's something to be said for a store that handpicks instruments in Bozeman (or Nazareth) as opposed to taking whatever the factories send you and hoping for the best.
Daniel
 
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DaveKell

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A few years back I stumbled onto a guitar shop during a road trip through Texas hill country. It was in a small house. I was amazed when I entered to find 4 rooms with every top name brand acoustic hanging on the walls. I spent two hours playing every guitar I ever dreamed of. Even a $50,000 Martin. I finally took down a used Guild that was a rather plain dred. The sound was all I had ever been searching for and they were asking $1,400 for it. After getting back home, a few days later, the memory was nagging me constantly and I called them to buy it and have it shipped to me. It had already been sold. I've been playing for 50 years and that is one of only a few guitars that has ever grabbed me. Believe me I play every Guild I encounter in pawn shops and music stores trying to find that tone again. Somewhere that guitar is still speaking to me. I think I would've traded a custom Martin D28 I used to own even up for it!
 

Westerly Wood

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I've tried to convince myself that Guild is the only viable option out there. But, as is usually the case, I've failed. I just can't pigeon hole things like that. I do have a preponderance of Guild for sure but also have several really good Martins, Gibsons and a couple Taylors as well. A statement earlier talked about a lack of Maple offerings from Martin and that is true. However, I once owned (and am still kicking myself for selling it) a J 65M and it was one of the finest Maple guitars I've ever had the pleasure to own and play.

However, at the end of the day, Guild for sure (IMHO) gives you the best value for the money of any made in the USA acoustic guitar.

the Santa Cruz is such a better sounding instrument than any martin, guild or gibson i have owned. but a boutique dread is not really a fair fight. but i know what you mean. now i bet an Orf would be a good battle with the Cruz.
 

Bonneville88

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So... would it fair to compare a late 70's Guild D25 to a late 70's Martin D18?
 

twocorgis

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Neal: I am not surprised, but that seems to me more a knock on GC than on Martin. I have found the same thing with Gibson acoustics at GC, but when I go to Truetone in Santa Monica, all the Gibsons are superb. There's something to be said for a store that handpicks instruments in Bozeman (or Nazareth) as opposed to taking whatever the factories send you and hoping for the best.
Daniel

That's the truth too! Ren Ferguson told me himself that GC "isn't where you want to buy a Gibson", and that's as close to the horse's mouth as you can get.
 

adorshki

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Best post in the whole thread!!!!!!

m7atsk.jpg

Best post in the "What's most Important" thread too:

First and foremost it's the music...the melody, the backbeat, the space each instrument holds in the composition.

A close second is the type of strings on the guitars

:glee:

In fact, I think Zappa's tune "Sleep Dirt" is proof of the assertion:



Frank said:

"The tune itself was composed in a hotel room in Stockholm, Sweden, sometime in November, 1971, as a result of borrowing the Martin guitar (owned then by Mark Volman) and experimenting on a day off during the tour. I eventually traded Mark a Telecaster for the Martin. It now sits unused in a dark corner of the studio"

More here for the Zappa hardcore:
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/notes/Sleep_Dirt.html
:friendly_wink:
 

Westerly Wood

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So... would it fair to compare a late 70's Guild D25 to a late 70's Martin D18?

I oh think the Martin would still win out in most cases. Hard to say really as the arched back does really help with projection.
 

adorshki

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So... would it fair to compare a late 70's Guild D25 to a late 70's Martin D18?
I'm gonna jump in here and say that a few years ago I would have said the archback would win hands down but now I'm gonna say it should be between a D40 and a D18 to really compare apples to apples.
I'm finally really loving my D40.
It used to be the redheaded step-child of the family, the sonic runt of the litter.
Now at the very least I think it'd hold its own against a comparable Martin.
At least I know what I'd listen for if I was shopping Martins:
Beautiful crystal clear bell-like tones with some body to 'em.
Y'know what was really interesting, first noticed it a couple of Friday nights ago?
Although I claw-hammered 12th-fret harmonics simultaneously on only both E strings, the final remaining overtone faded to an "A".
Like it was the guitar's basic resonant frequency.
Anybody else ever noted that about any of their guitars?
That it actually seemed to be "built to a specific pitch"?
 
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Westerly Wood

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I'm finally really loving my D40.
It used to be the redheaded step-child of the family, the sonic runt of the litter.

Al, I am surprised you stuck with Richie then. Kudos to your patience.
then again, I continue to struggle with the Br, try to sell it, take it down, play it a while, try to sell it again, ah forget it. just leave it in closet till one of my kids gets into guitar.
 

adorshki

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Al, I am surprised you stuck with Richie then. Kudos to your patience.
I originally bought it because I thought it was gonna be the one of the last of the breed (American-built Guilds), and it was a Richie Havens model to boot.
But didn't really start warming up to it until I put the '25 in for a refret a few years back and the '40 was the back-up.
When the '25 came back it felt so good I decided I wanted to save it for those special times when "I just had ta gotta have it", and decided the '40 needed to get some time on it to really give it a fair chance anyway, and it became my primary dreadnought player.
So it seemed to hit the magic 250 hour mark about the same time it hit 10 years old and that's when I started really liking it.
I'd done some informal comparisons of sustain (time to decay to silence) between the guitars around '07 I think it was and when I checked again around '11 it had actually improved its sustain, so that was also encouraging.
But I didn't fall in love until a couple of weeks ago.
A completely different long-term ownership experience than the D25.
But I never bought something I didn't intend to keep.
 

Rich Cohen

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Al, I am surprised you stuck with Richie then. Kudos to your patience.
then again, I continue to struggle with the Br, try to sell it, take it down, play it a while, try to sell it again, ah forget it. just leave it in closet till one of my kids gets into guitar.
Woody,
Listened to your cuts on soundcloud....really enjoyed your finger picking...you turn a D25 into a "holy grail guitar" IMHO! If it wasn't already.
 

Westerly Wood

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Woody,
Listened to your cuts on soundcloud....really enjoyed your finger picking...you turn a D25 into a "holy grail guitar" IMHO! If it wasn't already.

Hey Rich, thanks for the kind words. Most of those instrumentals are with the D25, a few with a D50 I had a while back, but sold as it turns out I am not as smart as I had hoped. 😀
 

Neal

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So, Wood, am I to presume that you wrestled the Santa Cruz out of your wife's hands?

I just put some Cleartones on my Huss and Dalton, and it responded with tone that I swear it never had before. It even muscled the Rockbridge (also with Cleartones) and Guild F-50R (Elixers) out of the way in the Battle of the Titans.

I almost sold my F-50 STD yesterday, but came to my senses...
 
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