Tiki295
Junior Member
I love the fact that these are made in Oxnard 
just across the bridge from my home!
just across the bridge from my home!Oxnard M20 owners / previous owners
- Thread starter curbucci
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davismanLV
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And just up the highway and over the Camarillo grade from my childhood home in Thousand Oaks. All in Ventura County and some of the best scenic land in the world. Not Oxnard, itself, but Port Hueneme and Ventura and Camarillo. Such a beautiful spot on earth!! :encouragement:I love the fact that these are made in Oxnard
Placed an order for a natural M20 from a big box store. I did try out two locally and I was hoping to bring one home. 1 had factory electronics which I passed on for I'll have a K&K installed. Set up was from factory and it sounded great.The other one from another local shop had the action set too low for me and I suspect it was done in house at the shop. Low E was 4/32 at 12th fret.
Last edited:
adorshki
Reverential Member
???
That's about a 32nd higher than Guild's last published action spec of 5.5-6/64 on bass E.
My bad. It was 4/64 not 4/32. I like my low E action at 5 to 5.5/64 at 12th fret.
adorshki
Reverential Member
Been there, done that, just wanted to be sure.
:friendly_wink:
M-20 arrived yesterday and great first impression out of the box. Did not need to tweak truss rod and action is where I like it. Switched out exp strings today for some John Pearse phosphor bronze lights. Guitar is lively. Seems to suit my playing style well. I play fingerstyle with no finger picks. Punchy sound with alternate tunings.
howardjeffreymusic
Member
I found 80/20 really bring the punchiness out....
tjmangum
Senior Member
Plus one. That's a great model!
macandcheese
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Definitely give the D'addario Nickel Bronze's a chance. I've tried 80/20, PB, and to me these sound the best. My other guitars all have Elixir 80/20 but for the M20 I use the Nickel Bronze Lights. Of course YMMV
Definitely give the D'addario Nickel Bronze's a chance. I've tried 80/20, PB, and to me these sound the best. My other guitars all have Elixir 80/20 but for the M20 I use the Nickel Bronze Lights. Of course YMMV
I will give those NB's a whirl after I go through the 3 packs of the Pearse PB lights I have.
Thank you very much!
Thinking of ordering one. I hope they're shipping these days :nevreness:
Gabby84
Junior Member
Did you get the bridge pins? What’s your experience with them if you did?
howardjeffreymusic
Member
I love them. Don't laugh though -- they ended up on my Martin D28 and I put a set of Waverly snakewood pins on the M20 -- and they look fantastic!
Gabby84
Junior Member
photos? On both? interested in seeing how the snakewood looks on the M20. trying to find tuner buttons that would fit to replace the plastic ivory ones.
Nuuska
Enlightened Member
Just to pick on that non-metric thingy - isn't "5 to 5.5/64" more like "10 to 11/128" ???
I know - I´m just an old smart-ass
![[J.K.]](/ltg/data/avatars/m/33/33267.jpg?1584938329){kind=avatar}
[J.K.]
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I had one of the recent M-20s for a couple months. I really liked it, honestly.
Ultimately I ended up selling it because a) I really wanted a vintage M-20, and b) I just couldn't get used to the nut width.
I had originally intended it to be a replacement for my Martin 00-15M. Comparing the two, the 00-15M sounded "richer" in the low mids, but more congested and less clear overall (which is somewhat surprising considering it has a 25.4" scale). The M-20 had a more aggressive upper-midrange and, though I think the fundamentals of the 00-15M were more prominent, the lows on the M-20 were more audible for whatever reason. I suspect it's just that the thicker low-mids of the Martin kind of swallowed up the low E and A strings, whereas the balance of the M-20 allowed the overtones of the lower strings to be more distinct. I loved the guitar; it was well-made, attractive, and had the ideal scale length. Had it not been for the nut width, I would've kept the M-20, but I sold it to get a vintage M-20 (I prefer a 1 11/16, but I'll take a 1 5/8" over a 1 3/4" any day, in spite of my large hands).
The vintage M-20 I have now is perfect for me, and while I find it to be mellower than the reissues by a good margin, I think the reissues aren't far off once broken in. Eventually I'll probably get rid of the 00-15M, but my M-20 is delicate enough that I like having the 00-15M around to take places and not have to worry about much.
Quick side-note on the string talk: it sounds counterintuitive to use mellow strings on a mellow guitar, but after going through no less than a dozen sets, I've found that the Newtone Double-Wound strings sound amazing on the M-20. For my 63 M-20, I use 11-50 (may try the 11-52s to compare) to keep the tension light, but even with the lighter low E string, it still sounds full and balanced playing fingerstyle. I generally play with DR Sunbeams, but I found the DWs to be almost as brilliant, just with a little more body.
Ultimately I ended up selling it because a) I really wanted a vintage M-20, and b) I just couldn't get used to the nut width.
I had originally intended it to be a replacement for my Martin 00-15M. Comparing the two, the 00-15M sounded "richer" in the low mids, but more congested and less clear overall (which is somewhat surprising considering it has a 25.4" scale). The M-20 had a more aggressive upper-midrange and, though I think the fundamentals of the 00-15M were more prominent, the lows on the M-20 were more audible for whatever reason. I suspect it's just that the thicker low-mids of the Martin kind of swallowed up the low E and A strings, whereas the balance of the M-20 allowed the overtones of the lower strings to be more distinct. I loved the guitar; it was well-made, attractive, and had the ideal scale length. Had it not been for the nut width, I would've kept the M-20, but I sold it to get a vintage M-20 (I prefer a 1 11/16, but I'll take a 1 5/8" over a 1 3/4" any day, in spite of my large hands).
The vintage M-20 I have now is perfect for me, and while I find it to be mellower than the reissues by a good margin, I think the reissues aren't far off once broken in. Eventually I'll probably get rid of the 00-15M, but my M-20 is delicate enough that I like having the 00-15M around to take places and not have to worry about much.
Quick side-note on the string talk: it sounds counterintuitive to use mellow strings on a mellow guitar, but after going through no less than a dozen sets, I've found that the Newtone Double-Wound strings sound amazing on the M-20. For my 63 M-20, I use 11-50 (may try the 11-52s to compare) to keep the tension light, but even with the lighter low E string, it still sounds full and balanced playing fingerstyle. I generally play with DR Sunbeams, but I found the DWs to be almost as brilliant, just with a little more body.
Just got around to trying the Nickel Bronze by cashing in my D'Addario players points. I am really liking the NB's. I used to use the GHS White Bronze and Pearse pure nickels when I used old magnetic style pickups for acoustic. After I switched to K&K's I went to PB strings and did not use Nickel type strings for a long time and favored the strong mids that PB brought out. I didn't think I would stray from PB but lo and behold here I am with a nickel type strings again bringing more definition with the Oxnard M20. They started out a little bright but have settled in well. I have read the NB's are nickel plated bronze strings vs pure nickel or monel wraps. Slight decrease in volume and mids but they sound great.Definitely give the D'addario Nickel Bronze's a chance. I've tried 80/20, PB, and to me these sound the best. My other guitars all have Elixir 80/20 but for the M20 I use the Nickel Bronze Lights. Of course YMMV
This M20 has been a great match with my playing style.