Queston for current or former Martin owners

[Danny]

I have sold a few Martins in order to finance a few Larrivees.
I still have a few Martins but my Larrivees get a lot more play time. The Martins mostly stay in the closet.

Which Martin models do you have Mark?

[Queequeg]

  Which Martin models do you have Mark?

I gave my HD-28 to my son.
I sold a 00-15
I sold a 000-15S
Sold a 000C-16RGTE

I still have a 1934 0-17
still have a custom shop OM
still have this little 0-18 burst
(pictures here)

[Danny]

   Sweet!

[SMixon]

I bought a Martin D-16gt and had it set up with medium strings and a fishman undersaddle pickup.  Every sound guy that ran sound for us loved it and it was a great guitar. I decided to sell it just simply because I wanted to try something different.  I only paid about $600.00 bucks for it used. I like martin, and the offer a different flavor as well as Larrivee, Taylor etc.... My Martin envy now would really only be for a HD28, or one of the Vintage or GE series guitars.  Otherwise I think I'll pass for now. Not because their other guitars aren't great, but I just like the pre-war specs and styling.

[madoclake]

Glenn - I really appreciate the comment. I'm up in Eastern Canada so I don't think I'll make it to Louisiana anytime soon, although I did visit my cousin twice about 10 years ago when she was living there, an Acadian teaching French.

Interesting! Is she a decendant of the Labine/deGuidry line (who count at least one very good pitcher in their family history)? She might very well have travelled to Lousiana and taught her own (now distant) family members!

[Dru Edwards]

Interesting! Is she a decendant of the Labine/deGuidry line (who count at least one very good pitcher in their family history)? She might very well have travelled to Lousiana and taught her own (now distant) family members!

No, she isn't a decendant of Labine/deGuidry line. That would have been interesting though.

[madoclake]

No, she isn't a decendant of Labine/deGuidry line. That would have been interesting though.

Yes, indeed. My wife is a direct descendant of the well known "Guédry dit Labine" family from Acadia. Her maiden name is in fact Labine. She can trace all the way back to Port Royale, etc. Her family name is also in the church records at Quebec City. I have a picture of her sitting on those same 400 years old church steps that open onto the square at the gates in the lower town. Pretty cool stuff when it is right im front of you. I imagine she has quite a few distant cousins in Lousiana - although her own family was one the many Acadians who were deported to the States but promptly turned around and sneaked back into Atlantic and Lower Canada.

[Danny]

Yes, indeed. My wife is a direct descendant of the well known "Guédry dit Labine" family from Acadia. Her maiden name is in fact Labine. She can trace all the way back to Port Royale, etc. Her family name is also in the church records at Quebec City. I have a picture of her sitting on those same 400 years old church steps that open onto the square at the gates in the lower town. Pretty cool stuff when it is right im front of you. I imagine she has quite a few distant cousins in Lousiana - although her own family was one the many Acadians who were deported to the States but promptly turned around and sneaked back into Atlantic and Lower Canada.

Do y'all know of a good book about the Acadians and the deportation etc? I have always enjoyed the song "Acadian Driftwood", which of course tells some of the folklore in a way. But the facts in a well written book is my kind of read.

[Melodeous]

I suppose there's not an acoustic guitar player alive who hasn't wanted a Martin at some point.  I do too but I recently decided to buy on OM-03 (sight unseen and having never played one) instead of a lower end Martin OM.  This has satisfied my GAS for a while.  

So my question for you current  Martin owners is:  when you got your Martin did it cure your Martin envy?  And for you former Martin owners, what made you sell it and what did you buy to replace it?

`

Not going to bash on a Martin. But, I have found many guitars that exceeded my expectations in both sound and playability that were not Martins. I've also found sound and playability that did not meet my expectations that were Martins. And, of the 5 Martins I've owned all but one of them were due to the name only. The "one" was a 1973 D-35 I bought new but the quality control at Martin at the time was sketchy and the neck of the guitar was still green when shaped. It warped twice, went to Martin twice, and then with full disclosure of its history I gave it away 1-1/2 years after buying it. Martin had it under warranty repair longer than I had playing time on it. That was a very sweet sounding guitar and the whole reason I bought it. I was 18 years old at the time. The guitar cost me $735.00 with HSC. After that I owned a D-18, DM, D12-35 and an OMC-16E. I gave away the D-18, traded the DM on a decent classical of another brand name, sold the D12-35 (bought used) outright due to a pending neck reset I couldn't afford to do and traded the OMC-16E for a Larrivee OMV-09E. The Larrivee was far and away superior to the Martin from my own highly opinionated perspective. The Martin's Vee neck was less playable for me than the modified low oval of the Larrivee. The fretboard radius of the Larrivee also suited my hand better. And, the sound was no comparison. The Larrivee OM owned the Martin in that aspect. I attribute that to the woods. The Martin was Koa and the Larrivee was EIR. Both had spruce tops. That was my second Koa guitar. My first was a Taylor 310 Legends and it was a great sounding guitar. But, the body size of the OMC-16E with Koa just didn't grow on me nor did it open up to my expectations.

So, my experience was Martin has a great product but there are others that move me more. I currently own Breedlove and Goodall guitars but would probably think hard about getting another Larrivee OO-05 should one come up for sale. The one I had and let go is my Seller's Remorse tale.

[kwakatak]

Just curious if you tried the D-16RGT too?  Although I tend to be a mahogany guy, when I compared a 16GT to an R16GT, the rosewood model sounded way better.  Since they were both showroom models, I have no idea of the relative age of the strings.

I did and I didn't like it. I much preferred the GC-MMV but it was $300 above my price range and I'd a ready committed to laying money down on the 16gt at another store.

[vibroluxreverb]

One thing to bear in mind when you pick up a new Martin in a guitar shop and give it a spin is the fact that Martin ships their guitars from the factory with virtually no "set up" whatsoever.  In fact, you could say that they are essentially "un-set-up", intentionally and on purpose.  You have to do quite a bit of work on them to get them to play up to their potential.  And, if you can't do this yourself, it will cost you a bit of cash.  When you buy any new guitar off the rack, you have to do your best to imagine what its full tone potential might be a years down the road when it's opened up.  With a Martin, you also have to imagine how it will play when the saddle is shaved and intonated and the frets are properly dressed and so on..... 

[jwsamuel]

And for you former Martin owners, what made you sell it and what did you buy to replace it?

I have had a number of Martins, all in the quest to satisfy my erroneous belief that a Martin was THE guitar two own. In specific, I did not like the tone or the feel of the two Martin D-28s that I have owned. I thought they both sounded dull, with a lot of thud. I now have a Larrivee D-50 that I love to play.

Jim

[Danny]

I have had a number of Martins, all in the quest to satisfy my erroneous belief that a Martin was THE guitar two own. In specific, I did not like the tone or the feel of the two Martin D-28s that I have owned. I thought they both sounded dull, with a lot of thud. I now have a Larrivee D-50 that I love to play.

Jim

Of all the Larrivees I have owned the D-09 was the one that had the least grab on me. Also I played a D-50 at a store once and was totally underwhelmed. To each his own.

[jwsamuel]

To each his own.

Yep. That's why there are so many different brands and types of guitars. If everyone liked the same thing, there'd only be a need for one model.

Jim

[Glennd]

One thing to bear in mind when you pick up a new Martin in a guitar shop and give it a spin is the fact that Martin ships their guitars from the factory with virtually no "set up" whatsoever.  In fact, you could say that they are essentially "un-set-up", intentionally and on purpose.  You have to do quite a bit of work on them to get them to play up to their potential.  And, if you can't do this yourself, it will cost you a bit of cash.  When you buy any new guitar off the rack, you have to do your best to imagine what its full tone potential might be a years down the road when it's opened up.  With a Martin, you also have to imagine how it will play when the saddle is shaved and intonated and the frets are properly dressed and so on.....  

Curious about where you got this information. A tour of the Martin factory will prove almost everything you have stated here to be wrong. As far as a set up costing anything, every dealer I know of offers free setups on any brand guitar they sell. Any dealer serious about selling guitars will have them properly set up for serious customers to sample. They sure don't want a poor setup or lack of a setup to cost them a sale. Many dealers will even offer a second "adjustment" to the guitar after it has been played for a while. Also Martin has been using a plek machine for some time and fret dressing is definetly a non issue. I have purchased 3 new Martins in the last 14 months and have experienced none of the issues you write about!

[Glennd]

To get back to the original question that started this thread, My Martin aquisitions have just about satisfied my Martin GAS. I still want another Larrivee, probably a 10 series 12 string. Of course that solves none of the GAS for Collings, Bourgeois, SCGC, Huss and Dalton etc.etc.etc. I feel I have been blessed and haven't had a "lemon" yet, in spite of buying my last three as internet purchases. IMO to state guitar A is superior to guitar B and therefore all B guitars are inferior is ridiculous. I am grateful there are so many choices available and hope I get to avail myself of a lot of them.

[vibroluxreverb]

Curious about where you got this information. A tour of the Martin factory will prove almost everything you have stated here to be wrong. As far as a set up costing anything, every dealer I know of offers free setups on any brand guitar they sell. Any dealer serious about selling guitars will have them properly set up for serious customers to sample. They sure don't want a poor setup or lack of a setup to cost them a sale. Many dealers will even offer a second "adjustment" to the guitar after it has been played for a while. Also Martin has been using a plek machine for some time and fret dressing is definetly a non issue. I have purchased 3 new Martins in the last 14 months and have experienced none of the issues you write about!

I suppose I got my "information" from playing Martin guitars for a bunch of years.  All of mine have had a bit of work done to them and, as a result, they play far, far better than they did when I got them.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Martins.  For me personally, they're the best and nothing I said was a knock on them.  In fact, it's a lot smarter and more user-friendly to leave some room for adjustment.  Leave the saddles a bit high and let the end-users shave it down to suit their playing style.  Ditto neck relief.  All that said, while I've known very few players who like the Martin setups just as they come from the factory, if you do, count yourself lucky and ahead of the game.  And, if your local dealer is capable of getting your guitars set up the way you like them, you're even luckier.  My local dealer is one of my best friends and his shop is top notch.  And, their new guitar setups probably satisfy most customers.  But, for his personal guitars, especially his Martins, he uses the same guy I do.  And, frankly, the difference is night and day.          

[jwsamuel]

Any dealer serious about selling guitars will have them properly set up for serious customers to sample.

How is a dealer supposed to know what a good setup is for the people who are going to come in and sample the guitars?

If the dealer sets the action too low, some people might not like it. If the dealer sets the action too high, some people might not like it. Martins ship with the action set high because it is easier to lower the action than raise it. But the idea that a dealer should "properly set up" a guitar is not valid because there is no single proper set up.

Jim

[L07 Shooting Star]

How is a dealer supposed to know what a good setup is for the people who are going to come in and sample the guitars?

If the dealer sets the action too low, some people might not like it. If the dealer sets the action too high, some people might not like it. Martins ship with the action set high because it is easier to lower the action than raise it. But the idea that a dealer should "properly set up" a guitar is not valid because there is no single proper set up.
Jim

True, but there are some guitars, even high end ones,  that are very poorly set up and nobody would enjoy playing.  I would think a store would at least want to make them nice to play for an average player (compare with factory specs and make sure they comply before hanging them on the wall).

[vibroluxreverb]

Basically, the original question posed on this thread was whether or not buying a Martin was the end-all-be-all.  Unfortunately, it's not hat simple.  Obviously, guitar makers (and dealers) typically "set up" their products to show off what they think will be their best qualities.  I some cases. that's not too hard.  But, in the case of Martins, it's a tall order.  Even with the dreadnoughts alone, how would you cover the territory between Gabor Szabo and Clarence White?  Really, one of the beauties of a good Martin is that it's sort of like a blank canvas.  You can make it do almost anything.  Personally speaking, all I can say is this:  I traded a hand built and hand signed Goodall Concert Jumbo straight across for my HD-28.  Call me crazy.  The Goodall was a world class guitar, no question.  For 99.99% of the population, it would have been the end-all-be-all.  And, on top of that, the Martin needed some work.  But, looking back after a few years with the Martin, now that the work has been done and now that it has opened up a bit, I have no regrets whatsoever and no desire for another guitar.  I'd stack it up against anything, head to head.  Point is, it's all very personal and there ain't no such thing as one size fits all.  All the things we look for in guitars, looks, feel, playability and tone, are very subjective.