Martin Guitar Discontinued Instruments

[Silence Dogood]

It used to be, and for a long time, that the guitar maker so many people loved to hate was Taylor.

I have seen a lot of this online over the years.  Taylor is another American Dream story.  Starts out small (in a garage, I think) and becomes huge in the owner's lifetime.  It's a pretty amazing feat. 

Taylor is a quirky, techy-type company.  To me, they are the Apple or Google of the guitar world.  It's always about going beyond with them, where Martin is about tradition.  I like both and they both have their place.  I have bought two Taylors solely to flip and they were both really good guitars, and both were from the lower-end of the lineup. 

I've probably told this story a few times but here it goes again: When I was shopping for my first good acoustic, it came down to a Taylor 314, a Martin D16GT, and my Larrivee D03BW.  I went to GC many times and played the Taylor and the Martin (particular ones that hung on the wall for a long time).  I liked them both a lot.  GC had stopped selling Larrivees by this time but I remembered playing a ton of D03 models back when they stocked them. 

At some point the Martin began to stand out from the Taylor.  But in the end I didn't want a guitar with a fake wood fretboard (micarta is what the D16GT used).  I knew I wanted to keep the guitar for the rest of my life and I wasn't sure the stuff wouldn't crumble at some point (probably a needless worry). 

This was back when I used to get these fliers in the mail from EM Shorts out of Wichita, KS.  They had the Larrivee I ended up buying on the list.  It was sort of like flipping a coin, and I figured, What the heck?  I called them up and bought the Larrivee over the phone using an electronic check (I think).  That was 23 years ago!

[BlueBowman]

Marin has been pretty "corporate" and boring to me for a long time. By that I mean, it feels like accountants are running the company, not musicians...

...And, in the $4k+ range there's just better instruments available.

You're telling me you'd rather purchase a different brand over a $4K Martin 00-18 with a printed top?*

I gotta say, I'm disappointed by the high volume of Martin denigration, dismissal, and even hostility.

Traveler, perhaps I missed it, but I don't see where the hostility is.

*Sarcasm, obviously. They've gone all in on being corporate with the printed tops. It truly baffles me that they sell those guitars. On a $500 beater? Not a fan still, but fine. On a D-18, and now a $4K 00-18? A travesty. 00-18s, particularly the old ones (my grandfather played a '56 model), are awesome guitars. I just don't get why anyone would buy a guitar with a printed top. To me, that's a greater scandal than the binding issue!

[B0WIE]

You're telling me you'd rather purchase a different brand over a $4K Martin 00-18 with a printed top?*

Traveler, perhaps I missed it, but I don't see where the hostility is.

*Sarcasm, obviously. They've gone all in on being corporate with the printed tops. It truly baffles me that they sell those guitars. On a $500 beater? Not a fan still, but fine. On a D-18, and now a $4K 00-18? A travesty. 00-18s, particularly the old ones (my grandfather played a '56 model), are awesome guitars. I just don't get why anyone would buy a guitar with a printed top. To me, that's a greater scandal than the binding issue!

When I get perplexed about things like that I have to go back, maybe just 15 years ago, and remember I didn't know there were other options in the high end. I thought acoustics topped out at Martin and Gibson, and I think most casual players are the same. Martin can do (read; get away with) a lot of things because there's a lot of people who only know Martin and only want to know Martin. I don't say that out of disrespect. They earned their legacy and they do a LOT of things right. I think of them as the Cadillac of guitars. Wonderful, unless you've drove the Euro performance equivalent.

 A client of mine has a vintage Martin collection he's extremely proud of. This guy buys the best of everything. Some of his microphones I've repaired are worth over $20,000ea. When he played one of my Collings, it broke his brain. He'd never heard of that brand but here's this guitar that just shamed his Martins. He even brought them by several times and played them back to back w/ my Collings. I didn't know why he was doing this, then he asked me if he could buy the Collings. Sometimes, I think it's just awareness that drives consumers.

[Silence Dogood]

When he played one of my Collings, it broke his brain. He'd never heard of that brand but here's this guitar that just shamed his Martins. He even brought them by several times and played them back to back w/ my Collings. I didn't know why he was doing this, then he asked me if he could buy the Collings. Sometimes, I think it's just awareness that drives consumers.

Something like this has happened to me more than once with my Larrivee.  One time in particular stands out. There was a local radio guy that put together a choir of 100 guitars and did some shows around the area in local churches.  It was a fun deal to be a part of.  I was sat next to a guy with a new Taylor.  During one of the breaks we started talking about our guitars.  He had rat-holed money and gone hungry to pay for this Taylor.  When he played my Larrivee I could see the disillusionment on his face.  He said, "Why have I never heard of these?"  Then when I told him my guitar cost (way) less than $1000, he looked ill.  He just didn't know.