Martin Guitars

[Danny]

Yes, I am enjoying the smell of my new custom OO-15SM from My Favorite Guitars!!

Need some pics please.

[Strings4Him]

I just realized I forgot an "O."  It is a OOO-15SM.  Dan I will try to get some pics up sometime, but I will be quite busy for the next week or so 

[prof_stack]

I think you have a 000-15SM, not a OOO-15SM. 

Just teasing.  Enjoy that sweet guitar!

[Broadus]

Martin has the tone I enjoy hearing. I started learning almost three years ago as the typical geezer wanting to play guitar. I went through eight or nine guitars, including an L-03R and an OM-03R, before I bought my 2005 OM-21 last July. I had actually avoided Martins because I didn't want to be accused of buying for the name on the headstock. Since I've had my OM-21, though, I haven't seriously thought about another guitar since. I would love to add an LV down the road, but it wouldn't be to replace my OM-21.

Bill

[cke]

Take away brand loyalty and they are just two companies who make very good guitars.

I find they (mostly) sound different from one another as a house sound. I like Martin ,the -18's on up, especially the vintage and GE types. Martins are  MY 2nd favorite guitars

[Broadus]

Take away brand loyalty and they are just two companies who make very good guitars.

I don't know if brand loyalty has much to do with folks loving Martins or Larrivees, for that matter. If Martin didn't make really good guitars, I doubt there would be much of a following. Some folks are going to buy a Martin because of the name on the headstock, to be sure, but that's because there is usually something worth having below the headstock, IMO.

Bill

[Danny]

I don't know if brand loyalty has much to do with folks loving Martins or Larrivees, for that matter. If Martin didn't make really good guitars, I doubt there would be much of a following. Some folks are going to buy a Martin because of the name on the headstock, to be sure, but that's because there is usually something worth having below the headstock, IMO.

Bill

Ditto.

[Broadus]

That's my point. 

I was a little confused as to your meaning, to be sure, so I took a stab at responding. At one time I was among those who thought most bought Martins because of the name on the headstock. Personal experience painfully taught me that was not necessarily the case.

Glad we're thinking alike. Sometimes I don't even agree with myself!

Bill

[Escalibore]

What are the qualities of Martin guitars that endeared itself to players?  I'm not asking to spite Martin owners but sincerely wants to learn about its uniqueness.  For example, I like Ovation guitars because of its unique design and sound (but can't describe it in words).  Have some  and  before chiming in. Thanks.

Martins are horrible. Only a cretin would own one.

Brett

[Broadus]

Martins are horrible. Only a cretin would own one.

Brett

What about two? 

Bill

[dermot]

Martins are horrible. Only a cretin would own one.

Brett

Esp if they are the cheap crap ones like the OM42 & the D35MM.... i wouldn't want one of those, no how, no way, no sir.....

well... mmmmaybe if you twist my arm.....

d

[Escalibore]

Esp if they are the cheap crap ones like the OM42 & the D35MM.... i wouldn't want one of those, no how, no way, no sir.....

well... mmmmaybe if you twist my arm.....

d

Dermot and Broadus:

I wish someone would take these two Martins off my hands. This one is the most recent:





Brett

[teh]

Thanks for torturing me. Love the center wedge and I'll bet it adds a whole new dimension to the sound. Too bad Maury's not around to see it.

That's also a great picture on the shelf in the white hat. Priceless actually.

Just wait until Larrivee creates a three piece back.

[Escalibore]

Thanks for torturing me. Love the center wedge and I'll bet it adds a whole new dimension to the sound. Too bad Maury's not around to see it.

That's also a great picture on the shelf in the white hat. Priceless actually.

Just wait until Larrivee creates a three piece back.

Thanks for the kind words, TEH, especially the ones about my pride and joy (my daughter).

The center wedge, in addition to the Italian Alpine Spruce top has made this a very special guitar. It's rich, full, and a perfect balance between complex and articulate. It sounds great flatpicked, strummed or played fingerstyle.  This Maury Meuhlheisen D-35 is much, much more versatile than I thought it would be and is a perfect accompaniment for vocals. At a price point of roughly $2300 through My Favorite Guitars, I consider this model an absolute steal. I'd have paid another thousand for it.

BTW - You and I sure have similar taste in guitars. You've an impressive collection.

Brett

[ice4351]

First of all let me say that I own 6 Martins.  Four of them are custom models.  Martin has a history of success for over 175 years that no other American guitar maker can claim.  They built the first dreadnaught guitars in about 1916 for Ditson.  The workmanship is great.  They are well known for a big booming sound from their bigger guitars and lifetime warranty to the original owners.  However, their smaller guitars are also awesome.  I visited the Martin factory in May of 2010 and was impressed to see that much of the guitar is still made by hand and that there are numerous quality checks. 

[tikabear]

A friend of mine has 3 Martins.  One is a 000R (I think) which is a solid top with laminated RW back and sides.  The others are an HD28 and a 00018.  All are 10+ years old.  He plays the 000R the most because he says is plays best and has the easiest action (it does).  It sounds much better than the 00018 which is very thin sounding IMHO.  The rosewood bridge and fretboard on the 00018 are real light in color unlike the HD28's board and bridge.  It sounds great and plays OK.  It could use a good set up.   I play it whenever I visit.  I would like a nice HD35 but only if I found one for a great price.  I think my Forum II and L03R sound just as good as all of them and 10x better then the 00018.  Of course he's a Martin guy and thinks they are the bees knees just because they are Martins.

[Pickering_Picker]

My perspective on Martins is a bit different -- and keep in mind as you read this that it's very much one person's perspective and worth exactly what you paid for it:

I don't think I've ever played a new Martin rosewood below the Cadillac 40s series (think D-45) that didn't sound congested. That said, I started playing in the '60s and bought into the rosewood-is-better theory, so rarely played mahogany, which is a very different ball game. To my ears Martins tend to sound overbuilt. This primarily means that the top is too thick and/or over-braced. This drastically reduces the number of warranty repairs, which is good for Martin, but severely limits how much sound they can put out in bass and treble (mahogany back/sides models excepted?). After the guitar dries out and gets played in over the years the bass gradually unfolds. Once this happens, the dread body shape and size together with this emphasis on bass results in a very credible flat-picking/bluegrass instrument.

The smaller Martin shapes have less amplitude to begin with due to the smaller resonance chamber. The reputation of the OM and similar for being well-balanced is fine, simply because the smaller resonance chamber reduces the bass so that bass, mid, and treble are closer to being equally quiet.

Because I lived in Toronto, working and teaching in an acoustic guitar specialty shop in the '70s, I had a bird's-eye view of the Larivée school as it unfolded (Larivée himself, David Wren, Linda Manzer, Sergei de Jonge, and Grit Laskin, come to mind). I have to say that initially, Larivée guitars seemed at least as overbuilt as the Martins. I bought a Larivée back then, but sold it within a year, being simply unable to drive enough amplitude out of it. Yet I really wanted to bond to that guitar, both because of the peerless workmanship and because Jean-Claude was such a darned likeable guy.

Fast-forward to 2010. After a few decades in hibernation my interest in steel string was recently rekindled, causing me to shop around to buy one. The shop my son recommended had a room full of acoustics in various price ranges, including Martin, Gibsons, Larivées, and Taylors at the solid wood end. I immediately gravitated to the brand new D-28 -- but, no: the sound hadn't changed a bit: still congested. A used Martin might have interested me but none were in sight. I found the Gibsons more attractive but at a higher price than I was willing to pay for mahogany b+s. I simply ignored the Taylors because I associated the name with funky bolt-on necks with no heel. My tendency was to ignore the Larivées, expecting them to have that overbuilt sound as well. But when I finally did try an L model I was blown away. I suspect my face turned pale in shock. The heft of the guitar told me it was built like a tank -- but the sound!

Alvinlam wrote:
> What are the qualities of Martin guitars that endeared itself to players?

For decades, especially after the Great Depression wiped out much of the guitar building industry, Martin was the one company that kept the faith by making an all-solid-wood instrument with faultless workmanship (workpersonship?). Martin was very much the Steinway of guitars. I'm sure this overbuilt thing I've been going on about was the result of a deeply felt internal struggle between wanting to put out the best possible instrument and needing to stay in business, as in avoiding death-by-repairs. In the '60s there wasn't a lot of choice for the guitar player. If you wanted a quality guitar you bought a Martin D-28 or D-35 whether you could afford it or not, then played it hard for as many years as it took for the sound to come in. We might have been smarter to buy a D-18 (the mahogany b+s model) or a Gibson, but if so we didn't know that.

Beyond that, Martin simply defined the bluegrass flat-picking sound with that nasal, twangy A and D string sound, and the cathedral bass of a played-in dread.

[ffinke]

Welcome to the 'good guy' forum!  

Your perspective on Martin is pretty much consistent with mine except I was more in the fingerstyle folk  part of the 60s. My first 'real' guitar was a Gibson F25 which was traded for a Martin D-18 in about a year and a half. It stayed with me for about 15 years but I started playing more and more classical and the dread was just too big. Plus the sound just wasn't that endearing. I sold it!

After a few years I bought a Guild Maple Jumbo (JF30- I think) and, oh my, what a guitar! Sold it when I got more serious about classical through a store who specialized in vintage Martin repair and sales. I became friends with the owner and heard some old 0s and 00s. Even with the vintage age they just didn't have it for me.

After I got frustrated with the rigors of classical (I quit for 4 or 5 years entirely) I decided to go back to steel strings. My first was a Taylor (always wanted one) and it lasted 13 months. Read an article about JCL and bought an L-03. The original owner only had it for about 6 months and the set-up was not good plus the Sitka takes a while to open up. After the set-up though the guitar has come alive! I thought I wanted another Martin in the 000/OM size to compliment the L but everything in the price I could afford was exactly as you indicated. That's when I played an OM-09 Larrivee that ran circles around anything in the shop AND it had a comfortable neck (hate the V-neck of the GEs).

I ended up with a Collings OM that had not been played much and is finally opening up to its full potential. The other one I have is a Huss and Dalton 00-sp that is nothing short of incredible for fingerstyle. The top is European Spruce and the guitar is a light build which responds to ever nuance I can throw at it.

In short (my opinion only) Martin is selling way too many types of guitars from really nice high end musical instruments to the painted fake wood boxes that make you wonder if they forgot the hand crank on the side. I've owned a Martin. Didn't like it but had nothing else to go to (that I knew about at the time). Owned a Guild. If they were still a privately held company I'd consider going for another. Own a Larrivee and will either keep it forever or downsize slightly. They have the tone and build that rivals really expensive guitars: JCL does it right!!!

Only an opinion but at least it's mine!

f


ps/ again, welcome to the forum

[Broadus]

Welcome to the forum, Pickering_Picker. Thanks for sharing your experiences and perspective. My guitar-playing experiences have certainly been much less than yours, so you can use that proverbial grain of salt here. As a 50-ish geezer, I started right at three years ago and went through quite a few guitars before settling on my OM-21. I, along with several of my on-line friends, as well as a few space-and-time friends, consider the Larrivees that I owned (L-03R and OM-03R) as overbuilt. My OM-21, though, doesn't seem overbuilt at all.

Regardless, I love Larrivees and hope to have another L in the future when there are some funds available that don't need to go towards a more pressing cause. There was a sweet-looking LV-10 that went for a song a few days ago. It was torturous watching that one go!

Bill

[teh]

When I bought my first Martin in 1977 with it's "C" neck and non-adjustable truss rod, my personal assessment at the time and the conventional wisdom from a lot of people back them was that Guilds were the "Taylor" of the day because of their easy action (playability). I still went with a Martin because of the tone and while the blue fiberglass case may have been overbuilt, my D-35 certainly wasn't and it has only improved with age. That's my opinion and since it's not for sale anyway, it's probably a moot point that's not subject to debate. With it's scalloped bracing, my OM-35 built 30 years after my D-35 isn't overbuilt either and it's a nice contrast to the dread.

I thought the two Larrivees I have were both exceptional buys and I continue feel even better with my purchase decisions 5 and 6 years after the fact. My son has a Taylor 214 (solid wood) and I have first right of refusal if he ever decides to sell it. 

I just saw the GE Capital Commercial and it occured to me that if you put Chris Martin, Jean Larrivee and Bob Taylor in the same room for an evening it would be great to just sit back and listen. Bob Taylor is coming out with a new travel guitar and just introduced baritones which Jean Larrivee offfered a couple of years ago. Jean Larrivee has offered several forum guitars and special runs with wood choices like lacewood, bubinga and silver oak. Martin has experimented with HPL and signature models. I think the future is bright because of these three guys and others like them.