How many of you own Martins?
- Thread starter archiestone
- Start date
irishjohnny
Junior Member
Currently own a 000-28 and a HD-28.
Have owned a 1966 D-35 & a D-18.
Have owned a 1966 D-35 & a D-18.
Chazmo said:Hey, RT66... I remember your pictures of that beauty up on the roof of your store (I can't remember if that was here or over on one of the other guitar fora). I have to tell you, that triple-D looks GREAT now with the new patina and finish job. It also looks to me like you added two purfling strips on the top, am I right? Is that paint or did you actually rout it out and do it in wood? Man, that is a whole lotta' guitar to love.
It's *almost* an HDDD! You just need to do some herringbone and shift the braces a little.
Seriously, has Mr. Martin seen this? I can't imagine him not being impressed with this American-sized homage.
Thanks Chaz
Yes the purfling is a new upgrade from the original. Always thought the edges needed something.
I used a majic marker taped to a stick. Only the best work for this baby.
I sealed it with shellac in case the oil finish smeared the lines.
There was a time factor involved as usual, but I did think about breaking out the router.
Will see how it holds up. May use the router yet.
I'm amazed it has lasted this long as it is between wind storms that gust up to 100mph, and weeks of 20-30 below zero, snow storms plus sun and rain.
I made it in the spring of 2003 after the store aquired a Martin dealership. The Martin Rep was there on raising day and took pictures which must have made their way to Pennsylvania.
Can't believe its been 6 years already.
Upgrades from the original include using quarters for fret markers as the birch dowels didn't show up that well. A better shaped pickgard and now the "purfling".
The new store doesn't have a flat roof so not sure where it will end up.
There is an official grand opening this month so will be interesting even it is justed proped up near the front door.
RT
Cypress Knee
Member
I have a CSN Tolman model (dred) and an 000-28 12 fret Norman Blake slothead. I had a mid-70's D 35 but never liked it much.
I went to the Nazfest last weekend and got to play a couple of the F512 knockoffs and the new Grand J 35. Nice guitars, but not quite up to F512 or the F50R yet.
My prediction is the Fender is going to blow it in the acoustic marketplace with the Guild name and that Gibson is having significant economy related issues right now that will impact J 200 sales and production and Martin can see this coming and is getting ready to step up to the plate and be the clean-up hitter when the others strike out.
Just my .02 today.
CK
'73 F 50R tops the Blake
Carlo Greco Dred tops the CSN
I went to the Nazfest last weekend and got to play a couple of the F512 knockoffs and the new Grand J 35. Nice guitars, but not quite up to F512 or the F50R yet.
My prediction is the Fender is going to blow it in the acoustic marketplace with the Guild name and that Gibson is having significant economy related issues right now that will impact J 200 sales and production and Martin can see this coming and is getting ready to step up to the plate and be the clean-up hitter when the others strike out.
Just my .02 today.
CK
'73 F 50R tops the Blake
Carlo Greco Dred tops the CSN
CK, you're the first Guildphile I've known who's had his hands on those Grand Js... Can you say any more about the impressions / comparisons to the F-512 and F-50R? I'm interested to hear.Cypress Knee said:
Oh, and FYI, it's Carlo Greco not Carlos.
p.s./ I hope you're wrong about the "new" Guild as the Connecticut factory ramps up. There's no question, though, that what you're saying is a possibility. Besides, the exclusive Martin players may not have played the jumbo Gibbys or Guilds and thus do not have that heritage to compare it to. The ones who've spoken about the Grand J on the UMGF (at least the GJ12-40E model) have had glowing praise for it.
Chazmo said:RT 66 said:
Chazmo
Nobody, and I mean nobody, does a classier headstock than Martin. One of these days I want a "standard" model with a slothead and maybe even a torch inlay if I get lucky.
Right Chaz!
I think so too.
We had a slotted head Martin 12 fret model for a while. Forget the model number. It sounded better than most of the 14 fret models.
Pics just don't do the torch thing any justice for the color variations but here is a couple anyway.
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fungusyoung
Senior Member
TonyT said:
I wish they made more M (or 0000) models. Very cool guitars!
Tend to agree with the Cypress Knee re: Guild's long past 12 string dominance. They have already lost a ton of ground to Taylor in recent years to the point where Martin's probably going after Taylor's market share & not even thinking about Guild anymore.
I mean, I'm sure the Tacoma 412's and 512's are amazing instruments, but besides those 2 models (and exempting GAD's), what USA made 12 strings has Guild even offered in the past 10 years?
Cypress Knee
Member
I took a JF 55 12 to the Martin get-together, and many of those who played or listened to it commented that Guild was still the standard to beat in 12-strings. However, none of those people were recent Martin 12 jumbo 12-string owners! One player actually told me that the JF5512 was the loudest acoustic guitar that he had ever heard.
Regarding Martin going forward: I was able to be present at the luncheon where Chris Martin was the featured speaker. First of all, it is amazing to think that a family owned business could stay in the family for six generations. After a couple of generations there are generally a lot of heirs who don't want anything to do with the business, but do want their piece of the pie, and after numerous children, marriages, divorces, and so forth a family-owned business dissipates around the third generation.
Secondly, it was clear that they regard their factory workers as a most prized resource. He was rambling, but bear with me a bit. A) The cost of laminates vs. solid wood is such that it is now cheaper to make solid wood guitars. B) High end guitars are not selling. Dealers aren't ordering, so manufacturers aren't making, they are laying off workers. C) Martin decided to build their 1 series of entry level guitars out of solid wood in the PA factory instead of Mexico so that they could retain their employees as they figure that the market for higher end instruments will eventually return and they did not want to loose that experience. They do have enough orders for the entry level instruments to keep the work force employed and pay their bills, though their overall margins are down.
He did not name any competitor by name, so we were guessing. Many of his competitors skipped the NAMM shows this year. So how could they get orders if they weren't where the big buyers were? Competitors who build Martin copies are hurting in a big way because they have so few orders for new production. (We were guessing he was talking about high-end guitars, probably Collings and/or Santa Cruz.) One major competitor is not paying bills at all. This is a concern because like the car business, there are many manufacturers of small parts that supply everyone. So the people building truss rods or tuning machines are getting paid by Martin, but not by some of the other people, so now Martin is concerned about some of their suppliers staying in business.
They are getting offers to obtain wood, but aren't entertaining them unless there is a huge discount from regular wholesale prices because it just ties up their capital. So there is an oversupply of wood out there, prices will probably come down before this is all over.
He went on, it was interesting, and must in attendance felt that Martin will pull out of this in the long run, but do wonder about some of the other guys out there.
Enough for now.
CK
Regarding Martin going forward: I was able to be present at the luncheon where Chris Martin was the featured speaker. First of all, it is amazing to think that a family owned business could stay in the family for six generations. After a couple of generations there are generally a lot of heirs who don't want anything to do with the business, but do want their piece of the pie, and after numerous children, marriages, divorces, and so forth a family-owned business dissipates around the third generation.
Secondly, it was clear that they regard their factory workers as a most prized resource. He was rambling, but bear with me a bit. A) The cost of laminates vs. solid wood is such that it is now cheaper to make solid wood guitars. B) High end guitars are not selling. Dealers aren't ordering, so manufacturers aren't making, they are laying off workers. C) Martin decided to build their 1 series of entry level guitars out of solid wood in the PA factory instead of Mexico so that they could retain their employees as they figure that the market for higher end instruments will eventually return and they did not want to loose that experience. They do have enough orders for the entry level instruments to keep the work force employed and pay their bills, though their overall margins are down.
He did not name any competitor by name, so we were guessing. Many of his competitors skipped the NAMM shows this year. So how could they get orders if they weren't where the big buyers were? Competitors who build Martin copies are hurting in a big way because they have so few orders for new production. (We were guessing he was talking about high-end guitars, probably Collings and/or Santa Cruz.) One major competitor is not paying bills at all. This is a concern because like the car business, there are many manufacturers of small parts that supply everyone. So the people building truss rods or tuning machines are getting paid by Martin, but not by some of the other people, so now Martin is concerned about some of their suppliers staying in business.
They are getting offers to obtain wood, but aren't entertaining them unless there is a huge discount from regular wholesale prices because it just ties up their capital. So there is an oversupply of wood out there, prices will probably come down before this is all over.
He went on, it was interesting, and must in attendance felt that Martin will pull out of this in the long run, but do wonder about some of the other guys out there.
Enough for now.
CK
Scratch
Enlightened Member
Dang you fellers anyway!! :wink: :roll: Pam is so upset with you!
Meet 'Farley'... I was too slow getting to the eBay F47 over the weekend and I lost control of my fingers on this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... tsupported
Arrives early next week... And you guys all have to sleep on the porch for this! :lol: :lol:
Meet 'Farley'... I was too slow getting to the eBay F47 over the weekend and I lost control of my fingers on this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... tsupported
Arrives early next week... And you guys all have to sleep on the porch for this! :lol: :lol:
Scratch, what inspired you to grab a Martin?
kydave
Member
I searched long and hard to find a used 0000-28H, which is the "M" size model that Martin briefly issued (they only made 256 of them) between the time of the end of the original M-38/M-36 run and the recent re-introduction of them.
I remember back in 1976 when the M-38 first came out, it really appealed to me. But I was a working musician who had just purchased a new D-28 a few years earlier and certainly couldn't afford 2 Martins at that point in my life. The interest never went away though, and last year I scored a 1999 0000-28H. Fantastic guitar!
My wish-list Martin now is a Custom Shop version of this guitar, with Adi top, ivoroid binding and squares & diamond fretboard inlay (and straightgrained Braz in my dreams).
Meanwhile, Martin-wise I'm down to my D-28 that I've had for 38 years, and the 0000-28H but VERY happy about it!
Scratch
Enlightened Member
Chazmo said:
Uncontrollable GAS Chazzy!
Actually, I like gigging with 'hogs', I have an audition at a new restaurant coming up, and I really wanted a cutaway Guild. Some songs I've been working on are capoed well up the neck... I offered on the D40 cutaway over the weekend but it was not accepted. I really liked it, but it needed another $200.00 at least to get it where I would have wanted it (new bridge, K&K mini p/u, setup etc.) and I wasn't willing to meet the seller's counteroffer.
At the same time, I was gas'n big time over the F47 hog but couldn't bid until the D40ce guy got back to me. By the time he did, the F47 was gone. I'd been scoping the Marty as a third option; read good reviews, and I've had good experiences with Martins in the past. As it turned out 'Farley' was my only option.
Martin is the only other brand that appeals to me... One in the fold (to complement Maddie's Little Martin) is OK...
Graham
Venerated Member
Even though it's subjective, can someone try and explain the Martin "sound" to me?
When ever I go to a store to play guitars I always play them, but the ones I've played just don't do anything for me. Could be the strings, could be the models I've played, though I have played a D-28 and a D-35 as well as a OOO-18.
Could just be what sounds good to my ears I guess.
When ever I go to a store to play guitars I always play them, but the ones I've played just don't do anything for me. Could be the strings, could be the models I've played, though I have played a D-28 and a D-35 as well as a OOO-18.
Could just be what sounds good to my ears I guess.
Graham
Venerated Member
:lol: :lol: :lol:TonyT said:This means I'm getting a new guitar soonPike said:"Pooky", what a neat name Scratch!
If Ken keeps it up, he'll be in one of those cases one of these days. :lol:
Yeah, me either Graham. I stop in at the local GC's frequently, just to play and see what's available. Took my D55 along one time to compare. Both Sue and I agreed and it was obvious, there wasn't a Martin rosewood dreadnaught that could touch it and the Taylors were tinny in comparison. Granted, the D55's got ten plus years on a new guitar, but still... The only thing that even came close was a Martin HD28, but still not as good, and three times what I paid for my pre owned D55.