The Martin thread

Col Mustard said:
The Martin D-28 is like that too. It's a working musician's guitar, not overloaded with fancy inlays and curly maple what.
Sure and Hank Williams played some sleazy honky tonks before he got famous enough to write his own ticket. But how
much did he pay for that D-28 when he bought it? The world wonders. The only reason it's in such rarified air now is because
of who owned it, and how many iconic hits were written on it, and sung over it. If yer not a Hank Williams fan (I'm not)
then it's just another D-28. But I'll bet it still rings like a bell. They all do. *grins
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Emphatically agreed. It really is the sweet spot in the classic lineup.

Don't fancy the bound fretboard on the D-35. Do like the three piece back though.

The back and and the thinner bracing - what do you reckon it does to the tone? @Scott Baxendale ?
 
SG John said:
I remember when he did that. It took over a month to make all the inlays. He wasn't working at the time, and had most of the material on hand. All the lumber is reclaimed mahogany and ebony from tearing apart and restoring old buildings in either Ireland or England. All the lumber used for the guitar was over 100 years old. He made all the inlay patterns from photos, and cut each piece by hand. And several were victim of an "Oh Fvvvvvvvck!!!!!!" where they were done several times before they didn't break or came out as he wanted. When I visited him in Ireland the first time, many of the cardstock patterns were still laying about in his kitchen (workshop).
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Here is my most elaborate inlay project. This was a guitar Travis Tritt played in music video in the 80’s.
 

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Scott Baxendale said:
I feel like I’m the only one here who’s ever seen, owned, or played any real vintage Martins? I’ve restored several Martins made during the Civil War years, and dozens from the Golden Age of pre 1938 models.
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Closest I’ve come is a pre-war model. As in WW2. The owner and I were jamming. I was playing my Ovation. He was on his Martin. He didn’t offer. I didn’t ask. I could tell he was over the top protective. I respected that. But darn. It would have been really cool to play it.
 
Here is a comparison video between one of our rebuilt Harmony H162’s and a 1960 Martin OOO-18. These both are the same woods and body shape and size. We sell the Harmony’s for less than a third of the price of the Martin.

 
67plexi said:
My second guitar still have it Harmony H 1260 Sovereign got it used in 1969

I did have a 1914 Washburn Brazilian rosewood back and sides ceder v neck
cat gut strings looked like this one.

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Those old Washburn models like this are really a steel string guitar. We finished a rebuild on one of these recently and have a couple in the works. In this clip this Trornward guitar is essentially the same as a Washburn. This guitar is purported to have been made by Washburn and is built and designed like your Washburn.
 
Scott Baxendale said:
I feel like I’m the only one here who’s ever seen, owned, or played any real vintage Martins? I’ve restored several Martins made during the Civil War years, and dozens from the Golden Age of pre 1938 models.
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My dad, the statistician used to sometimes say, "Well... it depends on where you put your zero."
I did post some photos of my old 0-17... *shrugs. She was the most vintage guitar I've ever held
and played, and tuned and put strings on her, and recorded with. I'm truly blessed to have been
her caretaker for a while, before passing her on.
onstage2012 5x@100.jpg
But yes, you move in very rarified society, and most of us have never seen guitars such as you tell of.
Most of us WILL never see anything like those, except maybe at Hard Rock Cafe... if those aren't
replicas.
We might have heard some of our heroes play guitars like those, if we paid a lot to get in to the show.
They are rare, and they are so costly that some of us would be uncomfortable handling them, others of
us would not be allowed near. *grins "get security... he's back!"

I saw Jackson Browne play solo some years ago, and he traveled with a trailer truck full of guitars.
He set out a rack with 23 instruments on the stage. I walked down to right in front of the stage to
look. And I counted them. But I didn't write down their make and year. They all sounded awesome.
Jax travels with his own sound man too, who knows how each of his collection is supposed to
sound. I imagine some of his collection might be elderly.

I've heard that Billy Gibbons has a sizable collection, but he mostly plays newer instruments, hand made by
a specialist. He owns a collection of classic cars too, but he prolly doesn't drive any of them down
the Embarcadero. Me, I'm a chevy guy.

Being so, I'm happy with my now reduced collection of 21st century guitars. Mine are useful, and practical and
they sound as good as I can play. Also they don't require the services of an armed guard. I would never even
look at one of those old ones, because I don't own enough liability insurance to cover me getting close to
one. I'm hard on my stuff, and all my instruments have dings and scratches. So I play guitars that can take it.
People claim that the really old ones are better, but I don't care. I like the ones I have.
GrpOf7@100.jpg
 
Bob the builder said:
I had 1 of those x series
Couldn't agree more
Love the neck + the sound (acousticly)
Couldn't control the feedback plugged in
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I got my favorite luthier to bring the little microphone right up to the neck near the edge of the sound hole.
He attached it there. That's the sweet spot.
I've had zero problems with feedback. The Martin XC1T sounds great plugged in.
IMG_6317.jpeg
I also use a Fishman Pro-EQ with an XLR line that goes to the P.A. or else to my Fishman Loudbox mini.
No feedback problems. Sure and mic placement has a lot to do with it, and maybe some of the controls
on that Fishman preamp. For me, the XC1T has been a dependable workhorse, and she takes her place
onstage alongside guitars costing ten times what I paid for her. I'm very happy with mine.f
She can boldly go where some of those hi-falutin' "vintage" guitars' OWNERS fear to tread.
peddle board 2024.jpeg
 
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