Anyone up for the Martin tour next Wed. or Thur.?

[Chicago Sandy]

Hi, all,

Gotta be in Philadelphia next week (Tues. eve 4/12 through Fri. aft. 4/15) with my husband for an echocardiography course. He's taking the course, leaving me to hang out at the Franklin Inst., go shopping, or do something far more constructive: take the Martin Guitar factory tour in Nazareth. Checked Mapquest, and it's about 90 min. from my hotel downtown. The tour starts at 1 pm and lasts about an hour. I'd prefer Wed. the 13th, as we finally managed to score a table at Bookbinder's for Thurs. night at 7:30 (and I don't want to get stuck in rush hr. traffic on the way back to the city). I'm thinking we meet before or after for lunch/coffee. Anyone up for this? (Alternatively, I could drive to Staten Island and Mandolin Bros., but there's always the danger I might buy something; and I've been to M.B. but never to Martin)

[Chicago Sandy]

bumpitty bump

[Chicago Sandy]

So I rented a car for the day and headed out of Philly up into the Lehigh Valley on a beautiful, clear, warm day. The scenery was lovely all the way up--rolling hills, apple blossoms, cliffs along the roadsides, the Schuylkill and smaller streams peeking out strategically. Got to the factory--they're busy tearing down the old entrance while going full-tilt on trying to complete the new Visitor Center by summer. The tour's entrance and the 1833 Shop are in a trailer, but the factory tour was still fascinating. The building is not as huge or cavernous as Taylor, with far fewer CNC operations visible on the manufacturing floor--but there is a window to a VAST subterranean machine shop busy cutting and assembling back, top and side pieces to be steamed, bent and glued into the actual guitars on the main floor. We were not allowed into the machine shop, but were allowed everywhere else--necks, inlay, fretting, bending, joinery, finishing, etc. There is a new robotic spray room and a robotic buffing machine, but most of the finishing is done with nitrocell. lacquer by hand (the automated operation is mostly for the satin finishes). The tourguide gushed enthusiastically about the HPL X-series guitars, but admits she plays a D-35 (She's about sixty). Amazingly, she was started her very first day working on a D-45---talk about being thrown right into the pool. I saw mostly D-28s and 45s being hand-assembled, with some gorgeous flamed and curly koa dreads being worked on (koa tops, style 45 inlays). In the offices, just outside the bathroom, was a display case showing the D-100. I darn near went blind from all that pearl, and it nearly blew out my camera's CCD. There are some older instruments (including some 0-NYs and pre-CF Martin models) in display cases as well.
No instruments for sale in the shop--just a composite black HPL cutaway dread, an LXM, and a lefty 000-16 for trying out before the tour. Also on the tour was a blue experimental prototype--the guide couldn't tell us just what it was , but where the barn door would be was a Pocket-PC PDA! (Maybe for booking your next gig while you're still onstage?).
Had some T shirts and shorts on sale. Got a crocheted wide strap too. But most other stuff was overpriced. (Although I nearly picked up a $29 headstock paperweight in order to raid it for the butterbean open tuners on it). Picked up a set of Light-Medium SPs in Phos. Bronze--they suggested those for the D-15s even though Lights are factory issue and Mediums are approved. They said they are the perfect solution for these lighter-braced dreads. I also saw the Fingerstyle sets (thinner core wire for greater bendability), but since I strum half the time and don't do much string-bending I took a pass on those.
If folks want, I can try to post photos tomorrow. Interesting how the place seemed much homier than Taylor, even though it's a larger operation and does offer non-solid-top (heck even synthetic) guitars, which Taylor doesn't.

[jim_n_virginia]

Sandy I wish I coulda taken the tour. I plan to visit one day cuz the Taylor site is WAYYY to far.

Do you get to play any finished products?

Please post pics!
:D

[Chicago Sandy]

In the waiting room, I got to play an LXM and a cutaway all-black DXM-CE--the latter sounded wimpy and felt tacky; the former sounded surprisingly robust for a travel-size guitar. (And its strings were pretty fresh, too). Size-wize, it falls between the Baby Taylor and Larrivee Parlour--not bad for a child's first steel-string. They didn't have any solid-top guitars available to play--they were all destined for market. I will try to hook up my camera and upload photos tonight.

[SR]

Sandy sounds like it was a good time for you. Would like to see picks http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
I know for me the Martin tour is one place on my list of places I'd like to see also.

[Chicago Sandy]

I'm going to try to upload the tour pix if I can reduce them to postable size. Look for them in the next few days.

[vertical51]

Sandy, I have to visit this section more often.
Just read your thread. Would love to see some photos.
It's hard to believe that I live within 90 minutes or so of
the Martin factory and still I have not been there.
Hopefully I will have the opportunity this summer.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip.