REVIEW: OM-18 1933 Authentic

[C.F. Angee]

The following review is intentionally quirky and personal. If you wanted impersonal, you could read this:

TL;DR Expensive guitar is great.

To proceed.

The Background

I just spent a week with a OM-18 1933 Authentic that isn’t mine and isn’t stolen, and want to review it whilst still high on its fumes.

A friend of mine acquired the unit just a couple months ago. He let me make love to it while he was out of town on business. He even set it up with new strings a few days ahead of time so it would look and feel its best when it came in that morning. Good friend, eh?

He figured it this way: one can no more get to know a guitar in a single session at a friend’s house than you can really understand a mattress in a retail store. You aren’t really yourself. You don’t loosen up. You probably don’t even play your normal thang, you know? For instance, my “thang” is singing poorly to one of my simple accompaniment styles. I do that most freely at home, relaxed. And a new neck shape, scale and string spacing are certainly best appreciated after adapting to them.

So thanks, dude. If anyone else would like to loan me an exceptional guitar for a week, PM me.


The Specs

Y’all know the specs. Y’all are experts. Dollars for donuts even says I get something wrong, here. You’re getting a torrefied adirondack spruce top with standard X scalloped bracing on a mahogany box. The 14-fret mahogany neck suspends a 25.4” scale over its peculiar 1933 barrel and heel. They’ve heaved black ebony and bone everywhere you might put them. And there is the ubiquitous rosewood headstock overlay, just north of the 1.75” nut.


The Shade Top



The shade top is gorgeous.

We can argue about torrefaction until the crystalized tree-sap alters in state with lower moisture content and greater tonal stability, behaving as an even more dead tree than your usual top. But it is beautiful, and we will get to the sound. I like shade tops that are merely shade, all the way to the edges, and leave the wood plain to be appreciated. This unit was a great example: never too dark and opening up nicely in the middle.

The adirondack grain was alarmingly wide, exceedingly straight, and truly beautiful. I don’t know that I had ever looked closely at an adi top. A soulless quibbler would note the slightly darker streak along the center joint. Being a soulless quibbler, I will note that the shading was darker along the center two inches of the top, and -- maybe due to a touch of runout -- ran darker up one side of the joint. I don’t fault the wood selection at all, though: the runout component, if that is what I am seeing, is extremely slight. The overall impression is of a lovely heart running up the center, very soft and not unattractive. Some folks see any such interest as a failure of the tree to have conformed. I do not. It had its own hard job to do before we drafted it into musical service.

The rosette and tortoise shell pickguard are vintage appropriate -- simple and understated. Well done, Martin.


The Box



The mahogany box was some perfect mahogany. Even, chocolaty, and straight. I rarely see striped and bent mahogany on a Martin, but they put a great set on this guitar. If you aren’t giving me the EIR I love, then please get me mahogany of this great grade.

Black binding with two white stripes along the top, all black binding along the back, and no central back binding at all: just the naked join. This guitar’s bling is its disciplined, vintage-appropriate lack of bling.


Tuners, Saddle, Nut and Action

The tuners, saddle and nut are all as described in the specs. Those open gear tuners are remarkably beautiful. The nut is black ebony -- someone explain that to me.

The action, though. This guitar is remarkably easy to play with perfect low action. I split time between a Martin dread and an old Spanish guitar, the latter having quite high action. So this guitar seemed nearly interactive, finishing sentences I had just started. “Hey, I’d like to be playing an Em7 here with…” (Guitar) “I got you fam: with hammer-ons on the 4th string while you do that little finger-style business on one through three. Got it.” And the guitar was right.


Neck and Fingerboard

The barrel is strange. Really strange.

The first times I held it, I found my thumb riding up toward the sixth string, and it is more pronounced below about the sixth fret. It was disconcerting.

But starting with my second session I found my hand was grasping the neck differently. Accommodating. It felt like there was a handle on there that only my fingers could see. I’ve heard it described as a deep V. It feels almost like it is grooved. In any case, it was quickly and quietly addictive. It stabilizes your left hand. I missed the shape when I switched back to my own guitars.

Is this neck shape truly a 1933 standard? Dunno. If it is good why is it not common? Dunno. And some may not like it. I’d definitely not order this unit sight unseen. You need to hold this thing first, to be sure you like the neck. But many of us, I suspect, will find this a delight to hold.

As for the radius, quality of ebony, and fit and finish issues, there are none. The ebony is as black and tight as I’ve seen, though I’m not expert. Hell, I like richlite for a fingerboard. A lot. Comparing the guitars on hand this unit’s neck was definitely dressed better than my own Martin (subtle differences, to be sure), and was silk or butter or whatever metaphor you choose. A really perfect fingerboard.

Well, I guess that about wraps up my review. Thank you all for your time.


Sound? Oh yeah. Sound.

The gentleman at Chicago Music Exchange, the guy who tuned this unit for for my friend, handed it to him saying that it had been an honor to simply tune it. Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, I didn’t feel it. Not at first.

I have an MMV dread, and an old Spanish guitar that I truly love. I’ve played lots of other Martin grades well above my non-standard. On first and second play I wasn’t feeling the love for this OM. I would have told you that day (and may the shame fall upon me and my seed for a hundred generations) that it sounded -- oh dear God, I’m going to say it -- tinny and light.

Huh. What about that?

A few things. Spanish guitars are remarkably bassy: good, well-played ones produce a deep, round sound, full of lows. An MMV tone can best be described as a folky dread, lacking the boom of its standard-series cousins. But it nonetheless comes to the table with the expected dreadnought kick. So my ears came to this touted guitar expecting something it hadn’t trained for: that deep, round bass sound I dearly love.

But just a few days later, I swore an OM was in my future. What happened? Adjustments to my playing style, and adjustment of my ear. I play my Spanish and dread in two different ways, each appropriate to their sound. When I cradled this thin, tight-waisted, wide-necked guitar, my entire body felt a Spanish guitar, and played accordingly. My body was wrong. All that shape was a feint: I was still playing a steel string, and my Spanish guitar style was all wrong for it.

This guitar has very even tone and strength across all six strings, and requires you to play it accordingly: not at all in the style I adopt for my Spanish guitar, which is heavy on finger picking and ruthless on the sixth string, nor quite in the dread style, which relies on the dread response which just doesn’t live in an OM. After accommodating the lack of dread-boom, and rebalancing my fingers, I slowly came to better and better appreciate the sound of this lovely guitar.

(The MMV is a Guitar Center custom model, and -- by the way -- I think it offers the purest demonstration of the importance of body shape, for the MMV dread and MMV 000 differ hadly a wit in specs other than body style.)


Takeaway

I don’t know how “1933” this OM sounds, but it sounds lovely. I wished I had had time to go to a store and compare it to some EIR boxes, but frankly, I doubt it would have been a fair comparison. There were just too many differences in specs for me to spot the hog v. EIR portion. It’s beyond my ears to do so.

Sound qualities that stand out to my untrained ear were these:

- The even response across the strings, requiring me to alter my fingerstyle to properly appreciate its sound. This was really a slowly dawning realization throughout the week.

- The strong voice: don’t let anyone lie to you and tell you size equals volume, because that is precisely wrong. This unit was loud.

- Frankly amazing overtones, once I stopped listening for bass candy and starting listening for depth. Harmonics on 12 were stunning. I went back and forth between all the guitars I had on hand, listening slowly to the harmonics, listening to them fade entirely away. This exercise was a turn on, by the way. Grab a significant other and sit in a small room with good whisky, and patiently listen to the sustain of different guitars. Talk about them, and listen again. This OM was hands down the best scotch on the shelf.

The real takeaway for me though was my own takeaway: I came home and continued my life with two instruments I love. Comparing them to a ringer didn’t diminish my appreciation of them at all. Instead, it validated that I chose correctly when I fought my eyes and followed my ears to get a dreadnought. It reminded me of how beautiful these differences are, for there is no single best guitar. And it reminded me, most importantly, that playing these dead trees is an interactive experience, not to be taken for granted or to be treated like a commodity.

I loved the OM by the end of the week. But my own guitars love me back, warts and all.

[lt20dbl]

The ebony nut is true to the original.

[rick-slo]

Nice prose. Is your day job as a writer?

[kiva238]

Fun review.

I've owned a couple of these OM models and one was very good and the other, simply great. I still own it. I tried the VTS models, but always preferred the non-VTS issue. Mine has more bass than any 000 size body should produce.

Amazing instruments (like all the Authentics), which are selling used for unbelievably reasonable prices.

Can't recommend them enough. The 000-18A ain't bad either. . . .

[AgentKooper]

Originally Posted by C.F. Angee

A friend of mine acquired the unit just a couple months ago. He let me make love to it while he was out of town on business.

Interesting review. But I'm not leaving my guitar with you.

[C.F. Angee]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Nice prose. Is your day job as a writer?

IT Consultant.

[Von Beerhofen]

Yep, well written and is very much how I felt when I plucked my D28A 1931 for the first time. After a week of playing it still hasn't fully sunk in and I'm still adapting on how to take control of this tonemonster. Havent touched my other guitars sofar and they're very good too.

I need to get back to my rotational shift but something in me doesn't want to.

Ludwig

[noledog]

C.F.,

That was fun, entertaining, interesting and engaging, thank you for sharing your experience! ...I spent some quality alone time with a non-VTS 18A '33 and found the neck girthy, yet comfy to play. Lovely, loud and balanced too. Your excellent points on adjusting your style is one I learned years back in enabling me to coax satisfying timbres across the strings where they may lack from one body style to another. This is something many newer players may learn from when they think that only a dread can afford them gobs of low end when there is more to it in terms of timbre, presence, sustain and depth which all can be coaxed with technique to a degree.

Your refreshing review and style is appreciated C.F.

eric

[C.F. Angee]

Originally Posted by AgentKooper

Interesting review. But I'm not leaving my guitar with you.

You can trust me.

[AgentKooper]

Originally Posted by C.F. Angee

I do fingerstyle.

Haha! TMI!

[brencat]

Fun review, and well written!

My opinion of the OM-18A remains exactly like how your first impression was. This tone is tight, dry, and meh. What am I missing here?? But I'm not a fingerstyle player. I enjoy recreational bluegrass, and also play at church...mostly strumming and a bit of fingerpicking in support of a choir. I'm addicted to the deep bass and wall of sound that comes from a dread, and have been through quite a few OMs without being satisfied long term.

Yours and Eric's advice to learn to appreciate each instrument's capabilities is wise, and perhaps I should heed it, including learning to be more patient and adaptable. I wish I had more time to devote to this hobby, but sadly, this is not likely to happen while raising young kids and with my crazy schedule.

Again, good review!

[BluesKing777]

Thanks for the quirky review!


err...one (dread) man's poison is another man's....


FINGERPICKER DELIGHT!


My VTS OM18A (those are bugs that flew in front of the guitar as I took the photo....and the only complaint I have about this guitar....get that, the only one..is that it is useless to try and capture the real face of the burst in a photograph - every photo looks different....Apart from that - delightful to play, look at and the sound.....oh yeah - thanks Mr Martin!







BluesKing777.

[TDavis]

I had the lucky chance to play briefly an OM-18A a week or so ago at a local music/guitar shop...and I was stunned by the tone and easy playability. I'm not as talented a player as most are here, so as stunned as I was by how even my amateurish playing sounded coming from it...I was fully aware that it was MUCH better a guitar than I was a player. Someone who could afford to spend over $5000 on a guitar would be more deserving than I would be of such an instrument.

[lt20dbl]

I've owned mine for four years now. I have to agree that there is something about that neck that is addicting. Just feels right.

[lowrider]

Great review of a great guitar. I got my, 5 year old, Custom Shop OM-18 almost two weeks ago and I can't put it down. It's a lot like the Authentics but with a more modern neck. Everyone I lit try it tells me how lucky I was to find it..........I have to agree!