Originally Posted by Shuksan (Post 6267294)

The weight of the glue that goes into making a two layer laminate is miniscule.

If they decided to do laminated back and sides solely for the sake of cost, it doesn't seem likely that they would have chosen to use koa which is much more expensive than woods like Indian rosewood or mahogany. If the sole objective was cost savings they could have done the laminates using only relatively cheap woods. Then they would have then been able to sell the guitar for an even lower price, but it would have had a less distinctive appearance.

My guess is that they had a price point in mind and in addition they had made the decision that they wanted to use koa for the back and sides for its beauty and to make this new model stand out. Meeting the price point that's been mentioned in this thread would likely have been impossible using solid koa. So I don't see a problem here. Koa is one of the most beautiful woods used for guitars, there's no functional deficiency in having laminated back and sides, and Martin can make the guitar available for a relatively moderate price.

Originally Posted by Acoustic Wolf (Post 6267300)

Does anyone know how many laminate pieces of Koa would make up a solid piece? I.e., what is the opportunity cost of using laminate koa back and sides purely for aesthetic purposes that would have otherwise been a fine sounding solid koa back and sides.

Originally Posted by Shuksan (Post 6267301)

Just to be clear, the back and sides of the Martin in question are a lamination of one layer of koa veneer onto one layer of Khaya (African mahogany).

Originally Posted by Shuksan (Post 6267294)

The weight of the glue that goes into making a two layer laminate is miniscule.

If they decided to do laminated back and sides solely for the sake of cost, it doesn't seem likely that they would have chosen to use koa for the outer layer which is much more expensive than woods like Indian rosewood or mahogany. If the sole objective was cost savings they could have done the laminates using only relatively cheap woods. Then they would have then been able to sell the guitar for an even lower price, but it would have had a less distinctive appearance.

My guess is that they had a price point in mind and in addition they had made the decision that they wanted to use koa for the back and sides for its beauty and to make this new model stand out. Meeting the price point that's been mentioned in this thread would likely have been impossible using solid koa. So I don't see a problem here. Koa is one of the most beautiful woods used for guitars, there's no functional deficiency in having laminated back and sides, and Martin can make the guitar available for a relatively moderate price.

Originally Posted by jimcaleca (Post 6267403)

This is the best video I found describing the new SC Martin. I did play one at the factory yesterday, and it sounded surprisingly full and balanced with its very low setup.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzWZi872By0

Originally Posted by Acoustic Wolf (Post 6267346)

Yes, but what I mean is if one solid piece of Koa that could have built one Martin guitar with solid Koa back and sides goes into say 10 Martins with laminate Koa back and sides, that seems OK, but if it's say one piece of solid piece of Koa goes into 3 Martins with laminate Koa back and sides, that seems to be a bit of a shame... In my opinion anyway...

Originally Posted by Acoustic Wolf (Post 6267346)

Yes, but what I mean is if one solid piece of Koa that could have built one Martin guitar with solid Koa back and sides goes into say 10 Martins with laminate Koa back and sides, that seems OK, but if it's say one piece of solid piece of Koa goes into 3 Martins with laminate Koa back and sides, that seems to be a bit of a shame... In my opinion anyway...

Originally Posted by gr81dorn (Post 6267467)

The key thing you're not considering here is that much of the wood that is used for veneer wouldn't yield solid wood in the first place, so it's chosen to be veneer at the sawmill or once it's become offall at the sawmill or another manufacturing point.

Martin isn't slicing up usable solid koa - they're not slicing up anything, a sawmill has made that determination long before it ever arrives at Martin to make it into anything.

Making veneer is a very responsible means to maximize the use of some of the rarer/prettier material, so sometimes it's just decided to make veneer to get more use out of something, but a lot of the time it's recovery.

You'd also be shocked at how thin we can slice it...the veneer industry uses some weird fractions, but it's common for veneer to be 1/42", especially when it has no need to be durable but purely to used for appearance.

Originally Posted by musicman1951 (Post 6266862)

I think it's brilliant. There are lots of people looking for a moderately priced laminated electric guitar with low action for gigs and this seems to tick all the boxes.

Certainly the sound doesn't compete with a traditional Martin acoustic, but I don't think it's trying to - different market. And the idea that an electric guitar player can pick one up and feel comfortable only adds to the market.