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Old 09-05-2018, 08:33 PM
silvertonebetty silvertonebetty is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
When the Martin Guitar Company first developed their OM model, their primary consultant on the project and artist endorser was a famous banjo player named Perry Bechtel. The music of the time was moving away from banjos and towards guitars, but Bechtel didn’t like the tone of the archtop guitars that Gibson and Epiphone were producing. So he worked with Martin to help develop a flattop guitar that would serve as an effective Big Band rhythm guitar.



Many players identify the OM so strictly as a fingerpicker’s guitar that they assume that was what was intended when Martin came out with it. They’re often flabbergasted to learn that, no, it was first intended to be a rhythm guitar in the Big Band era.



Anyway, as a famous banjo soloist, Bechtel was used to using banjo tuners, so that’s what the first Martin OM’s came equipped with. The practical problem for modern day guitarists who want that original look on their OM’s is that 4 to 1 gear ratio banjo tuners basically suck. They’re inexact and imprecise, and just a pain in the butt all the way around.



These new pegs Frank Ford posted about changes all of that - suddenly, using a banjo-style tuner no longer subjects the player using them to such imprecision.



So it’s a big deal, as in a major sea change so far as tuner technology is concerned.



Hope that makes sense. Frank, I’ll be interested in getting a set of two of them once they become available, as well.





Wade Hampton Miller


Does to me thanks
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