Martin D-28 is a bit bright...thoughts?

[ataylor]

I’ve found D’Addario nickel bronze strings warm up my Taylor’s tone a little bit. You might find this to be the case with your D-28.

That said, the woody, dry D-28 tone is called the D-18

[Tico]

There can be exceptions, but generally Martins are brighter than Gibsons.
It's all relative to what you're accustomed to.

If you played a D-28 long enough a J-45 would sound relatively dull and you might be asking about strings to brighten it up to the tone you are used to.

Neither tone is better or worse, just different.
It is our biases that can be problematic.

[capefisherman]

Originally Posted by Scotso

if you think Martin D-28 is bright...do not buy a Taylor

Ha! Well said!

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by d.loseth

Honestly, sounds life you might be more of a hog b/s guy!

My thoughts exactly. Is it too late to trade that thing in for a D-18?

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Proclaimer888

Hey guitar friends! So got my new D-28 and getting used to it....former J45 owner. One thing thought is that it is soooo bright....I understand that this comes with rosewood but looking for some opinions. It came new with Martin 80/20's and wondering what strings can be recommended to make it sound a bit more "woody" or dry?? I am a fan of Monels but have not tried them on a guitar with rosewood. Any Martin RW folks or any folks with RW care to give thoughts on strings that will "woodify" the sound of my guitar?

Sir, you say you have a "NEW" D28? New guitars are often/usually "tight" - which means brittle sounding, bright, the treble rings but the bass has to be played in.

Put medium guage PB strings, Martin or D'addario (UNCOATED) and play the living daylights out of it with a thickish pick, and when not playing it put it on a stand close to a radio/TV/stereo blasting vibrations at it.

Martin have made a pretty good guitar, but it is down to the owner to draw out the tone. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens.

Go for it.

[Dond]

I added ebony bridge pins on my D-28 and that added some depth to it

[Proclaimer888]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

Unless the dealer changed the strings, they wouldn’t have been 80/20s, they would have been Martin Authentic Acoustic Lifespan 2.0 Medium Phosphor-Bronze, that’s the factory-standard.

https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars...d-series/d-28/

You might be correct JayBee as the tag on guitar says it has on it: Authentic Acoustic MA550T PB strings. Thanks for the info!

[Proclaimer888]

Thanks AG Forum folks as this is exactly why I luv ya'll!! Great feedback and appreciate all of it. As some have said, I need to play this beast in...give it time. I am going to try some different strings ect...and get used to this beautiful guitar. Be safe out there and Play On!!

[GGinMP]

I put D'Addario Nickel Bronze strings on my rosewood body guitar and hated them because I missed the brightness. Perhaps you'd like that?

[Goat Mick]

You’ve had the rich, mid-rangy tone of a J-45 in your ears for a while. A D-28 is going to sound like a drastic change for a while because it is a drastically different guitar. However they are both iconic guitars for a reason. You just need to play the D-28 for a while and get to know it’s personality too. You’ll find each one has its specific time and place.

[FreDrummer]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Hi Proclaimer. If you find your strings bright with 80/20s then try some phosphor bronze (PBs). I've always had success with John Pearse.

Pick material and gauge can also change the tone that you hear.

Congrats on the new D-28!

Besides the inherent differences already pointed out between the J-45 and D-28, the above comment about picks is spot on. If you had gravitated toward thinner picks to brighten up the Gibson in the past, those thinner picks may very well sound too bright on the Martin. What do you typically use? I know on all my guitars, the difference between a .73 medium celluloid and a 2.0 Primetone is night and day. The right strings and right picks should get you where you want to go. Don’t rule out things like ebony picks, either, to mellow it out.

And like others said, play the heck out of that thing and get it broken in.

[heavy_picker]

I've been playing a D-28 for about fifty years. My favorite combination for tone and volume is medium gauge Phosphor Bronze strings (not coated) and a heavy gauge guitar pick (think the thickness of a Fender heavy pick).

Light gauge strings will tend to give a weaker tone. The medium gauge strings move the guitar top more and produce a fuller tone with more volume.
Thin picks give more treble. Extra heavy picks give less treble, but with my particular d-28 I prefer the sound of a regular Fender heavy pick.

If you place your pick so it contacts the string closer to the bridge you increase the treble. Try strumming over the edge of the sound hole that is closest to the bridge.

How you hold the pick also changes the tone , volume and picking accuracy. I use rounded corner picks and let less than 1/8th of an inch stick out past my thumb and first finger. Holding the pick in such a manner gives you faster, more accurate control, less treble and the pick doesn't get caught between the strings as you play.

Experiment around with how you hold the pick, where you contact the strings and palm placement. You can really change the tone with all of the above factors.

[djcarolino]

Thomastik plectrum medium light (12-59) will warm things up and make it less bright. Do it now!! I was in your same shoes with my d-28 and haven’t looked back.

[ChrisE]

I really like Martin Retros on my D-18, but they made my HD-28 sound dull and thumpy (kind of like a Gibson).

[Alan Carruth]

Adding some mass at the bridge can help take the edge off the sound. Heavier bridge pins are one way. It's an easy fix to try out: get some poster adhesive and stick a wad onto the bridge. If it's still too bright, try a bigger wad, and if it's too 'dead' remove some of the weight. When you get the amount that sounds right you can weigh it and figure out which pins might do the trick. I weighed some pins and got:

plastic 3 gm/set
ebony 5
bone 8.5
brass 26
'Power pins' 31 (with all the washers)
Somebody posted similar numbers a while back. They found that 'Liquid Metal' pins weighed ~16 grams/set. To put that in perspective; a Martin-style 'belly' bridge in rosewood runs about 25 grams, and an ebony one close to 30.

There are lots of myths circulating on line about how bridge pins affect the tone. So far as I know the only factor that has been well established is the change in mass. Most of the 'data' you'll get is subjective, and thus just 'opinion'.

The change you can get from changing the bridge mass by a couple of grams can be surprising in some cases, and not audible in others. Where you end up depends on where you start out as well as on how far you drive.