NGD. Slowhand eats humble pie!

[Arthur Slowhand]

If anyone has noticed my posts on my recently acquired Gibson J-15, they'll know how much I like it (or thought I did) - and how it's made me a convert from Martin (or thought I was).

Well, erm, permission to eat humble pie BIG TIME... I just brought home a gorgeous used Martin OM1-GT from GuitarGuitar, in Birmingham and the Gibson is going back from whence it came. So, after a brief fling, I'm back home with Martin (or is it Martine?) and begging forgiveness for my transgression.

Doesn't need me to say the Gibson is a great guitar, but I put my over-enthusiasm down to 'Nobody Wants to Admit they Bought the Wrong Guitar' syndrome. One thing that really niggled me about it - and why I went to look at the Martin - was the gloss neck... also (I'm making excuses) the intonation wasn't exactly spot on, whereas the Martin sounds as close as it can be on a fixed saddle.

The OM1 is the sweetest Martin I've tried, at my pay grade that is. Lovely clarity and string separation, bell-like trebles and just enough bass to beef things up nicely and sausage fingers appreciate the wider string spacing at the nut and bridge.

[Arthur Slowhand]

PS. Does anyone have string recommendations for the OM1-GT? And what to avoid. I'll stick with 12's. My inclination is Martin Retro's. Doesn't need them yet.

[Stevien]

All my Martins sing with Elixer 80/20 bronze 12-53s.
Steve

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

Slowhand eats humble pie!

Or in this case, cotton wool pie.

Glad you're enjoying your rollercoaster ride. For what it's worth, I have that daily when switching between a Taylor and a Larrivée. Sometimes the Larrivée is the best ever, and the Taylor is thin and jangly. Other times the Taylor is the best ever, and the Larrivée is nasal and thuddy. I'm pretty sure the guitars themselves aren't changing.

[Arthur Slowhand]

PPS. It appears I've offended Martin owners with a previous post on another thread. It was meant in good humour - sorry if that was lost in translation, but apologies to anyone who took it the wrong way.

[keith.rogers]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

PS. Does anyone have string recommendations for the OM1-GT? And what to avoid. I'll stick with 12's. My inclination is Martin Retro's. Doesn't need them yet.

I stretch my string life as far as I can, and find the Martin Lifespan give me a good run for the money.

I'm still trying to decide if the current "2.0 Authentic" version is really an improvement or not, but they seem to be doing well on my GPCPA3. (My last set of the 1.0 version is on my mahogany OM and they sound excellent on that guitar. It will be a few months before they need changed.)

The main knock about them is that they are expensive at $12.99/set. I just picked up a 3-pack from Sweetwater where they are selling those at a buy 2, get one free price, i.e., the 3-pack is the same price as 2 single sets.

I tried the Retros, but while I thought they sounded great right away, they lost their sound too quickly for me, and I went back to the Lifespans. Others seem happy, so YMMV, as they say.

[lowrider]

My CS OM-18 was a monster with Retro's. It was a blast to play but it was hard for me to sing with. I tried DR Sunbeam's and it became the sweetest thing ever. Now it has D'Addario phos/bronze and it's still sweet but with more power. It will be staying with phos/bronze for quite a while.

[llew]

Nothing wrong with owning Martin or Gibson...or both. I'm sure lots of folks here (including me) own both. Or any other builder for that matter?

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

PPS. It appears I've offended Martin owners with a previous post on another thread. It was meant in good humour - sorry if that was lost in translation, but apologies to anyone who took it the wrong way.

Well, first the Guitar Police SWAT team who were on their way to pay you a midnight visit had a GPS malfunction, and were searching for you in the Peak District rather than the Cotswolds. Then they drove north until they ran out of road in John O’Groats and said:

“Where IS this guy? And why are all these people driving on the wrong side of the road?!?”

After reading your most recent transmission with your gracious explanation of your sense of humor, I contacted the team via a secure line and told them to stand down and return to base.

Which they will, eventually, once they figure out how to drive unscathed through all those roundabouts you have over there.....

Hope this helps!


Wade Hampton Miller

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Well, first the Guitar Police SWAT team who were on their way to pay you a midnight visit had a GPS malfunction, and were searching for you in the Peak District rather than the Cotswolds. Then they drove north until they ran out of road in John O’Groats and said:

“Where IS this guy? And why are all these people driving on the wrong side of the road?!?”

After reading your most recent transmission with your gracious explanation of your sense of humor, I contacted the team via a secure line and told them to stand down and return to base.

Which they will, eventually, once they figure out how to drive unscathed through all those roundabouts you have over there.....

Hope this helps!


Wade Hampton Miller

If you think our roundabouts are bad don't ever visit Paris. Cars coming onto the roundabout have priority, ensuring chaos and plenty of dings. Italy is even worse; many drivers leave their hand brakes off when parking in congested areas so the next chap can gently 'nudge' yours while squeezing into impossible gaps.

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

If you think our roundabouts are bad don't ever visit Paris. Cars coming onto the roundabout have priority, ensuring chaos and plenty of dings. Italy is even worse; many drivers leave their hand brakes off when parking in congested areas so the next chap can gently 'nudge' yours while squeezing into impossible gaps.

I live in the midwestern USA, and I have a roundabout within sight of my house. Illinois and Wisconsin are building loads of them.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by dwasifar

I live in the midwestern USA, and I have a roundabout within sight of my house. Illinois and Wisconsin are building loads of them.

Oh, it’s happening in Anchorage and in the Matanuska Valley north of the city, too. It’s like an opportunistic infection...


whm

[Earl49]

Roundabouts are all the rage with FHWA back in DC. If you want any federal funds for your road, you build them - or else. Not a fan here, as they almost universally need a much larger radius than as built.

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Oh, it’s happening in Anchorage and in the Matanuska Valley north of the city, too. It’s like an opportunistic infection...

I rather like our nearby one. It cleared up the traffic problems we'd had when that intersection was a four way stop. From 5 to 6:30pm it would usually take you ten minutes to inch your way through the backups to get to that intersection. Now everything flows faster, except for the occasional driver who's never seen a roundabout before, and those are getting less frequent every day.

Originally Posted by Earl49

Roundabouts are all the rage with FHWA back in DC. If you want any federal funds for your road, you build them - or else. Not a fan here, as they almost universally need a much larger radius than as built.

That's a problem, yeah, because they retrofit them into intersections bordered by private land and don't want to buy people's houses to tear them down. (Although for our local one, I wish they had; those two houses are tumbledown eyesores.)

When this one was being built, they put ROAD CLOSED LOCAL TRAFFIC ONLY barricades up in all four directions. We live a little bit south of the intersection, and the nearest major intersection on that stretch of road is over a mile south. Naturally a lot of people would ignore the barricade signs and head up the road anyway. When they got to the construction site and realized it was legitimately impassable, they'd turn in to our residential areas trying to find the Northwest Passage that would lead them around the obstruction. There was none, and eventually they would have to go back the way they came. We could see people driving north from our back deck, and we'd make bets on how long it would be before we'd see them drive back south in defeat. Middle-aged women in expensive SUVs and young men in street racers with fart-cannon exhausts always took the longest.

[andyspur]

At least they are trying to do something instead of just standing on the sidelines criticising....