Martin Should consider a bolt on neck!

[PHJim]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Good post. I tend to think if the 15% failure rate is correct, and I actually have no problem believing it, 99% of it is due to *operator error* beginning with dealers who are not humidifying new guitars carefully. At the end of this winter across the N American continent I’m not surprised at the renewed cries over neck resets and loose binding. Anyone can show me a picture of a hygrometer reading showing 60% but as a person who works with wood and is aware of moisture content I want to see *long term averages* because wood moves much more slowly than can be captured in a single snap shot.

As Todd Snider says:

They say 65% of all statistics
Are made up right there on the spot
82.4% of people believe 'em
Whether they're accurate statistics or not
I don't know what you believe
But I do know there's no doubt
I need another double-shot of something ninety-proof
I got too much to think about

[Pura Vida]

Fascinating to read through this thread. I have to think that Martin is aware of the scope of their neck reset issues, which seems to be more than negligible. And I'm sure they explore all sorts of design options, including bolt-on necks, but for reasons only known to them, they decided not to move forward with such a change. It could be anything from a production scalability issue, training issue, or maybe they believe that the neck joint makes a sonic difference. But whatever it is, for Martin, the ends don't justify the means at this time, especially since they quietly changed their lifetime warranty policy. As mentioned by others, for most customers, this issue is invisible to them (at least until they have a problem).

[Prof_Stack]

When I bought a new D-18GE in 2007, it had a lifetime warranty which covered neck resets.

A few years ago I heard that Martin was no longer honoring the lifetime warranty. Business move, but a bad move IMHO.

I love the guitar but my next guitar won't be a Martin. Probably Taylor.

[gtonesine]

in 2014 I was looking to buy my first "good" acoustic . I did own an old Gretsch acoustic from the early sixties which was never playable. I also was borrowing a Guild D25 , both guitars needed neck resets . If the neck reset on the D25 would have been a couple hundred dollars I would bought it and had it fixed.
Spent time on the forum and found advise were to look in the Los Angeles area and what brands of acoustic guitars to consider .
Ted at LA guitars offered me a really great deal on a new Martin HD-28V, and it felt and sounded great. After playing many brands and models I ended up buying a Collings D2 . It sounded great and the build quality was very fine.
The bolt on neck of the Collings was decisive.

[jimmy bookout]

What's being missed in this thread is REPUTATION and the inevitable hand wringing that goes on (on the internet).

IF (and it's a BIG IF) the Martin neck angle issue is as pervasive as we're lead to believe on the internet, than Martin needs to shore up it's QC yesterday. Stuff like this takes on a life of it's own (as this issue HAS) and can really damage a company.

It's silly to say that Martin doesn't care...of course they do. They are an iconic company and changing something as notable as neck attachment is a MUCH bigger deal to their customer base than them, IMO. People still debate the change from maple bridge plates to rosewood in the late 1970's. The introduction of the HD28 in the 1980's is a DIRECT result of this.


Staying true to your history while staying on top of your game is TOUGH (ask Harley-Davidson, Gibson, etc....)