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Old 07-20-2019, 04:56 PM
Tnfiddler Tnfiddler is offline
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Default Martin guitars at NAMM

Spent some time at the Martin booth at NAMM today and played some fantastic guitars and some I didn’t care too much for. My D-41 has set a pretty high bar for me, Martin-wise, so I used it as a benchmark to judge the guitars against. I tried out a DSS-17 black smoke and LOVE the looks of it but it did nothing for me tone-wise. It was just loud and jangly. Next up was a CEO-9. Really liked the sound of this one and the curly mango back was amazing! Played a $15k Custom shop dread that was a knockout looks-wise, but my D-41 kills it tone and volume-wise. I then played D-28, D-18 and OM-28 modern deluxe models back to back and love the looks, feel and playability of them. They sounded fantastic, but the D-28 was my favorite of these models, by far. I much prefer the rosewood sound over the mahogany when it comes to those models. I then played the best sounding guitar in the whole booth, hands-down and one of the best sounding guitars I’ve ever played. A 1937 D-28 authentic. Total ANIMAL!! Loudest Martin I’ve ever played! Amazing tone from it and one I just really dig BUT I don’t like the neck too much. Feels like I’m holding a tree trunk in my hand. Coolest part of the whole Martin booth was turning around and seeing Chris Martin IV standing behind me. I’d been talking to the rep about me just purchasing my D-41 and it being my first Martin. The rep told Chris and he came over and talked to me and thanked me for buying one of his guitars. Super nice guy! He grabbed a freaky guitar to get a picture with though!!


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Last edited by Tnfiddler; 07-20-2019 at 06:05 PM.
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Old 07-20-2019, 05:01 PM
zmf zmf is offline
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Cool. So what's the story on that "freaky" guitar.
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Old 07-20-2019, 05:06 PM
Tnfiddler Tnfiddler is offline
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Originally Posted by zmf View Post
Cool. So what's the story on that "freaky" guitar.
I think that's one of their NAMM exclusives. It was sorta hideous, but Chris grabbed it and I wasn't about to tell him that it was ugly. I apologize for no pictures, but I was just interested in playing the guitars and never thought to take pictures of them.
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Old 07-20-2019, 05:47 PM
martingitdave martingitdave is offline
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Great story! I think we have similar taste in guitars. I, twice, purchased the D-28 ‘37A because of the outstanding tone. Both times the neck was too much for me to overcome. So, I settled for the D-28 Marquis and the D-28 Modern Deluxe. :-)
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Old 07-20-2019, 06:04 PM
llew llew is offline
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Very cool!
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Old 07-20-2019, 06:45 PM
Tnfiddler Tnfiddler is offline
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I will add that as much as I loved the tone of the 1937 D-28 Authentic, I can’t get into the artificially aged look. I like my guitars to look nice and I couldn’t pay for a NEW guitar that was beat up to look like an old one. That’s just me though.
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Old 07-20-2019, 07:09 PM
martingitdave martingitdave is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tnfiddler View Post
I will add that as much as I loved the tone of the 1937 D-28 Authentic, I can’t get into the artificially aged look. I like my guitars to look nice and I couldn’t pay for a NEW guitar that was beat up to look like an old one. That’s just me though.

Yeah, I’m with you on that too.
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Old 07-20-2019, 07:23 PM
mikef mikef is offline
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Sounds like you had a nice day! Yeah, that guitar does look a little freaky.
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Old 07-20-2019, 07:28 PM
Tnfiddler Tnfiddler is offline
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Originally Posted by mikef View Post
Sounds like you had a nice day! Yeah, that guitar does look a little freaky.


So after you wrote this, I zoomed in really close on the label on the wall and I’ll let the label speak for itself. $40,000!!!

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2018 Martin D41 Ambertone (2018 Reimagined)
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Old 07-20-2019, 07:46 PM
sakar12 sakar12 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tnfiddler View Post
So after you wrote this, I zoomed in really close on the label on the wall and I’ll let the label speak for itself. $40,000!!!

It's because of the Titanium Core strings
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Old 07-20-2019, 08:00 PM
mikef mikef is offline
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Did you get a chance to check out the 000jr-10 or any of the new 16 series models?
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Old 07-20-2019, 08:07 PM
Tnfiddler Tnfiddler is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikef View Post
Did you get a chance to check out the 000jr-10 or any of the new 16 series models?
I saw all of them, but didn’t play them. The D-16e looked killer!!
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Old 07-20-2019, 09:50 PM
archerscreek archerscreek is offline
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Great experience. Cool story.
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Old 07-21-2019, 06:58 AM
Tnfiddler Tnfiddler is offline
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Cool fact the Martin rep told me that some of you may know. When Martin decided to make the 1937 D28 Authentic, they took an actual 1937 D-28 from their museum and using computer technology, completely scanned and digitally reproduced the guitar down to the thicknesses of the hide glue, bracing, wood thickness, etc.. He said that it’s a complete 100% replica of that guitar including the dings and marks on it.
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2018 Martin D41 Ambertone (2018 Reimagined)
2016 Taylor GS Mini Koa ES2
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  #15  
Old 07-21-2019, 09:16 AM
harvl harvl is offline
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I like the guitar he picked...

Harv
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