NNGD (Nearly new guitar day)

[Tannin]

Mrs Tannin says I don't need any more guitars. She is perfectly correct of course, but I had to pass through the big smoke yesterday and there were six or eight prospects I had my eye on.

First up, Eborall. Never heard of them? Neither had I, but I've been eyeing these hand-made beauties on-line for a while. Here is an example: https://nepeanmusic.com.au/collectio...35750761857174 Poke around and you'll see about six others. A wonderful selection of timbers (I'm a bit of a native tonewood tragic) and when I went to look at them, they looked even better in the flesh than they do on the web. Beautifully finished guitars, a pleasure to look at and to hold. The staff were very friendly and helpful and I played all of them. I had expected to like the Huon Pine one best, but I didn't care for that one half as much as a couple of others, one in spruce and mahogany, the other in spruce and Blackwood.

Tonewood selection aside, these are distinctive guitars. They are very light, but don't feel at all flimsy. Some have a nut arrangement I've never seen before: a fairly shallow nut embedded into the fretboard, sort of like a cross between an orthodox nut and a zero fret. I like that; it makes sense. And they all come wearing 11s rather than the standard 12s - something which is not to my taste.

They play well and sound good. A bright, punchy sort of tone well suited (I thought) to a country style and not dissimilar to a lot of Gibsons.

As is my habit, I brought a known quantity along to compare with: on this trip it's the Messiah 808. The Eboralls were not disgraced in that company. They sound good. Nevertheless, I preferred the Maton. I'm not sure how much of the tonal difference was the guitars themselves, and how much of it was the lighter strings: my guess is that the gap would narrow with a nice set of 12s on an Eborall but still be there.

I didn't buy one and probably won't. In terms of sounds that we are all familiar with, they are more like Gibson than Taylor or Martin, and that sound is my least favourite of the big three. But that's just me. It's a good sound and the guitars are beautifully made and sensibly priced. If they seem like the sort of thing you might be interested in, it is a long drive but it would be worth your while to have a look.

I have tried out Martin guitars on various previous shopping trips, and nearly always they wind up somewhere high on my list of possibles, but (so far) not quite on the top of it. (Sadly, you can't buy all the guitars you take a liking to!) Early last year I flirted with a D-18 before buying the Angel. Six months ago I took a bit of a shine to a D-28 and really liked an OM-28, but couldn't go past the Messiah.

Later on yesterday I had the pleasure of trying out a couple of smaller bodied Martins, a 000-18 and a CEO-7, and they struck me as being quite different. The sound was recognisably Martinesque (at least it reminded me of other Martins I have played) but more so. They seem more distinctive. It is a sound I think I could come to like very much indeed. Different to any of my current guitars too, which is important - there isn't a lot of point having several instruments if they all sound much the same. (Which one of the two? They were both great, maybe the CEO by a whisker. On the other hand, I dislike sunburst paint jobs, especially ugly black ones, so call it a tie.)

On the down side, there was things about the feel of them that didn't seem quite right. (I don't mean wrong, I just mean "not right for me".) I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but thinking it over, I reckon there are two main things. First, they felt alarmingly small and light and flimsy. No-one says they fall apart or break easily, so I guess that's just something to get used to. They do feel odd though.

More importantly, I felt that they were uncomfortably vague under the fingers, as if they were tuned down to D or something. (Which they were not!) That will be the short scale at work, I guess. Maybe I could get used to that too, but on the whole, I think I'd I'd rather that they had a full-length scale. I've always had full-scale guitars and like the feeling of the strings snapping back under my fingers.

So my questions:

Do Martin make something that sounds like a 000-18 or a CEO-7 only with a full-length scale? Or is the short scale a part of the sound? Or would it be sensible to buy (say) a 000-18 and put heavier strings on it to stiffen it up? Or just get used to it? Or, are there other makers producing something with a similar sound that I should look at instead?

(Oh, I like the wider neck. Wouldn't want to give that up.)

At the same time I tried a Huss and Dalton jumbo in spruce and maple. It was delightful in almost every way and I very, very nearly bought it. In fact, I eventually put the two Martins aside and decided to buy the H&D, only to talk myself out of it again a minute or two later.

Finally, after a very long day on the road, I got home and checked the stock market. Ouch! *And* I broke a tooth which is going to cost half the price of a CEO-7 to have crowned. So it's just as well I didn't buy a new guitar after all. I looked at quite a few and I'd be very happy to own at least four of them (counting the Maton artist from the day before, mentioned in another thread), but I'm starting to think that Mrs Tannin has a point.

[Brucebubs]

'At the same time I tried a Huss and Dalton jumbo in spruce and maple. It was delightful in almost every way and I very, very nearly bought it. In fact, I eventually put the two Martins aside and decided to buy the H&D, only to talk myself out of it again a minute or two later.'

Yes, that's my Huss & Dalton on consignment at 'The Acoustic Centre' in Melbourne.
They also sold my Martin JDP II in 24 hours and my Martin Grand J12-40E Special a couple of days later - they have been fantastic to deal with.



The H&D is a superb finger-style guitar and a good strummer - my SJ-200 is a superb strummer and a good finger-style guitar.