Martin Counterpunches

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by fazool

Right now it's a commercial.

And not a very good one, at that.

Agreed. Nothing new - or innovative - about carbon fibre, wood bindings, composite bridge pins, metal truss rods, EVO frets or Torrefaction tops.

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by IndyHD28

In an in depth interview with Guitar Center, Fred Greene, VP of Product Development says of the new guitars,

“They’re really special and it’s real technology. It’s not just moving a couple of sticks around and calling it innovation.”

https://www.guitarcenter.com/riffs/i...th-fred-greene

Musician’s Friend was first to UTube with brief videos of the D-18, D-28, 000-28 and OM-28.
https://youtu.be/tj6OT1wKZxI

Is it me, or does that sound like a knock on Taylors "V Bracing" (Moving a couple sticks around ) LOL

[llew]

Originally Posted by Groberts

Is it me, or does that sound like a knock on Taylors "V Bracing" (Moving a couple sticks around ) LOL

That's exactly what I took away from it Gary!

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

Agreed. Nothing new - or innovative - about carbon fibre, wood bindings, composite bridge pins, metal truss rods, EVO frets or Torrefaction tops.

Maybe it's not all that new or innovative, but for Martin to offer these features in a new model lineup all together? That sounds interesting! Good for Martin! The combination of these attributes together in one guitar could create a nicely responsive instrument with good sustain, tone and maintainability. Seems like a cool announcement to me. I don't really put too much stock into whether something is "brand new and earth shattering innovation" when it comes to acoustic instruments.

For me, it comes down to; How does it feel, how does it sound, does it inspire my best playing and musicianship.

I am certainly intrigued, marketing hype aside. Good for Martin I say!

[brencat]

Checking out Martin's website, a couple other things I noticed that weren't in the article:

The OM-28 Modern Deluxe has a standard neck taper with 2 1/4" fingerboard width at the 12th, while the short scale 000-28 Modern Deluxe gets the high performance taper (2 1/8" at the 12th). Both have 2 5/32" string spacing at saddle. Not sure if this is a typo on the OM-28, but I would LOVE to see the 12th fret fingerboard width at 2 1/4" with the new OM-45 Deluxe neck shape, if true.

Second thing I noticed was "Animal protein glue" construction on these. I like hide glue and feel it does make a tonal difference. Has Martin been speaking to Collings lately ???

$5200 MSRP, which means < $3200 out the door for these... hide glue, wood bindings, new neck, thin fretboards, and much lighter build. Now let's see if the tone matches up!

[dodge]

I'm a bit disappointed they didn't add V-class bracing as well.

[FOG01]

How dare they call V class bracing, "moving a couple sticks around"!!!

Is that a sufficient amount of indignation?

Silly.

[Shuksan]

"moving a couple sticks around" Oh, meow, hiss! Let the cat fight begin!


In reference to the bridge pins made of "liquid metal", he says they are "super dense, but very light at the same time". If these bridge pins are the same standard size as other bridge pins, this is impossible. An oxymoron.

[Earl49]

The Empire Strikes Back - and we know how that story ended - eventually. I'm backing the Rebel Alliance.

[Paddy1951]

"What is the advantage of Adirondak bracing?" A small part of the hype. Gee, Seagull has had Adirondack bracing for years.

I AM a Martin fan. That said, I still don't think there is much innovation going on here. At the price being asked, I am not rushing out to buy to buy this. Martin is still pretty much an evolutionary company. Taylor, the more revolutionary, whether you like them or not.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by DownUpDave

I just hope they drastically reduce the price on all the crappy "Reimagined" models. I really like the sound of the old, obsolete, inferior 2018 D-18 I played.

Apparently some other guitar company that "moved around a few sticks" got Martins attention. I have been in sales for decades ( please dont hold that against me) and understand that if you don't have something to talk about you feel forgotten and left behind

The 2018 is the "Re-imagined version" of the D18.
Martin started building them in 2012.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by IndyHD28

“ just moving a couple of sticks around and calling it innovation.”

Wow. That's actually harsher than anything anybody on this forum said about V-bracing.

EDIT
And I don't mean that in a disapproving way. Go around proclaiming your new design makes every other guitar in the world obsolete, you're gonna get some pushback.

[Beakybird]

I think that a lighter trust rod, new bridge plate, harder frets are cool improvements. Will it sound better? If I had lots of $$, I'd check it out.

[MaurysMusic]

I don't know if some players (who might not even be in the market) could be disappointed in the way Martin will market these. Aside from that, offering new standards with torrefied Sitka, and Adi bracing ... how can that be bad?

[MChild62]

substitute AGF for TV, and that would pretty much be me... bad enough that I was already twisting between a D18 and waiting to see the new Taylor dread...