Martin 000RS1, Bone saddle, K&K Pure Mini

[faithinlight]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum, and this is my first posting. I wanted to share my experience with Martin 000RS1 that I bought recently. I've got so much information from the forum before I made any purchases, and I hope my review can help someone else.

1. Martin 000RS1

Here are some recordings of the guitar out of the box. Recorded with a Tascam DR-40 portable recorder.

Acoustic (using DR-40 mics)


Fishman Sonitone Pickup (line into DR-40)


Tone is subjective, but let me try to describe what I thought. Here are some words that came to my mind about its sound : crisp, bright, focused, dry, balanced, midrange is pronounced, wish there were more bass responses
In spite of the all-solid construction, it's surprisingly quiet.

Things I liked:
- Playability : The neck shape, neck finish, nut width, radius, and fret size are just perfect for my hands.
- Setup was perfect out of box : To me, the action and intonation couldn't be better.
- Comfortable size : This is my first non-dread size guitar, and I'm happy that I chose this size. I really didn't know that 000 would be this much more comfortable.
- The included hard shell case is pretty nice.
- The built-in Fishman Sonitone UST pickup was not too bad - sounded better than I expected. it's not that quacky. it's totally usable on stage. I would suggest to try it before replacing it. Some people might like the sound.

Things I didn't like:
- low volume
- low bass response

Overall, it's a great bedroom or couch guitar. I mostly play it on bed around 10pm while my 2-year-old son is sleeping in the next room, so being quiet and small suits my situation.
To my ears it sounds better when playing softly with fingers. When I use a pick or strum hard, it sounds harsh.

2. Changing Saddle and Bridge Pins

Time to upgrade! After I did some research, I really wanted to try a bone saddle.
I removed the under saddle pickup and the TUSQ saddle, and I put a new bone saddle and ebony bridge pins that I bought from Martin's website. The difference in tone and volume is subtle but noticeable. It's combination of removing UST, changing the saddle material and bridge pins - I'm not sure which factor affected more than others. I would say it now sounds a bit more woody and fuller.
The saddle fit perfectly without any sanding. Actually I think the action is too low now with the new saddle. I might have to put a shim beneath.



3. Changing Strings

I believe the guitar came with Martin SP PB Light (12-54) strings. I replaced them with D'Addario EJ16 PB Light (12-53) strings. Personally, I much prefer the original Martin strings on this particular guitar.
My subjective comparison :
- EJ16: flexible, brighter, round, colorful, more harmonic complexity
- SP: straight, warmer, calm, woody
Especially the 6th string (low E) sounds very different.
I'll go back to Martin strings next time.



4. K&K Pure Mini

This was my first time to use a K&K product. I installed it myself. It is doable but more involved than I anticipated. Since the guitar already had a output jack, I didn't have to drill anything.
One of the K&K dealers near where I live told me they would charge $70 for installation. If your guitar is expensive and you don't have experience, I would suggest to take it to a luthier.
If your guitar is 000 or smaller (which has a smaller sound hole and shallow body depth) and you have big hands, it can be tricky.

I don't have a PA system at home, so firstly I just connected the guitar directly to DR40.



As you can hear, it sounded thin, trebly and harsh. I was disappointed and thought that I did something wrong with installation.
But after some research, I learned about impedance mismatch. K&K needs to see 1Mohm, whereas DR40's line input impedance is only 10Kohm.
I happen to have a cheap Livewire passive DI box, so I put the DI box between the guitar and the DR-40 recorder, then it started to sound much better.



I like the DI box because it's cheap and doesn't need a battery. It also has a PAD switch, which effectively I can use as a ON/OFF switch. (thinking of rewiring so -40dB position to be completely OFF)

I also tried K&K with Line6 HD500X multi effect which has a adjustable input impedance.
Upon adjusting the input impedance value, the tone changed. To my ears 1M was the sweet spot.



Lastly, I connected K&K directly to my audio interface. (NI Komplete Audio 6 - I think that its input impedance is 1M ohm when INST button is engaged.)



Honestly, I expected K&K to sound warmer, more full-bodied and more natural. Well, it may sound much better with other guitars. Maybe my expectation was too high. Maybe using a preamp or adding a internal mic is the way to go. I'm wondering how much a preamp can improve the tone.
Anyway, I like my Martin 000RS1 with a bone saddle and K&K pure mini. And I don't need to worry about a battery anymore!

[steelvibe]

Nice and thorough review! I have a somewhat similar guitar, an all sapele Martin D Jr. 2.Love the sweet and mellow all sapele tone. The K&K will always sound better with a quality pre- I have used a Fishman Platinum Stage with great results but I think the Red Eye sounds best. I would also try Retro strings at some point- they sound glorious on some guitars, especially mahogany species.

[faithinlight]

Thank you for suggestions, Sean. I'll take a look at the Red Eye! Haven't thought about Retro strings - i'll try a set next time

Originally Posted by steelvibe

Nice and thorough review! I have a somewhat similar guitar, an all sapele Martin D Jr. 2.Love the sweet and mellow all sapele tone. The K&K will always sound better with a quality pre- I have used a Fishman Platinum Stage with great results but I think the Red Eye sounds best. I would also try Retro strings at some point- they sound glorious on some guitars, especially mahogany species.

[Shadowfox]

If you really want a goose mic, just upgrade to the Trinity System. It's the best sounding system to my ear IMHO. The only other one close is the Anthem, but that has volume output issues, like way too quiet.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by faithinlight

Thank you for suggestions, Sean. I'll take a look at the Red Eye! Haven't thought about Retro strings - i'll try a set next time

I love Martin Retro strings. Even when using alternate tunings the lights have great intonation and wonderful overall feel with seemingly less tension. Even though they are hex core they feel like round core. They sound great (even on carbon fiber), are inexpensive, and far outlasted any bronze variety string I've tried! They may not be your cup-o-tea but I can't recommend enough at least trying them.

I have not personally tried a Red Eye but it gets rave reviews here, especially paired with the K&K) and sounds great to my ear on YouTube videos. Thanks for the sound clips, well done!