I love my guitar, but it's not a Martin, and I wish it was.

[cc132]

Posting here hoping that someone can talk some sense into me.

I have owned many guitars in my life, but I'm generally a one-at-a-time kind of guy. I primarily play old blues and rags, and I've been obsessed the last few years with learning every John Fahey song I can.

My current guitar is a Waterloo Scissortail that I've had about a year. This is my second Waterloo, and it's truly special. You know how some guitars are just special? This one is. It just has it. It's easy to play, sounds gorgeous, looks cool as hell, and overall does exactly what I want it to do. The only other guitar I've ever owned that I'd say was truly special was a Greven L-00v which I sold about a decade ago.

Yet it's not a Martin.

I don't know if it's because I'm helplessly attracted to Americana, or because I just love the classics like Levi's blue jeans and Chevrolet pickups, but there's a part of my brain that wants the guitar I keep forever to be a Martin. The standard series is the platonic ideal of acoustic guitars as far as I'm concerned, and I can't help but feel the desire despite having a guitar that is truly special.

Am I crazy? Has anyone else been in this situation before? Is this rational whatsoever? Should I just get over it?

On a totally unrelated side-note, are there are factory Martins floating around with a 1 3/4 nut and 2 3/8 bridge spacing? I've really fallen in love with those specs, and the only Martin I've come across with them is the CEO-7, which doesn't particularly scratch my itch for a classic.

[eljay]

I was a martin kool-aid drinker for a long time. No more.

Equal or better guitars out there for same or less money.

Santa Cruz, Guild, Larrivee come to mind.

Yamaha L-36 and L-56 guitars are the top of the mountain, imo, and can be had for under 4 large.

Good luck on your journey!

[Tnfiddler]

I love my D41, But I love my Bourgeois more! There’s some fantastic Martin guitars out there, my D41 being a example of one, but If I were in the market to buy another acoustic guitar, it would NOT have Martin on the headstock.

[Lillis]

Sounds like a good time to become a two guitar kinda guy

[Rosewood99]

Sounds like you’re more in love with the idea of a Martin rather than an actual Martin. If you love your guitar, just stick with that.

[L20A]

We can get caught up in Brand recognition.
I have.
Martin is the brand that all others are compared to.
Not necessarily better but it is the standard.

If you are lusting for a Martin, why not just get one.
If you are having doubts about the cost, go used. You could then
sell it for what you paid should you not like it after all.
Do you have a particular model in mind?

[RP]

Originally Posted by cc132

...Am I crazy? Has anyone else been in this situation before? Is this rational whatsoever? Should I just get over it?

No, yes, no and no. Life's too short to not have the guitar you want...

[B. Adams]

Personally, I'd be happy it wasn't a Martin. I've seen too many come from the factory with defects, like the neck angle being so bad the strings were a half inch off the fretboard, twisted necks, bubbled tops, etc. Granted, most of the problems I saw were years ago, but we had so many brand new Martins come into our shop with problems that it soured me on their brand forever. I can't say that seeing the inventory in my local Guitar Center has helped improve their image for me. I'm glad I don't work in retail anymore.

A luthier friend has had several customers bring in Martins recently for repair with the binding pulling away around the waist. He fixes them up and they look like new, but Martin just has too many issues for me to ever consider buying one. That's just my perception and opinion though.

I wouldn't mind owning a Waterloo though. Maybe one of these days.

[TBman]

If I played blues and wanted a Martin ......

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...whiskey-sunset

[SRL]

Yeah, I totally get that feeling sometimes. Martin is the oldest brand out there and they do a ton of work to keep up that brand reputation. The power of brands on consumer psychology is very real.

That said, I've never really fell in love with any Martin that I played, and they seem pretty expensive for what you get. Not that they're bad, but they're so common that they just seem "ordinary" to me.

But the main reason that I don't have much interest in switching is the tribal nature that a lot of Martin players/collectors have... not all of them, mind you, and certainly not YOU who's reading this But a lot of times it feels like the vibe among Martin owners is "if it's not a Martin, it's nothing". Worse still are the "if it's not a vintage Martin, it's nothing" people.

Meanwhile, for fans of nearly all other brands, the tribal nature just isn't as strong and they'll acknowledge strengths and weaknesses of their own brand and others more honestly.

The same thing can be said about many other old "historic" luxury brands, such as Leica cameras. There's a brand like that in every hobby it seems...

edit: Also, if you want a guitar that's "truly special" as you say, a Martin from a factory that makes hundreds of guitars a day is hardly that. Hire a luthier for a custom build.

[KevinH]

It does sound like you're attracted to the idea of a Martin, rather than the sound of a particular model. Totally understand. When I returned to guitar playing I was set on having one and, after a good long search, ended up with a 00-18V. But it also sounds like you really like your Scissortail. It'd be a bummer to find yourself selling it and maybe finding the grass isn't greener on the Martin side of the fence. So, keep your Waterloo and buy a Martin you like. I wouldn't listen to anyone else's opinion about Martins because only you can decide if you actually like the sound and feel. Maybe you'll end up keeping both, or maybe you'll find you can live w/o one or the other.

[donlyn]

I love my guitar, but it's not a Martin, and I wish it was.

I love my guitar, but it's not a Martin, and I'm glad it's not.

Kind of cuts both ways. Is the first cut the deepest?



Don
.

[cc132]

Thanks for all the comments so far. This is giving me a lot to think about.

Originally Posted by SRL

Also, if you want a guitar that's "truly special" as you say, a Martin from a factory that makes hundreds of guitars a day is hardly that. Hire a luthier for a custom build.

We're using "special" a little differently here. I don't really mean special in the sense of being unique, custom, or unusual, I mean special in the sense of being exceptionally good sounding even compared to other identical instruments. You could sit at the Martin factory all day playing every D-18 that comes off the line, and every now and then you'd come across one that just has it, if you know what I mean. That's the kind of special I'm talking about.

[cc132]

Originally Posted by TBman

If I played blues and wanted a Martin ......

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...whiskey-sunset

I've played one of these before and really loved it. This is embarrassingly petty, but I can't really make myself like guitars which don't have front and back binding on the body. My last Waterloo was like that and it annoyed me from the time I brought it home till the time I sold it. It felt like an unfinished instrument.

If the 000-17 had back binding, I'd go for it.

Y'know, I wonder what it would cost to have their custom shop do one up like that...

[A Wolf]

As a few others have said, it’s a matter of being more susceptible to well done advertising. I think Martins and Levis have a lot in common. My son, who spends as much time on “denim” related forums as I do on music ones, buys jeans from one and two person companies, who match specific loomed denims with specific era patterns, etc. He says even the Levi attempts at historically correct jeans, which cost the same $250+ a pair as what he buys, are really wrong in many ways.

The last new guitar I bought was an 00-18. The store had a good stock of 00 and 000s for me to compare, and I’m really happy with what I came come with. But the worksmanship on it is really only so-so—the outside edge of the bindings still have some router chatter, the back is slightly mis-angled (about 1/16th inch left of center at the heel), and the headstock veneer is about 10 degrees off. The paint is nice, but very thick—thicker than on anything else I have. Still, it does have the sound I wanted (essentially a clean dry balance, as a companion 6 string for a cedar/rosewood concert jumbo, which is dripping with overtones if you even look at its case).

What you have (I played one a few months ago) is not a sound you’re going to find from a Martin, unless its a rare older one, which will be priced above a player’s budget. It’s a pretty specific design guitar, that puts out a more specific sound. That’s the sound you like, so you’re a lucky man.

That said, I used to always try to limit a specific variety of guitar (in this case, steel 6 string) to a single instrument. Somehow , I slipped. But I think if you have a specific sound you want, then getting a specific instrument for that sound is justified, even if it means “needing” a second guitar to be more of a generalist, or at least a good pairing with your Scissortail.