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  #61  
Old 01-17-2020, 08:45 AM
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cliff_the_stiff cliff_the_stiff is offline
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Beautiful looking- Im disappointed with the laminate. If you have a solid “core” why not finish that and see how it looks? Slapping a koa wood sticker on there doesn’t sit right in my soul.
The myriad of neck adjustment makes me think they bolted on a neck, and all those shims or whatever the micro adjustments- they will loosen, rattle- and annoy.
They also kept mentioning standard scale tone as better- bigger than a short scale...
That’s nonsense too. In my side by side comparison of different scale- the feel comes from the scale- and guitar size- I think there are far more variables to tone than scale.
13 fret- weird. Gimmick. nice to move the head closer so yo don’t have to reach that distant 3/4 inch for short scale feel- no again, that feel comes from lower tension on the strings, not the reach.
Maybe I’ll change my mind when i play one, but I’m pretty skeptical.

Last edited by JAMKC; 01-19-2020 at 09:14 PM. Reason: Edited minor profanity
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  #62  
Old 01-17-2020, 08:55 AM
LifesShort LifesShort is offline
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I admit that I was a little put off by the body shape initially, but now I find that I don't mind it at all. I'm excited about the new neck design. With this design, neck adjustments look to be easy to do, and neck resets could be a thing of the past. Just add shims, if/when necessary.

I may be wrong, but I don't think this is a laminate in the sense that a low end guitar is a laminate. The veneer is so thin that it will add very little stiffness to the back. That said, I would prefer that they had not used the veneer, unless the grain of the Khaya is just butt ugly.

All in all, I like the innovation and would like to give one a try. For me, it all comes down to the acoustic sound. I really don't care about plugging in. I'd like to see this neck design on a traditional-shaped Martin with the traditional Martin sound.
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  #63  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:00 AM
JackB1 JackB1 is offline
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This thin 000 depth doesn't lend itself to good acoustic sound.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LifesShort View Post
I admit that I was a little put off by the body shape initially, but now I find that I don't mind it at all. I'm excited about the new neck design. With this design, neck adjustments look to be easy to do, and neck resets could be a thing of the past. Just add shims, if/when necessary.

I may be wrong, but I don't think this is a laminate in the sense that a low end guitar is a laminate. The veneer is so thin that it will add very little stiffness to the back. That said, I would prefer that they had not used the veneer, unless the grain of the Khaya is just butt ugly.

All in all, I like the innovation and would like to give one a try. For me, it all comes down to the acoustic sound. I really don't care about plugging in. I'd like to see this neck design on a traditional-shaped Martin with the traditional Martin sound.
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  #64  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:04 AM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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Originally Posted by LifesShort View Post
I would prefer that they had not used the veneer, unless the grain of the Khaya is just butt ugly.
From a lumber standpoint, Khaya has lost a lot of favor in manufacturing where appearance is important because much of the Khaya that is being harvested in recent years is very inconsistent in color - lots of very light, whitish colors in the wood making it very hard to match other things. The quality as a tonewood I would expect to not be compromised, but it's very likely that it wouldn't be uniformly colored like we think of most "mahogany" and not even ribboned/striped like we think of some "mahogany". I personally love it, but I understand the desires to have it be a little prettier and I'm guessing there was some value in utilizing the less than stellar looking khaya for the quality of it in construction and then veneering the very gorgeous koa on top. From a manufacturing standpoint and a marketing standpoint, it's sound. I'd still rather they use solid ugly mahogany and stain it all dark like they do anyway.
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  #65  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:24 AM
beninma beninma is offline
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All this fretting (lol) over laminates and everyone is ignoring the innovation in the body shape. The bolt-on neck seems like it may be a step forward over the Taylor bolt on neck as well.

I'm sure some Luthier out there has already built a body like this but I've never seen one before.

The whole thing with the offset lower bout seems genius. I bet this guitar will be incredibly comfortable to play.. bigger lower bout without it getting in the way of your picking arm as much.

Going to keep watching the videos.. mostly the videos have too much talking and not enough playing!

The acoustic sound has to be good for this to work. The whole thing with 11s as the stock strings doesn't appeal to me I guess.
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  #66  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:28 AM
jricc jricc is offline
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I'm definitely intrigued, looking forward to trying one of these.
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  #67  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:30 AM
llew llew is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beninma View Post
All this fretting (lol) over laminates and everyone is ignoring the innovation in the body shape. The bolt-on neck seems like it may be a step forward over the Taylor bolt on neck as well.

I'm sure some Luthier out there has already built a body like this but I've never seen one before.

The whole thing with the offset lower bout seems genius. I bet this guitar will be incredibly comfortable to play.. bigger lower bout without it getting in the way of your picking arm as much.

Going to keep watching the videos.. mostly the videos have too much talking and not enough playing!

The acoustic sound has to be good for this to work. The whole thing with 11s as the stock strings doesn't appeal to me I guess.
Right there with you...I'd want at least a set of 12's on that guitar I'd think.
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  #68  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:48 AM
JackB1 JackB1 is offline
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Innovation in shape? Hasn't Breedlove had this basic shape for a long time?
I feel like the innovation is more in the carve and the way the neck is attached. But the shape is hardly an innovation.





Quote:
Originally Posted by beninma View Post
All this fretting (lol) over laminates and everyone is ignoring the innovation in the body shape. The bolt-on neck seems like it may be a step forward over the Taylor bolt on neck as well.

I'm sure some Luthier out there has already built a body like this but I've never seen one before.

The whole thing with the offset lower bout seems genius. I bet this guitar will be incredibly comfortable to play.. bigger lower bout without it getting in the way of your picking arm as much.

Going to keep watching the videos.. mostly the videos have too much talking and not enough playing!

The acoustic sound has to be good for this to work. The whole thing with 11s as the stock strings doesn't appeal to me I guess.
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  #69  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:53 AM
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David Eastwood David Eastwood is offline
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Originally Posted by JackB1 View Post
Innovation in shape? Hasn't Breedlove had this basic shape for a long time?
I feel like the innovation is more in the carve and the way the neck is attached. But the shape is hardly an innovation.
Similar, yes - but the new Martin has the offset waist, which is quite unusual for an acoustic guitar.
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  #70  
Old 01-17-2020, 09:54 AM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JackB1 View Post
Innovation in shape? Hasn't Breedlove had this basic shape for a long time?
I feel like the innovation is more in the carve and the way the neck is attached. But the shape is hardly an innovation.

Breedlove's shape is pretty clearly tied to their history with Taylor...no one is innovative. However, the Martin is not symmetrical on the lower bout, so it's a little more unique at least an the cutaway is slightly more pronounced.

The neck joint is pretty cool and unique for a wood guitar for sure. The contours are more like something you might see carbon fiber guys doing.
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  #71  
Old 01-17-2020, 10:16 AM
JackB1 JackB1 is offline
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Sounds pretty awful plugged in

https://youtu.be/CG14fAzGP8s
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  #72  
Old 01-17-2020, 11:31 AM
bil40272 bil40272 is offline
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I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the meeting when this idea was pitched. I'm sure like any company, there are old school guys who don't like change, as well as guys who are all about change, and then there is always the guys who always pitching wildassed off the wall stuff.I believe this fits in the latter group.
As far as using Low for the top layer,and still trying to.but a price point, I would guess it has something to do with the timing of its release around the NAMM event.
Although it ticks no boxes for me,,,( I'm between the first group and the second group from above),,,I'm sure it will bring some new consumers into the Martin fold.
And when The Guitar Emporium in Louisville Ky gets one in, I will have to try it out.
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  #73  
Old 01-17-2020, 11:39 AM
agfsteve agfsteve is offline
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With all the contours they added with the new neck and body shaping, and the supposed improvements in playability and comfort, I'm very surprised that they didn't add an arm bevel.
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  #74  
Old 01-17-2020, 11:45 AM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by agfsteve View Post
With all the contours they added with the new neck and body shaping, and the supposed improvements in playability and comfort, I'm very surprised that they didn't add an arm bevel.
Yeah - they should just go all in and do a scoop cutaway, some sound ports, a Manzer wedge....
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  #75  
Old 01-17-2020, 12:05 PM
lowrider lowrider is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JackB1 View Post
Sounds pretty awful plugged in

https://youtu.be/CG14fAzGP8s
That's easily fixable by removing the UST and connecting a Schatten HFN right to the Fishman pre-amp. It's just a matter of cutting and connecting two wires and it's said to work really well. Or you could just keep the Schatten passive and not use the Fishman pre-amp.

The guitar is relatively inexpensive. If you got it from one of the forum sponsors, you could upgrade the pick-up and still have a small budget.
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