Martin Guitars

[_zedagive]

What are so many new or nearly new Martins for sale?

[lar]

They do make a lot of guitars - somewhere around 70,000 a year.

[zmf]

Because they should have bought a Breedlove?

[Stevien]

Originally Posted by zmf

Because they should have bought a Breedlove?

LOL! Good one. Clever.
Steve

[Mbroady]

There are loads of folks who, for many reasons, don’t play before they buy.
I’m one of those folks but I seldom buy used and a good return policy is a must.

[zoopeda]

Near-new mint Martin purchasing is an old past time! You buy a year old perfect Martin at a great used price, you get to play it for a few months to learn about the guitar and decide if it's for you, resell it at zero loss, and buy another for fun. If you have a few thousand $ in savings that you can't commit to a permanent guitar in the home, this is an awesome way to cycle cool guitars, learn what you like, have fun, and pass along to someone else. And when you hit "the one," you sell something else (or a kidney).

I wouldn't read too much into there being used newer Martins for sale. A lot of folks have more money than they know what to do with (or at least enough to lose on the resale of a new guitar). That's a good thing for many of us. I've bought and sold dozens of Martins this way, and never had a problem. On the contrary, it's been a blast.

[musicman1951]

They make a lot of models. I went through 4 Martin guitars before I landed on my current model. It would be wrong to assume that they are all sold for reasons of dissatisfation with the brand.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by zoopeda

Near-new mint Martin purchasing is an old past time! You buy a year old perfect Martin at a great used price, you get to play it for a few months to learn about the guitar and decide if it's for you, resell it at zero loss, and buy another for fun. If you have a few thousand $ in savings that you can't commit to a permanent guitar in the home, this is an awesome way to cycle cool guitars, learn what you like, have fun, and pass along to someone else. And when you hit "the one," you sell something else (or a kidney).

I wouldn't read too much into there being used newer Martins for sale. A lot of folks have more money than they know what to do with (or at least enough to lose on the resale of a new guitar). That's a good thing for many of us. I've bought and sold dozens of Martins this way, and never had a problem. On the contrary, it's been a blast.

I agree. I bought a custom OM28 that I think probably had been played less than an hour. You know how brand new satin Martin necks change after some playtime? This didn't have that. I paid about 45% of list. Such a great instrument at a great price. At least 15% less than I could have gotten it for new.

[JimT]

They have been making guitars for 187 years in this country, so it can look like a lot are being sold.

[_zedagive]

Originally Posted by zmf

Because they should have bought a Breedlove?

Only 1 of you got it right.

[The Watchman]

Baby boomers getting rid of the toys they never got around to mastering. Lots of Harleys for sale now too.

[garyboy2024]

Yep, I agree with a lot of what's been said... I've bought and sold probably 10-15 used Martins over the past couple of years with little money lost, just trying to figure out my "sound". All of them were great in their own way, and I let some really beautiful sounding instruments go, not because they weren't great, just because they weren't for my particular playing style. To spend a few weeks with an instrument in your own environment, alongside other instruments you're already familiar with, is the way to go if you can swing it. You can really get a sense of what that instrument is capable of. And every once in a while, a particular guitar will even launch your playing into a new direction. You don't really have enough time to experience these things in the context of a few hours in a guitar shop, hence the attraction to buying and selling various barely used instruments.

[pjbelsch]

Originally Posted by zmf

Because they should have bought a Breedlove?

i missed the joke

[Mrbirdog]

The Martin secondary market has excess liquidity

[M19]

Replace "Martin" with "Taylor," "Gibson," "Collings," etc. and I've seen that thread too.

High frequency on the first 2-3 pages of the classifieds fluctuates regularly.