NuGD Martin OM-21

[Pura Vida]

Congrats! That's a great looking guitar. Sounds like you got a good deal on it too.

[sstaylor58]

Greetings and congratulations from a southern neighbor (Ithaca)..., beautiful guitar, I hope you enjoy the heck out of it!

[warfrat73]

So it's been almost a month now.

I had literally never played a rosewood Martin OM before ordering this. I gotta say, the tone is pretty much like I expected... I suppose having played rosewood Martin dreads, and other OMs, and seeing the descriptions of the tone and watching videos got my expectations pretty close.

That said, despite all the plaudits that I had read about the OM-21 I gotta it sounds better than I had expected. It's really great... rich, responsive, loud, resonant. Just everything I had hoped for from a Martin OM in terms of tone. Really impressed.

My one problem with it is the string spacing at the bridge... i'm struggling with it, and i didn't think i would. I like a little more space... it seems like such an insignificant difference, a couple 16ths of an inch... c'mon. I think part of it might also be a result of the different attack angle moving from dreads, I think my forearm and wrist approach the strings at a steeper angle.

I'm hoping that with time I get used to it. If not, I might look for a 21 Special, or a 28v... or maybe get saucy and order something special with 2 1/4 spacing after this pandemic blows over.

I'm kind of bummed about it, because I really dig the tone... I just need to get used to it. I can do that, right?

[mattwood]

This model is one I have always gassed for. Yours is a beauty!

[Broadus]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

So it's been almost a month now.

. . . .

My one problem with it is the string spacing at the bridge... i'm struggling with it, and i didn't think i would. I like a little more space... it seems like such an insignificant difference, a couple 16ths of an inch... c'mon. I think part of it might also be a result of the different attack angle moving from dreads, I think my forearm and wrist approach the strings at a steeper angle.

I'm hoping that with time I get used to it. If not, I might look for a 21 Special, or a 28v... or maybe get saucy and order something special with 2 1/4 spacing after this pandemic blows over.

I'm kind of bummed about it, because I really dig the tone... I just need to get used to it. I can do that, right?

I have a 2005 OM-21 that I bought used from a fellow Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum member in 2009. I’ve loved the guitar ever since.

Why Martin changed the bridge string spacing bewilders me. I love the 2 1/4” spacing and wouldn’t mind 2 5/16”, playing predominantly fingerstyle.

I recently looked into buying a new 000-18, but the current 2 5/32” spacing made it a non-starter for me.

Congrats on your OM-21. I hope you get adjusted to the string spacing because it’s a mighty fine, often underrated, guitar.

[DukeX]

Congrats on a fine guitar. I hope it works out for you. But yes, I like a little more string spacing at the bridge on a guitar I'm going to be fingerpicking a lot.

[warfrat73]

I guess I'm one of the weirdos... I like a bit more spacing even for my flat picking. My CS D-18 has 2 5/16" and I get on pretty well with that it this point.

[Peter Z]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

So it's been almost a month now.
My one problem with it is the string spacing at the bridge... i'm struggling with it, and i didn't think i would. I like a little more space... it seems like such an insignificant difference, a couple 16ths of an inch... c'mon. I think part of it might also be a result of the different attack angle moving from dreads, I think my forearm and wrist approach the strings at a steeper angle.

I'm hoping that with time I get used to it. If not, I might look for a 21 Special, or a 28v... or maybe get saucy and order something special with 2 1/4 spacing after this pandemic blows over.

I'm kind of bummed about it, because I really dig the tone... I just need to get used to it. I can do that, right?

The more you play it and the less you think about the string spacing the quicker you come to the point where you don't notice it any more! :-)

Your post made me look at the specs of my CEO-7. And honestly I never cared about the very different string spacing on that guitar. Maybe that changes now that I now the exact figures. But I hope not!

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

So it's been almost a month now.

I had literally never played a rosewood Martin OM before ordering this. I gotta say, the tone is pretty much like I expected... I suppose having played rosewood Martin dreads, and other OMs, and seeing the descriptions of the tone and watching videos got my expectations pretty close.

That said, despite all the plaudits that I had read about the OM-21 I gotta it sounds better than I had expected. It's really great... rich, responsive, loud, resonant. Just everything I had hoped for from a Martin OM in terms of tone. Really impressed.

My one problem with it is the string spacing at the bridge... i'm struggling with it, and i didn't think i would. I like a little more space... it seems like such an insignificant difference, a couple 16ths of an inch... c'mon. I think part of it might also be a result of the different attack angle moving from dreads, I think my forearm and wrist approach the strings at a steeper angle.

I'm hoping that with time I get used to it. If not, I might look for a 21 Special, or a 28v... or maybe get saucy and order something special with 2 1/4 spacing after this pandemic blows over.

I'm kind of bummed about it, because I really dig the tone... I just need to get used to it. I can do that, right?

Too bad you missed it a while back, AGF's own El McMeen had a great custom OM21 with 2 1/4" spacing he put up for sale a while back. I looked very seriously at it but ultimately decided it was too wide for me and got a custom OM28 with the standard 2 5/16"

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by Peter Z

The more you play it and the less you think about the string spacing the quicker you come to the point where you don't notice it any more! :-)

Your post made me look at the specs of my CEO-7. And honestly I never cared about the very different string spacing on that guitar. Maybe that changes now that I now the exact figures. But I hope not!

The string spacing is pretty much why I sold my CEO7. Having two other guitars with 2 5/16" I had trouble feeling comfortable picking it so I ended up selling it and getting an OM with 2 5/16". Otherwise, I loved that guitar.

[warfrat73]

To be honest, it's never something that I'd really thought of before... this forum giveth, and taketh away.

I had been looking for a mahogany OM, and very nearly bought that OM-18v with alpine top that McMeen had up, but I just didn't have enough on hand for a fully cash sale, and I'm carrying a few hundred of this on a credit card for couple of months. But I also got a good enough deal that I don't much mind.

BTW, the standard spacing is 5/32", not 5/16"... was that a goof, or am I reading you wrong?