New Martin Acoustic Guitar Day

[Jaguar018]

I know some of you schlubs like to tease and excite with guessing games and what not, but that's not me!

The brief story is that I saw that the person who does my amp repairs was thinning his collection of guitars, amps, and pedals. This was one of the things for sale. It ticks my boxes. I like Martin guitars and I like necks with blocks and binding. My other Martin was cool, but this guitar is more interesting. A Martin J-40 made in 1994 or 1995. Kind of an outlier in their lineup, but that suits me perfectly. As I'm not a super-duper expert or veteran of acoustic guitars, I don't have too much to say about the sound aside from it being loud.

[Larry Mal]

Nice! Those are a little rare in the Martin lineup, mainly because that Jumbo/Super Jumbo shape is kind of a Gibson thing. I don't think that the Martin Jumbo is quite as big as the Gibson SJ-200, I could be wrong, though.

You can read more about it here.

Regardless, as you are probably noticing, the Jumbo shape is a little different than you might have expected on sight alone. I was surprised with my Gibson J-100 that it was actually a quieter guitar than I had thought and had a sweeter and more balanced sound across the spectrum than I had assumed.

Martins are great guitars, that one looks wonderful. That's some pretty rosewood across the back there.

[MKR]

nice. I have been on a real acoustic kick the last month so I can definitely appreciate a fine acoustic like that. congrats.

[Maggieo]

Absolutely gorgeous. The inlays, the wood, everything is just so nice.

[Embenny]

I love it. A Martin fan might look at it the way we talk about HH hardtail Jazzmasters - "a Martin for people who hate Martins."

I don't have acoustic brand loyalty and I usually prefer custom or unusual acoustic instruments. I think this is all kinds of awesome.

Also, we don't talk a ton about acoustics here, but there's a real reason to buy older acoustics compared to electrics. Acoustic guitars absolutely do "open up" from playing over time. The luthier who built most of my guitars had a fun way to put it - he said "it takes some time for the wood to realize it's a guitar and not a tree anymore."

I've commissioned seven acoustics, and the way they sounded after one day, one week, one month, one year, and so on really did improve steadily. Louder, more responsive to a light touch, richer. I've owned a few 10-20 year old acoustics and the older instruments absolutely had an advantage over comparable newer instruments.

So getting a 25 year old guitar like this is great in so many ways, including how it'll sound now (if well cared for, which this one clearly was) compared to when it was new. There's no shortcut and every hour someone spent playing on it contributed to the way it sounds now.

[Larry Mal]

So I didn't know a whole lot about the model, I went ahead and took a listen to this video from Eddie's Guitars, right down the road from me.

They always do good videos and that guy is a great player.

Boy, that sure sounds like a wonderful guitar... world class. You've got yourself a guitar that will take you everywhere you want to go for the rest of your lifetime. Congratulations.

[BoringPostcards]

Amazing. I never really splurges on a good acoustic. My main is an EKO Ranger VI.
I lover playing acoustics. More than electric probably, at least time-wise.

[Jaguar018]

Thanks people!

Spending a serious chunk of money on an acoustic does feel a bit odd as I’m very much still an electric player, but I weaned myself into it. Had a Yamaha during college, and then got a used Martin OMC. It was the first ‘nice’ acoustic that was decently priced and had ‘that sound’ I like from acoustic. It also played really well. So now that I’m used to the feel of Martins I knew this particular one was a good fit sound and looks wise.

I did notice that the newer models of the guitar have a bit more ‘bling’ than mine (headstock binding, abalone on the headstock and sound hole), but I’m really happy with it. It is probably going to be my last major acoustic guitar purchase— unless someone has a Martin D-41 Porter Wagoneer that I can get a deal on. (Seriously, look that thing up. Gaudy as hell. I love it, but those top shelf
Martins are out of my price comfort zone.)

For a person who is drawn to Fender offsets I feel like this guitar makes sense: it is made by an acoustic giant, but it’s also a little different. I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time with it, and now that all that humidity stuff is working it should stay in fine form.

[mediocreplayer]

The Martin J body is very underrated. It's a wonderful body shape. Perhaps the only other body size that is more underrated in Martin's catalog is the M (also referred to as 0000 sometimes). This looks like a wonderful guitar. I have not owned any Martins in a while -- my last one was an M-28, which is similar to the J-40 but with a shallower body and less ornamentation. Not sure if there are any bracing differences between the two.

Also, acoustic guitars are 100% where a guitarist should put their money. I like electrics but at the end of the day a distorted guitar is a distorted guitar regardless if it is $300 or $3k. The same is definitely not true of acoustics, and they really do change their tone over time as mbene085 mentions.

[wproffitt]

Congratulations on this! I’ve never seen or even heard of this model, but it looks gorgeous! I’ve also come around to the idea that you get what you pay for with acoustics and if you find something you like and can afford it, you should just do it and not make compromises. Enjoy that Martin!

[papa_hotel_delta]

Wow, never saw one of those, very interesting especially the headstock label/treatment.

Martin has definitely gone off into some alternate body shapes which I'm certain annoys the purists. The "naming" gets a little confusing at times too, is an OM the same as an M the same as a 0000? Then we have J's.

The top on this one looks stunning, I'm a little jealous, the top on my "D-21 special" looks pedestrian in comparison (fortunately it doesn't sound pedestrian).