Inexpensive Martins or other acoustics good for blues?

[Cheesehead]

I like playing Muddy and Chicago style blues on my Tele, but also on an acoustic (think Folk Singer album). I have a resonator so I'm not looking for one of those.

I've been looking at the reasonably priced Martins in the $500-750 range. I also just saw this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...tar?sku=517748

Looking for something that has the retro bluesy feel of this Gretch or a small body acoustic. But I'm pretty much open for anything. Dreadnoughts are a little boring but those cheaper Martins look mighty nice...

[allen st. john]

I'd look for a used Martin 15 series.
I think the 000-15S is the bomb but it's a little more expensive.
The d-15 is great, though.
Try the classifieds at www.umgf.com
best
Allen

[Stuco]

I agree with allen st. john, the 000-15 is a great guitar for your purposes around your price range used.

[getbent]

look for one of these great guitars, sound great.

[Stuco]

Also, look for a used larrivee 03 series.

[Colt W. Knight]

Those all Mohoghany D-15s wood be sweet for blues.

[Joe Chaney]

epi L-00

[fungusyoung]

Originally Posted by Stuco

I agree with allen st. john, the 000-15 is a great guitar for your purposes around your price range used.

+1

The 000-15 is a great guitar, and a fine choice for blues. A 00-15 would be cool too if you want even a smaller body. They're reminiscent of 50's era small bodied Gibsons (LG's) & Guilds (M20's & F20's). Good luck!

[stephent2]

the 15 series from Martin is great, the 12 fret model is the jewel. Recently I bought one of these. Right in your price range and a cool guitar.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Washburn-R316SWR...QQcmdZViewItem


Here's mine:

[Cheesehead]

Originally Posted by stephent2

the 15 series from Martin is great, the 12 fret model is the jewel. Recently I bought one of these. Right in your price range and a cool guitar.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Washburn-R316SWR...QQcmdZViewItem


Here's mine:

Me likey!

[reghedley]

Originally Posted by stephent2

the 15 series from Martin is great, the 12 fret model is the jewel. Recently I bought one of these. Right in your price range and a cool guitar.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Washburn-R316SWR...QQcmdZViewItem


Here's mine:

If that sounds as good as it looks the its a steal at the $560
Good luck with it

[Ricky D.]

Any cheap acoustic is ok. You have to string it with wire stolen from your screen door...

[BB]

Originally Posted by getbent

look for one of these great guitars, sound great.

I agree.....these old Harmony's are very cool blues guitars. Be careful though, most I've encountered were in need of a neck reset. Subway Guitars in Berkley usually has quite a number of these and other cool, older acoustics that are great for what you're after.

Love Woodmans Washburn! That thing is so cool!

There was a thread a while back about the Art & Lutherie Parlor guitars. A local shop has two that have been there for at least 5 years.....I play em whenever I go in. Excellent guitars for da blooz.

Another one I'll recommend that may be a bit harder to find is the Seagull S-6Folk. Small body, big blues tone.

[RotelliCaster]

an Alverez 5014. a 70's model or an 80's with SLM on the truss rod plate.
These are great 000 guitars! I have had two, still have one!

There is one on Ebay right now. The seller has his info on the 5014 all wrong but it's a super 000 guitar.

[drewsblues]

Epiphone makes some nice, reasonably-priced acoustics. Like the previously mentioned EL-00, or the EF-500M, or the DR-500R (if you're looking for a dreadnought size). I'd give those a try.

[Wally]

I read line of necks and neck set angles on every guitar I pick up. I look across the top of every guitar I pick up. I do these things before I play the guitar.
I use a mirror to look inside every guitar that has any issue with the top. When there is an issue with a concave top and/or a 'rolling' bridge, I expect to see loose or broken braces. When there are no loose or broken braces, there is a possibility that the guitar has dried out, the top has 'shrunken' and therefore the top no longer does what it was designed to do....hold the bridge in place (maintaining proper scale measurement) and pump air. It still pumps air, but the air carries intonation-problem-plagued notes adn action issues interfere with playing. Most guitars that I have seen with this type of problem with the tops will come back with humidification. I use humidification of dry guitars with 'shrinking top' problems before working on them. IF long and gradual humiditification of the woods doesn't bring the top back into shape, there are other issues.
Then I start looking again at the bracing. Popsicle braces don't impress me. I have seen them in two lines of guitars....one USA and one made in ASia..just one guitar actually from Asia. I have seen a number of guitars from the company in the U.S. that have this construction technique. I have seen numerous examples of this type of guitar lose the integrity of the top and develop serious playability issues. I do live in a dry area, and the winters are hard on guitars. Most dryness issues can be dealt with. These gutars have not responded like other guitars with more traditional bracing methodss used in their construction.
A mirror is a valuable tool when looking at guitars. KNowledge of line of neck and neck set angle is basic and important, imo. Looking very critically at every guitar I pick up has broadened my understanding of what the machines are supposed to be, what happens to them and what to do about those problems. I am still learning after all of these years, and I have learned that I personally would not recommend any guitar with popsicle braces to any of my friends or customers. I do not buy those guitars for personal use or resale purposes.
YMMV

[Brent Hutto]

Find a spry old girl like this one out there somewhere and she'll sing the blues for you all night long...assuming you're up for it. Life begins at 60!

[Wally]

Brent, that guitar was probably intended for slide 'Hawaiian' playing. Note that the saddle is perpendicular to the strings.

[RotelliCaster]

Originally Posted by Wally

Here is an interior shot of an 'inexpensive' Martin.....modern nomenclature.
The 'popsicle' brace/tone bar is different from what Martin has done for decades, and every guitar that I have seen with this type of construction has eventually had problems with the top. The top will go concave and the bridge rolls forward. This affects the neck/bridge relationship with regards to actio and also places the saddle too close to the fretboard thereby making proper intonation imipossible....every fretted note is sharp.

You can see the curvature of the 'popsicle' stick/top.
Here is a view across the top showing the forward roll of the bridge and the concave top forward of the bridge.

I have two of this type of Martin in the shop right now that are unplayable.
When I want a Martin, I will look only at the traditional nomenclatures and pay the requisite higher dollar.

Wow, I have never seen that kind of bracing on any Martin no matter what the price point was.

I have an X series (DCX1E) with the HPL (High Pressure Laminate) back and sides and the solid spruce top wit "X" bracing. It is built like, and sounds like a Martin should.

What model are these Martins?

[Wally]

Rotelli, those are not the X braces that I photo'd, and yes your guitar is one of the ones that looks like this on the inside. Mirrors are very revealing instruments.I hope your experiences are different from those of the folks I know. These guitars that I have known over the past 10 years that have this problem do not suffer from the problems that one usually sees when a top goes in like this....loose or broken braces...X or side braces. These guitars simply did not have sufficient support from these braces that come off of the side of the X bracing.
All of the Martins that are 'inexpensive' and have modern nomenclature are built this way ime.

[Brent Hutto]

Wally,

That's an interesting point, I had not noticed the saddle being square to the strings. I wonder if that geometry was original or if it was done when the guitar was renovated a few years ago (by the guy I bought it from). You can't see from the picture but the bridge was removed and reglued about 2mm below its original position to get the intonation to work right. But the marks from the old placement were parallel to the current placement.

Is it unusual that the guitar now intonates correctly with the squared-off saddle? According to my strobe tuner it's pretty darned close, at least up to the twelfth fret which is as high as I checked.

[Wally]

Brent, ime, there is no way that a saddle that is perpendicular to the strings will come anywhere close to accurate intonation with a 'normal' set of steel strings.
The bridge should be oriented the way it is....no slant; but the saddle should have a slant placing the bass side farther away from the 12th fret than the treble side. Steel string gutiars that have perpendicular saddles(to the strings) work for slide, but fretting the strings incurs inaccurate intonation.
If you want to know if the bridge slot is somewhere near where it hsould be, measure from the fret-side of the nut to the middle of the 12th fret. Thsi distance shoulud measure to the middle of the slot/saddle in bewteen the G and D strings...roughly.

[Brent Hutto]

OK, just about correct between the G and D strings. The distance from nut to 12th fret is 327mm. From 12th fret to middle of the saddle is between 327mm and 328mm, probably closer to 328 (hard to read my plastic office ruler to less than a millimeter). But it's almost dead square, that distance being about 327mm on the treble E string and closer to the 328mm on the sixth string, that's either my measuring error or slot slop away from being square.

I'll take a closer look at intonation when I get home tonight. From your description it sounds like I should expect to see it go flat as I move up the fingerboard on the treble strings and go the other way on the bass, right?