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Author
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gbd
Registered: April 2003
Posts: 40
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Review Date: Thu June 26, 2003
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: Not Indicated
| Rating: 3
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Pros:
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size, quality wood
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Cons:
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poorly set up out of box
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I've always wanted one of these, they are just plain cool. Recently had a weekend trip to Boston to attend my younger sister's graduation, so I picked one up. There was no problem getting this onboard as airplane carry-on, always a major pain when traveling with guitars. Besides being a cool novelty item, it is actually a nice, well built guitar. Mine was brand new in a factory box, and I am very impressed at how nice the wood is. Martin does not skimp on these. The top is spruce, the fingerboard is rosewood with a killer grain; very bold red and brown striping. The neck and sides are a red wood either mahogany or cedar or both. It smells really nice. really. My only complaints about the construction/design of the guitar are both regarding the fingerboard. First, the Martin flat radius is FLAT. Seriously, after playing my 7.25 radius Tele, this thing seems almost like a concave, negative radius! Not a big deal, but a bit disorientating. Second, there are only 15 frets. It looks like there is plenty of room for more, I don't see why there aren't any. Access to the higher frets would be no problem, because of the wedge-shaped body. The included strap is an absolute necessity. SETUP: Here is where I was rather disappointed. The action out of the box is simply ridiculous. I didn't measure, but it was about an inch high! First order of business was to sand the saddle down to something reasonable. For someone not into doing their own setups, or even having a tech do it, this would be a major con. Also, despite the beautiful wood used, there is apparently NO finish on these, so I oiled mine really well with some Danish Oil. I just saw one at a pawnshop, and it had become old and dirty, and it was such a shame that something so nice to start with could become so nasty. Maybe that's planned obsolescence, like personal computers! If you get one, oil it or wax it, because it needs it. I have it strung with TI flat 11s, tuned down to Eb, because the manual warns against high tension/heavy strings. It has a very pleasant sound. It is quiet and lacks bass because of the small body, but it is very pleasant to listen to while practicing scales in a quiet room, especially on in the upper range. The neck is nice and thick. Once setup properly, this is a very cool little guitar. I will take care of it well and enjoy it for a long time.
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Colo Springs E
Registered: March 2003
Location: Colorado Springs
Posts: 5160
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Review Date: Thu July 17, 2003
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: $150.00
| Rating: 1
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Pros:
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Portable
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Cons:
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Tone
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This guitar just flat out s*cked. I'm sorry, there's not much good to say about it, except that it's easy to transport. The tone is HORRIBLE. Worse than the cheapest crappiest guitar you can think of, then replacing the plywood in that cheap crappy guitar with fiberglass glued to formica then covered in Reynolds aluminum or something. Think BAD tone. Think HURTFULL tone. Think tone that is so bad, that even "Billy Don't Be A Hero" sounds AWESOME in comparison. Then, maybe, just MAYBE, you've gotten within 100 miles of how bad the tone is from a Martin Backpacker. Think a Baby Taylor has bad tone (you're right, it does), dude, give this baby a whirl!!
Bad. Not good. Real bad. Unplayable due to how BAD it sounds.
Don't ever do something like this again, Martin. PLEASE.
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Tryin' your best to bring the
Water to your eyes...
Thinkin' it might stop her
From whoopin' your behind.
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shakedancer
Registered: April 2004
Location: north of Boston
Posts: 1634
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Review Date: Sun June 19, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: Not Indicated
| Rating: 1
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Pros:
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size
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Cons:
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tone,comfort
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I agree with the previous post. I tried one at GC the other day. The Tone is horrible,and to position it on your lap is worse than a Flying V. Plus its ugly!!!
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"If you don't like the Blues, you got to have a Hole in your Soul." Luther Allison
JOE
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