radguitars
TDPRI Member
That was awesome “all slurched down in the couch.” “Have you considered finding a better seat?” The simplest solution and total wisdom! Amen my brother!
Replacing my HD28V for smaller body
- Thread starter thegaijin
- Start date
mgludden80
TDPRI Member
Check out the Martin Jeff Tweedy signature model. I think it’s a OO body with OOO depth, so smaller/easier to get your arms around but still decent volume. My best friend plays one and it’s a sweet machine, great balance of size and tone.
rob0901357
TDPRI Member
My couch guitar is a GS Mini Koa+. I also love my 000-18 & 814CE for finger style playing but when I want to dig in my HD-28 is what gets it done! Can't imagine letting it go.
All the Os have the same depth.
This is a great small guitar. You can get vintage ones for a reasonable price and Martin has started to make reissue 018 models. Mine is a 60's and has great volume for its' size and just the sweetest tone. Martin 018
Martin Jeff Tweedy Custom 00DB Acoustic
C. F. Martin & C. is pleased to introduce a very special Custom Artist Edition, the 00-DB Jeff Tweedy, designed in collaboration with Grammy Award winning Wilco frontman, Jeff Tweedy. This special limited edition instrument will be built for 2 years only. The 00-DB Jeff Tweedy Edition was inspired by one of Jeff's many love-worn Martins.It is a traditional 14 fret 00 size guitar with a deeper body for fuller sound and a modified V shape neck with long scale (25.4 inch). The top, back, and side of the guitar are all constructed from 100% FSC certified mahogany and it features a unique mahogany sunburst top inspired by a Martin Museum piece Tweedy has long admired. The interior label of each instrument is personally signed by Tweedy and numbered in sequence. The guitar is Martin's first Custom Artist model that is 100% FSC Certified, an important distinction for both Tweedy and Martin.
KC
Friend of Leo's
So my main squeeze acoustic is a 3-4 year old 000-18 and I love everything about it except that the action is borderline high and it will take a neck reset to get it down. It's very lightly built and very loud & responsive. I play a lot of slide so I don't mind the high action and it's been stable for the couple of years I've owned it. Fingers crossed.
But it's not all that much smaller than a dread. I also have a Breedlove parlor, made somewhere in Asia, that I got for $200 on a SDOTD deal, and it's a great sofa guitar: small, light, easy to play and quite surprisingly loud, though not a lot of bass. Before I went trading in your big Martin, I'd scour craigslist for something like the Breedlove. It's really quite a nice little guitar. And little!
But it's not all that much smaller than a dread. I also have a Breedlove parlor, made somewhere in Asia, that I got for $200 on a SDOTD deal, and it's a great sofa guitar: small, light, easy to play and quite surprisingly loud, though not a lot of bass. Before I went trading in your big Martin, I'd scour craigslist for something like the Breedlove. It's really quite a nice little guitar. And little!
kuch
Tele-Holic
Hey KC
You have a 3-4year old martin and it needs a neck reset? Are you sure? I've had my martins a lot longer than that and they're all fine.
On all the martins that I've bought, a couple for my grandsons, D28('99), 00028EC('99), 00018ERetro(2018), 0001R(mid 90's?), and LX1E(?), the 1st thing I did when I got them home is file down the nut and saddle. In my opinion all martins leave the factory with "borderline" high action. The trick is to take it slow and don't try to take too much off at a time. It's pretty slow going on the bone saddles anyway.
I hope you don't need a neck reset. Good luck
Oh, I was mostly asleep reading that. Well sure, there are custom one-offs with deeper bodies. There's a Women in Music series, and some others as well, but *in general* is what I meant. Thanks for that clarification!
mgludden80
TDPRI Member
The Tweedy is custom though. I can’t find the exact specs anywhere but it has a deeper body.
King-of-Tone
TDPRI Member
I love my D Jr. Sapele sides and back, sitka spruce top.
Boreas
Poster Extraordinaire
All this 00-18 talk prompted me to post this:
Freeman Keller
Poster Extraordinaire
Here is the '65 that is currently on my work bench.
That era with the rounded corners on the headstock. Square tube truss rod, frets are dead flat with no tension and less than 5 thou with. Sweet little guitar.
Oh, yes, I did play Freight Train.
Boreas
Poster Extraordinaire
I guess you can hope for a "mechanic's lien"!
985plowboy
Poster Extraordinaire
Others have already said it; get a good chair.
Sit on the couch to watch TV after you’ve wiped down that 28V and put it away.
Sit on the couch to watch TV after you’ve wiped down that 28V and put it away.
Thanks for posting that. Elizabeth Cotten was really something. A colleague at school played like that, right-strung left-handed.
Freeman Keller
Poster Extraordinaire
Its been said that none of us righties can ever sound like Cotton because of the way she picks the bass with here fingers and melody with her thumb. In my case there are a lot of other reasons....
tldr: got a new sofa instead
I really learned a lot from everyone’s replies here so thank you everyone for taking the time to reply to this post.
I spent a few days visiting a few shops and playing OMs, OOOs and OOs. I tried pretty much every style they had and even brought the “big guy” with me so I could compare. To cut a long story short, I’m keeping the HD-28V. For now. I’m going to try and play it more. Much more. I’ll see how I feel around Christmas time. To my ear the HD-28V just has more balls than anything else I tried. There are things about the other guitars that I liked, but at the end of the day the HD wins for sound.
Here is a picture of my guitar-friendly new sofa
I really learned a lot from everyone’s replies here so thank you everyone for taking the time to reply to this post.
I spent a few days visiting a few shops and playing OMs, OOOs and OOs. I tried pretty much every style they had and even brought the “big guy” with me so I could compare. To cut a long story short, I’m keeping the HD-28V. For now. I’m going to try and play it more. Much more. I’ll see how I feel around Christmas time. To my ear the HD-28V just has more balls than anything else I tried. There are things about the other guitars that I liked, but at the end of the day the HD wins for sound.
Here is a picture of my guitar-friendly new sofa
Robert Alger
Tele-Meister
A proper D-18 is as "quintessential" as a D-28 at my playground.I posted this over on the UMGF but Tele fans have impeccable taste as we all know so would like to hear from here too
Looking for a few recommendations of guitars to try out in the store. I have had an HD-28V for the past 10 years or so and although I like the sound, the size is simply too big to sit with on the sofa, which is where I play mostly. I find myself playing my teles most of the time but if I can get a fair deal for trading in the HD28V for a smaller body, I’d still like to have an acoustic to noodle with.
So I guess my question is, is there is a smaller bodied Martin that everyone loves, in the same way the D-28 is regarded as the quintessential model in the dreadnought lineup?
Was even considering a nylon string guitar. I used to play acoustic all the time so playability wasn’t even a thing I thought of, but since I spend 90% of my time on tele’s, switching back to acoustic feels like I’m a beginner again
“Go to the store and try ‘em all out” would probably be my advice to someone, and I may well do that, but for now I’d be interested to see if any model is recommended here more than others.
I would be all about the neck. Size shape and Scale length. Identify the characteristics I enjoy as far as the feel and then decide body size, rosewood or mahogany, spruce or what not. Slotted vs. Solid headstock is a big choice as well. Enjoy.
