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A Short Blues On My Martin D18


BluesKing777

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I was trying out some stuff with a gadget on my Martin D18 and did a comparison recording, EXCEPT the plain old mic recording below is very nice, I thought...and the gadget recording for the comparison is full shitzky and going to the scrapheap.

 

And then I thought I would post the mic recording as I don't hear much about D18s anywhere much lately, so the track below is some acoustic blues on my D18 recorded with my Neumann KM184 mic (it is not tape hiss at the end of the track - it absolutely bucketed rain outside my window!):

 

 

 

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/bluesish7b

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

 

Nearly forgot the photo:

 

 

 

hQZfrhl.jpg

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Nice full sound on that one BK. Bare fingertips?

 

 

 

Yes, bare fingers thanks JZ.

 

I have only just recovered from these rotten little cuts I gave myself on the the right thumb and left index finger when cooking, I think. A real nuisance, they have been - right on the 'playing' area. [cursing]

 

I hope the recording shows why that guitar came home with me a couple of years ago - I played it at the shop, went home and later went back........

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

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Wow!! Absolutely beautiful playing and tone. What model and year is your D18? I had a 2006 for a while and it sounded nothing like that, yours is incredibly articulate, really beautiful sounding box.

 

I know the post-2012 D18s have the forward shifted bracing and the wider V neck, and by all accounts sound great. Mine wasn't particularly loud, toneful or responsive, I'm normally a fan of how Martin do Mahogany, but mine was disappointing. I wish it had sounded like yours does!!

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Thanks for the replies all!

 

 

Yes, it is a post 2012 D18E Retro with the inbuilt Aura + system, but same as the D18: forward shifted scalloped bracing, the newer Martin neck with 1 3/4" nut but lowish profile high performance.

 

With my love of OMs, I probably could have got one of the OMs with the Aura, but I just wanted to try the D18, the shop had this one, I played it and.....

 

I did see Brownie McGee a few times in his later years when I was a kid and he was always playing a D18, had some of his records, though not as fun as seeing Sonny Terry with him - first time they had a massive argument on stage and Sonny just sat there grumpy while Brownie was saying to play, come on...rude name..... i had never seen anybody have a hissy fit live before!

 

And a Skip James record I had was all D18.

 

I had no idea of the long history until forums started!

 

 

BluesKing777.

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Thanks KC and BBG!

 

 

Sell the Lowdens?

 

There could be another Lowden on the way!

 

But the D18E is a very versatile do-it-all and very easy to play. And it has the Aura! Had it a few years now, but the action was just a bit too high when I got home with it, so played it til it hurt then got Cargill to set it up, and it still plays like butter. Sitka top with the scalloped bracing makes it great for fingerpicking, very definte notes, some would say unforgiving. And it is still not fully opened up yet, I didn't want to use the Tonerite on it in case the Aura fell out.

 

But chuck it in the Hiscox and it could travel anywhere, plug and play!

 

 

BluesKing777.

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