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Wife's NGD (Martin)


zombywoof

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So we headed out this morning to go to a music store. Took 1 1/2 hours to get there and the place was closed. Decided to go to another one about an hour from there. Also was not open. Lesson learned - if you live in Ohio do not plan on checking out guitars on a Tuesday.

 

So we had lunch at Mr. Heroes and headed off to Woodsy's in Kent. Hallelujah, they were open. Started on the lower floor and then headed up to the high dollar acoustic room. Only Gibsons in the place were a SJ-200 and an 1932 L-00 reissue. Only old guitar up for grabs was a 1947 Martin D-18. Good selection of new Martins, Taylors, Larrivees and Breedloves though. Anyway my wife was looking for a 12 string. Played what they had in and nothing impressed the heck out her. Then she lit on a 2016 Martin D12-28. Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. The deal was sealed when, as the guitar was a NOS 2016 Centennial, they gave us a heck of a deal. So it came home with us. First song she played on her brand spanking new Martin - Tom Petty's Wildflowers.

 

PS. Unfortunately no torrefied top guitars to try out. Curses, foiled again. But the guy who works there has had them in and said, yeah, they are as good sounding as they are cracked up to be.

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Well now, all right, a 12 string.

 

A Martin 12-28 . . . nice. A Centennial, very nice!

 

Would love to see a pic too.

 

Congrats. . B)

 

 

.

 

 

I was trying to figure out the Centennial of what. As nobody at the store seemed to know either they looked it up. Apparently it was the centennial anniversary of the dread. I will say this guitar has one of the nicest looking tops I have seen in quite a while. Tons of silking so the lumber they used was perfectly quartersawn.

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Concluded review of a dozen or so Martin Commemoratives - that Martin has 50+ dreadnaughts in their current catalog and had added 16 as Commemorative issues in 2016. Prices ranging from $700 to $8,000.

 

 

And we complain about the number of J-45 models....

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Interesting article. Concluded review of a dozen or so Martin Commemoratives - that Martin has 50+ dreadnaughts in their current catalog and had added 16 as Commemorative issues in 2016. Prices ranging from $700 to $8,000.

 

 

The store just considered it a NOS guitar and, based on what the big box stores are asking, took about $550 off the price tag. Then, of course, we got stuck paying tax. I like the low end and the mids but the upper end sounds a bit jangly for me. Darn thing is loud. It is strung with those Martin Lifespan strings which I have never used. My first thought was to go with a heavier gauge B & E but my wife likes the guitars as is. We had originally gone out to check out a 1967 D12-35 with a good although not great asking price but the place was closed. I wanted to wait till we could check it out but my wife really liked the D-28. She by the way, was not impressed with the Martin Performing Artist cutaway 12 string or the two Taylor 12 strings they had in. There we were in total agreement. Again, the top wood on this guitar is perfectly quartersawn so some care was taken with the wood selection.

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The store just considered it a NOS guitar and, based on what the big box stores are asking, took about $550 off the price tag. Then, of course, we got stuck paying tax. I like the low end and the mids but the upper end sounds a bit jangly for me. Darn thing is loud. It is strung with those Martin Lifespan strings which I have never used. My first thought was to go with a heavier gauge B & E but my wife likes the guitars as is. We had originally gone out to check out a 1967 D12-35 with a good although not great asking price but the place was closed. I wanted to wait till we could check it out but my wife really liked the D-28. She by the way, was not impressed with the Martin Performing Artist cutaway 12 string or the two Taylor 12 strings they had in. There we were in total agreement. Again, the top wood on this guitar is perfectly quartersawn so some care was taken with the wood selection.

 

Congrats on a sweet guitar. I have one that is 10 years older. It has gotten better with time. I also have a 2016 Centennial Dreadnought, a D-42. I picked it out of a line up of 3 on Musician's Friend. My criteria at the time for such an expensive guitar was the pickguard, yes pickguard. 2 of the 3 had what I call "Bird Poop" on the pickguards, unsightly bright patches. I like a consistent pickguard. Little did I realize the one I got was the only one made in 2016, it wasn't until I got it home and looked in the hole at the stamp that I read "Dreadnought Centennial". I feel fortunate that I stumbled upon the guitar this way, and by the way it sounds great.

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Congrats on a sweet guitar. I have one that is 10 years older. It has gotten better with time. I also have a 2016 Centennial Dreadnought, a D-42. I picked it out of a line up of 3 on Musician's Friend. My criteria at the time for such an expensive guitar was the pickguard, yes pickguard. 2 of the 3 had what I call "Bird Poop" on the pickguards, unsightly bright patches. I like a consistent pickguard. Little did I realize the one I got was the only one made in 2016, it wasn't until I got it home and looked in the hole at the stamp that I read "Dreadnought Centennial". I feel fortunate that I stumbled upon the guitar this way, and by the way it sounds great.

 

 

I am guessing that all Martin dreads got the Centennial stamp in 2016 as the one my wife bought was not a special run or anything.

 

Hard to imagine any pickguard being worse looking than what Gibson passes off as a firestripe these days. But anything is possible.

 

The Martin I would have gone for (as I did not want to spend the bucks they were asking on the mid-1940s D-18 hanging on the wall) was an early 90s D-28. I did not get a chance to see it until later but the body was made with something called Morado rosewood and the top with old growth Englemann spruce. Surprisingly it was not that expensive and I could have easily swung the cash for it. Apparently Martin only got enough of the Englemann to build four guitars, two of which were D-28s. But my wife wanted a 12 string and hates the massive neck on my pre-War Regal 12. Funny thing is she showed little interest in the early 1963 Gibson B45-12 I had. I had pretty much had picked it up thinking she would want it.

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I am guessing that all Martin dreads got the Centennial stamp in 2016 as the one my wife bought was not a special run or anything.

 

Hard to imagine any pickguard being worse looking than what Gibson passes off as a firestripe these days. But anything is possible.

 

The Martin I would have gone for (as I did not want to spend the bucks they were asking on the mid-1940s D-18 hanging on the wall) was an early 90s D-28. I did not get a chance to see it until later but the body was made with something called Morado rosewood and the top with old growth Englemann spruce. Surprisingly it was not that expensive and I could have easily swung the cash for it. Apparently Martin only got enough of the Englemann to build four guitars, two of which were D-28s. But my wife wanted a 12 string and hates the massive neck on my pre-War Regal 12. Funny thing is she showed little interest in the early 1963 Gibson B45-12 I had. I had pretty much had picked it up thinking she would want it.

 

I have 2 Firestripe pickguards, 2016 J-45 Custom and 2016 Advanced Jumbo, It took a while to get used to them but when I found out they were historic, they grew on me. It seems the original ones had the stripes going the other way, I like the stripes to go with my picking strokes.

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Why do I see "Page Can Not be Displayed" every effing time I hit the "Add Reply" button. This website is such a PITA to deal with, WTF Gibson, get with the program!

 

 

No problem with it on either of my computers, so it may not be a website issue. The site does hang up sometime when replying, but if you exit the site and re-load, you'll usually find your reply has been logged.

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I have 2 Firestripe pickguards, 2016 J-45 Custom and 2016 Advanced Jumbo, It took a while to get used to them but when I found out they were historic, they grew on me. It seems the original ones had the stripes going the other way, I like the stripes to go with my picking strokes.

 

 

I own three instruments (two Gibsons and one Schmidt Sovereign) built in the 1930s which have their original firestripe pickguards. This one though is my favorite - a 1935 Gibson-made Recording King mandolin. You can really see why they are called firestripe.

 

Recording_King_Mandolin_Pickguard_Detail_zpsobj9.jpg

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I own three instruments (two Gibsons and one Schmidt Sovereign) built in the 1930s which have their original firestripe pickguards. This one though is my favorite - a 1935 Gibson-made Recording King mandolin. You can really see why they are called firestripe.

 

Recording_King_Mandolin_Pickguard_Detail_zpsobj9.jpg

 

 

Oh yes, get the hot dogs!

 

 

 

 

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Here's my '34/35 Kalamazoo--kinda cool that the stripe is not parallel to the strum.

 

mFvJLGz.jpg?1

 

Anne, again, I am almost positive your Kalamazoo was made in 1935. I have never seen a rope binding on any guitar made by Gibson other than 1935. It is the same that is on my Recording King mando.

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My point on the firestripe pickguards was that what Gibson uses these days does not come close to what the originals looked like. They are more of a tigerstripe is anything.

 

 

Your point wasn't lost on me. I've got two guitars with modern Gibson "firestripe" pickguards, and they don't look much like the originals. The new ones lack any subtlety at all. More like a warehouse fire than a campfire.

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