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zurdo

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About zurdo

  • Birthday 09/28/1952

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Orlando Florida
  • Interests
    antique cars, guitars.
  1. I have only owned a MK-81 which is still in pristine condition and I want to keep it that way. It is the best acoustic I have had all my life, regardless of what the "experts" say. I started playing guitar in 1963, so that should tell you, I've been through most every acoustic guitar except Martins, I never cared for Martins, over-rated, over-priced. And I believe these MK guitars were incorrectly marketed by Norlin as a "Country" guitar when in fact the MK guitars were way beyond in sound and engineering. Then the production guitars were messed up somehow, luthier Richard Schneider quits from Norlin in anger, "what have you done to my guitar", nobody will ever know. I got lucky and found a retired Gibson sales rep who had the MK-81 (supposedly one of the Demonstrator guitars done by Schneider); Here it is:
  2. I am sorry to revive this thread but I do have my opinions about the Mark guitars: I think the failure of the Mark guitars was due to the wrong Marketing by Norlin. they marketed the guitar to Nashville hillbillies who couldn't tell the difference between a refined instrument and a plain guitar, they marketed them to the type of "guitar player" who can only play basic guitar chords in the first three frets. So what can you expect from a school of thought that dictates that "Martins" must be the best guitars because someone plays a Martin at the Opry? they also should have been marketed in New York and California, not in Nashville for heaven's sake. In 1980, music stores in Los Angeles did not know what a Mark guitar was. I know, I was there in 1980, they had never seen one. There was no internet in 1980. it should have been marketed as an upscale instrument, the equivalent of a fine "violin", (not a hillbilly fiddle), as a Jazz guitar, as a "Django" kind of guitar, as a "Modern Steel String Acoustic for the discerning guitarist", as a refined guitar like Richard Schneider intended, not as a bonfire bargain guitar sold at Montgomery Ward's stores! then, if that wasn't enough, they decided on 5 (repeat FIVE) Models of the same guitar. The old "good to best" Sears Roebuck and General Motors marketing gimmick which only led to confusion at music stores, (not to mention at the factory), and music store owners eventually said: "I ain't got time for this crap". MK-35, 53, 72, 81, 99, it was absurd! Who needed that? had they concentrated on just ONE model of the Mark guitar, ( the "Less Is More" marketing approach), in this case the top-of-the-line model, in either Natural or Sunburst, it would have been a different scenario, because after all is said and done, the Mark 81 guitars are the best-sounding acoustic guitars ever made, second to none. Norlin spent lots of money on Research & Development, (ask Bruce Bolen), lots of time, lots of energy to design this guitar and make something really special out of it. the Mark guitar was Richard Schneider's "baby", he was one of the 20th Century's foremost guitar designers and builders, second to nobody, some of his prototype guitars ended up in the hands of Segovia and other famous players, who would not return them once they got them on "loan", and many of his Mark guitar innovations are being copied by other luthiers even today. The MK guitars are not "Country Music" guitars for 3-chord Opry players, they are way ahead of that for heaven's sake. Schneider knew that, but Norlin didn't.
  3. Us ? who is Us ? a few self-proclaimed "forum experts" claiming to know it all ? It could be an early ES-175 too, or worse even, a Japanese copy without the f-hole label I recently played a "Ventura" Barney Kessel copy from circa 1975 that rivals the real Gibson BK And by the way, what is a Barney Kessel? possible answer: a ES-175 with two Florentine cutaways ? Doubt is beautiful :D
  4. I notice that the Signature / Cassidy models are one-half ES-335 cutaway, (upper bout), and one-half Les Paul cutaway. (lower bout).
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