rct

Yes, Merica. Where you are asking users of the Merican Customme Shoppe how good the guitars are from the Japan Custom Shop, guitars we would realistically not see here. You know nothing about it, what makes you think anyone else does? Good luck with the purchase. rct

Here in America we wouldn't know anything about any custom shop jobs done in Japan that are intended to stay in Japan. rct

Oh sure, there's some here and my brother has all the pictures my mother had. Jordache too. Jeans were a big deal then, I guess they still are. Calvins were my favorites. Cheap Jeans were good too. rct

Played an awful lot of nights in the 70's in Cheap Jeans, never a problem. Or Calvins. rct

So you buy back the rights you signed away as a young man and you somehow "win" your rights back? rct

No man, long time ago. All the same characters are still there though, nobody leaves a job at that place! There is an effort throughout the industry to curb the liberties many retailers take with sales language, and what you are talking about is probably that. But don't believe for a minute it is Martin. It is, or it will, be all of them. Here is the current spec page(s) for the current D-28. I don't know how much more specific you want them to get. https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/standard-series/D-28.html rct

My Martin factory tour was private. That was about a 16 hour day. The evening was spent over a few lagers with CFM IV. I have no need to call them up for any "research", I just email a friend or two. I can handle anything you have, Lars. You don't get it do you? I'm asking you where you got this in an effort to help people who really do care about specs stop this kind of nonsense. If someone on the phone at Martin told you they will no longer provide specs then I'll have to apologize for the company and let someone know that that is what is being told to customers. rct

You said: "But, now, Martin has decided not to provide Specs for their Guitars.. They aren’t going to provide Materials for Bodies, Fretboards & other Parts of their new Guitars.. I want to know what I’m buying. Especially if I’m paying $3,000.00 or more!" Again, where are you getting that they "have decided not to provide Specs for their Guitars...". "That aren't going to provide Materials for Bodies, Fretboards....? Where is this coming from? Where? Where did you hear this? How have you arrived at this conclusion based on a link to Sitka/Lutz problem? Am I speaking some foreign language to you or something? rct

Lars, I typed this slowly. Read it slowly, follow it, understand to it and above all, respond to what is asked. I care about specs. I care about Martin, right up there with Fender for me, both just a smidge above Gibson for me. You started this whole thing with Martin is no longer providing specs for their guitars. You did. Go edit it, go do whatever you want, deny it, whatever you want. You provided a link to an article about the words "Sitka Spruce". That has been going on for quite a few years, UMGF and AGF should both have tons of info about that idea. You mentioned "select hardwoods" for necks, that has been the Martin verbage for at least ten years. The aforementioned UMGF and AGF can probably tell you to the day and hour when that started. Cedar or Mahogany, they just don't feel like having to specify which pallet of blanks they got this week. You have provided nothing in response to this question: I care about specs. Where and how did you find out that CFMartin will no longer provide specs for their guitars? Simple question that you ain't answering, followed by your incessant distractions, deflections, and plain ol' makin stuff up. rct

I said nothing ever about a chip in a guitar of any kind. I asked and I continue to ask, where is it found that CFMartin will no longer provide specs for "new" guitars? At what point do I concede this? When will I go to the CFMartin webpage and find no specs for a guitar? If I continue to see specs on their page, who do I contact to ask them to stop, since it is a certainty that they are not doing this any longer? rct

What did they say about not providing specs for their guitars? rct

Yer better off with a Rogue. rct

And somehow this is all because of the change to the words "Sitka Spruce"? Terrifying. rct

It isn't superior in any way outside of the abundance of it's cheapness, because it is abundant. It remains abundant, it is not threatened. It is grown all along the west coast on up to Sitka Alaska. It is, in the end, just a spruce tree that gets big, therefore it made for inexpensive musical instrument tops. Among other things, because "sitka" spruce is used to make just about everything. It isn't sailboat tonewood or furniture tonewood or anything like that, it is just plentiful and cheap. Guitar makers have stretched the boundaries of what they call things many times over, and occasionally need to reset things so they can get on with being allowed to call something a name that it is not. They have probably been calling any spruce they can get from the west coast of us/canada/alaska "sitka" when they shouldn't have. All of them, not CFMartin in particular. Or, it's a giant conspiracy designed to lift thousands of dollars from your pocket while telling you absolutely NOTHING about your guitar, because we all know that nothing sells guitars like not telling the guitar player what the guitar is made of, that has been so successful for so many companies that CFMartin had to get in on that action. rct

Ok well we'll just look at CFMartin page occasionally and look for specs, specific specs. If by some point this year they still are then... rct

The people with the money behind all of that were, or became, some sort of guitar brokers. The broker gets multiple shops and even individual sellers to hawk them and makes the best deal he can with each seller. We don't really do that here. Yet. rct

Because in the early mid 90's to early mid 2000's every guitar show had a table or three that took up three or four floor spaces. At those tables were two or three Japanese guys or their representatives with briefcases full of cash. People walked in with their "vintage" Fenders and Gibsons and Martins and got sick money for them, on the spot. It was the rabid inflation of the vintage guitar bubble. They took all of those guitars out of the country and back to Japan where they could presumably sell them on for even sicker money, considering currency exchange and stuff. Well, in the end, that didn't work out so great for anyone. The American dealers were just buying/selling the same few hundred vintage guitars back and forth through each other while the Japanese had taken a good portion of the remaining American vintage guitars out of America. And the bubble popped and the American dealers were ending up stuck with their 50,000 dollar crappy old guitars and the Japanese were stuck with the lions share of old guitars. They've been trying to sell them back to us for a long time now. They are just old guitars, they can figure out creative ways to eat them. rct

I would be all over it if even half of what you are claiming were true. Nobody is denying anybody anywhere any of the specs on any Martin guitar. Again, the neck wording has been that for a very long time. For the last time, I will directly ask you Lars: Where did you get this "fact" that CFMartin is not providing specs for "new guitars", whatever that means? Where did this come from? And before you tell me you didn't this and you didn't that, before you go back and edit it, here is a direct quote your first post in this thread, the one that started it all: From Lars, first post: I recently bought a Martin HD-28E.. It was a great Guitar but I just didn’t bond with it.. I was still looking for a D-28, But, now, Martin has decided not to provide Specs for their Guitars.. They aren’t going to provide Materials for Bodies, Fretboards & other Parts of their new Guitars.. I want to know what I’m buying. Especially if I’m paying $3,000.00 or more! They will be using different Woods but not say what it is? You don’t know what you’re spending your Money on.. Doesn’t seem smart to me! See Link. https://www.maurysmusic.com/maury_s_blog/view/208115/martin_guitars___the_use_of_sitka_spruce_in_2022 End Lars quote. And the link is to the fact, a fact that has been going on for quite some time now with this thing called Sitka, that they'll use different language for the tops. Help me out buddy. I want to be angry too, I want a nice hot cup of outrage too. Where is this all coming from? Where did you come up with no specs for new Martins? rct

The specs are right there. "Select Hardwood" means what it has always meant: If not specified as mahogany the neck is cedar. Buying a Martin is no different than all the "research" everyone does to buy a Gibson. If you don't know or don't want to know how to do it, don't do it. Jesus H. you are crapping your pants because they are using the same language for the necks they have always used, and your favorite retailer writes what they want in the sales drivel. I can't believe I bother with this stupids hit. rct

Like this, at the bottom of the page, the LOAD MORE button. You mean like this page? https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/new-models/D-28-Authentic-1937-VTS.html?cgid=new-guitars rct

Can anyone point me to some source or other that Martin is no longer providing specs for their guitars, please. Thank You. rct

Where does it say anywhere that you won't have specs for your 4 thousand dollar guitar? Where is that? I want to get some of this anger too, but it doesn't seem to exist. rct

The spec is Spruce for the top. Lutz or Sitka. The Sitka thing has been going on for quite some time now, you just haven't noticed. There is no magic in Sitka Spruce, it is the same spruce that is growing in other places that aren't allowed to call it Sitka. Other than that, there is nothing in your link that indicates not providing material specifications for bodies, fretboards, and other parts of their new guitars. Just that Spruce will be called Spruce with no location designator. Or, maybe I do need some reading comprehension courses! rct

Right. Over. Yerhead. That's how too Why So Serious a person can be. rct

Take a couple classes on reading comprehension there buddy. rct