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generaldreedle

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I can identify with this. I have a j45 and just over a year ago i swapped my d28 for a swd. Couldn't bond with the songwriter and after 3 months traded in for a new d28 cause i needed it back. I've just splashed out on the 2012 spec d18 as well which is an unbelievable beast for the money.

 

Think i'm satisfied now - j45, d28, d18 ( plus my ric 325).

 

That is...until a j160 at the right spec comes along!

 

I would have a serious think about getting rid of the martin. Hell...just get bird as well (and the new d18)!

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I have a J45 custom and D28, someone please talk me out of my current "idea" of trading in the D28 to get a Hummingbird. I don't know what's wrong with me.

 

What's drawing you? Soundclips or the looks? Very different animals. If your D28 is a good guitar don't do it.

 

If you want talked out of it...

Will it score you an FHM model...... No

Will it make you a better player....... No

Will it be more of a better guitar....... Subjective

Will it be more red............................ Yes

Is that necessarily a good thing....... Subjective

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I know this won't - as usual - win applause, but my feeling is that playability is the thing to consider.

 

Each guitar has a different feel. The neck, the shape of the body overall... I've

 

Frankly although I love both the D28 and Bird and J for sound, I've found that regardless (depending on how they're strung and how one plays), none of the "big bodies" suits how I play.

 

If they did (actually they do for about 5 percent of my picking) there remains the question of individual feel. I'm absolutely convinced that how one plays and holds their instrument carries a very significant role in how the instrument sounds. We all holler about bone bridges and whatever but - we often ignore that how we hold the instrument inevitably will affect the sound too.

 

m

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WHO are we to judge, , , , but -

 

If you trade the 28 for a Bird you'll get

 

2 Gibsons

2 different back'n'sides

2 short scales

2 scalloped boxes

2 family-members

 

opposed to

 

2 main brands side by side

2 same back'n'sides

2 different scales

2 different brace concepts (same pattern)

The fascinating YingYang of G and M

 

Could it be you are in love with the flora-fauna pick-guard and general Bird-looks and if yes, is this enough to let the classic Martin workhorse ride.

 

The answer is blowing. . .

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If the D28 is "you," then you wouldn't even consider dumping it. As someone said, look it over and decide just what it means to you. I won't get rid of a guitar that I feel is a part of who I am. A year from now that feeling could be different, depending on all the variables that draw us to particular guitars. Only you know if the D28 is a guitar that has become part of you and you part of it. Don't get rid of the D28 simply because you want a Hummingbird. By all means, if you want the Hummingbird, aim for one, but don't make it dependent on selling/trading the D28 unless the Martin is truly a guitar you can do without. Choose wisely, grasshopper. [thumbup]

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What's drawing you? Soundclips or the looks? Very different animals. If your D28 is a good guitar don't do it.

 

If you want talked out of it...

Will it score you an FHM model...... No

Will it make you a better player....... No

Will it be more of a better guitar....... Subjective

Will it be more red............................ Yes

Is that necessarily a good thing....... Subjective

 

 

Wait, are you implying there's a guitar out there that will score me an FHM Model? My search criteria just changed! On a more serious note, I'm going back and reevaluate -- frankly I like the D28, but after I got the J45 Custom it has grabbed me in a way the D28 hasn't -- but I could be just smitten with the new guitar -- if after reevaluating I find that I'm just more of a Gibson sound person then I'll do it, but I won't be rash because I do like the D28. I did try the Hummingbird at my local GC and it sounded pretty damn good..

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Funny how Missouri and I are older guys and are commenting not on fine points of tone or whatever, but whether it's a special feel that comes from picking a guitar that just plain "fits" what a given picker is doing.

 

I think Martins are marvelous tone machines and I've not seen one old or new that didn't look good. But... I've never played one to find I hadda have it or one like it. Of course, part of that's the neck and part is the "D" size that is taken up well enough with what I have at home. Part is the neck that... just didn't help me play.

 

m

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If the D28 is "you," then you wouldn't even consider dumping it. As someone said, look it over and decide just what it means to you. I won't get rid of a guitar that I feel is a part of who I am. A year from now that feeling could be different, depending on all the variables that draw us to particular guitars. Only you know if the D28 is a guitar that has become part of you and you part of it. Don't get rid of the D28 simply because you want a Hummingbird. By all means, if you want the Hummingbird, aim for one, but don't make it dependent on selling/trading the D28 unless the Martin is truly a guitar you can do without. Choose wisely, grasshopper. [thumbup]

 

A vote for this thought train.

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And as I recall, I've a cupla years on you. <grin>

 

I just need some practice time this week for a Sunday cowboy poetry and music gig in a prototypical ranch village in Montana. Sheesh.

 

Thing is, and I'm not really kidding on that, I think as one really gets into his or her own music, the #1 guitar or guitars will kinda take their own place. With me it's something roughly an ES175 or "classical guitar" size, preferably with a short scale and cutaway if it's steel string.

 

OTOH, when I've done AE rhythm for classic country, grass or "old time," I use the big box and a flatpick. But that's at most 5 percent of what I do and I'm not all that concerned about fantastic tone. Who knows, if I were, I might consider selling everything else for a Gallagher. Who knows, maybe some day I'll get one of their ragtime models although I'd prefer a bit shorter scale and I've never touched a Gallagher neck. Sure do sound purty, though.

 

m

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I have a J45 custom and D28, someone please talk me out of my current "idea" of trading in the D28 to get a Hummingbird. I don't know what's wrong with me.

 

Help from the board no 1:

 

If you want to get talked out of buying a Gibson, this is probably not the place! Do you have a mother-in-law? Start there.

 

Otherwise:

 

 

Help from the Board no.2:

 

Buy it!

 

And keep buyin' them until you have a roomful and a full time job changing the strings. That's pretty well what I have done since giving up smoking 3 years ago.

 

 

BluesKing777.

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Option 2 -

 

Are you sure you shouldn't pass the 45 ?

 

That would mean

 

The duality of 2 major brands within reach

2 different sets of back'n'side woods

2 different scale lengths

2 different nut widths

2 different brace concepts

2 different sets of tuners

2 different acoustic natures

2 different looks - the burst/natural - blinged/puristic

and the ideal YingYang

 

Just a thought worth considering - though I have the feeling you are under the almost incureable Gibson-fever.

 

 

 

 

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Take the D-28 with you when you shop for the Bird. I have yet to find one that grabbed me - but I miss the 28 I sold for the 18. Wish I had listened to JT and just moved my self-imposed stable number to six. I ended up with the JB whilst shopping for a Bird. Keep the 28. Stay off the "swap" merry-go-round, it's aggravating.

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I'm all in for the 'one of each' logic. They're both magical, and different. If I could afford to be a collector again, my home would be filled with guitars that had seperate sound qualities. Hang on to the D28. A 'Bird and J45 have similar tonal ranges.

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I'm all in for the 'one of each' logic. They're both magical, and different. If I could afford to be a collector again, my home would be filled with guitars that had seperate sound qualities. Hang on to the D28. A 'Bird and J45 have similar tonal ranges.

 

 

Yeah, I might do that, although the J45 I have is a custom and is rosewood, so its a little different. When I went in yesterday to the GC to try them all out, they had a D28, a J45 Custom, there and the Bird, it was interesting.

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Everyone has been great with their replies. Now it's really an issue of dinero, but approaching 50, maybe the "old guys" advice is really resonating. I thought I really liked the D28, until I got the J45 Custom -- and it's not just me -- my daughter was passing by when I was playing them both and listened and said she liked the J45 a lot better -- she thought it had more depth and more clarity, my wife turned her head when I was playing the J45, my guitar teacher (until recently stuck in his view of Gibsons he got in the Norlin era) -- swiveled his head when I was playing some blues number he taught me and said "That sounds really good on that guitar." My point is not that my playing is great, it's pretty mediocre, but the D28 while nice, is just that, nice --- and pales with the J45.

 

I'm not going to make a rash decision, I'm keeping both guitars together and will play them both a lot and see if I fall back in love with the D28, maybe it's just the joy of the new guitar (J45), if so -- I keep both happily, if not I move on. But I do know I will not give up the J45, I love that guitar!

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