BluesKing777 Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I just bought a 2002 Martin om18v, but what set me off on that om path was looking for a Martin companion for my other 'faded beauties' Gibson L-0: Gibson LG1: Gibson L50 Black Special: National Trojan: So I just thought a nice OM would go just perfectly and found just the ticket at Mando Bros - perfect in every way, but a small problemo with the price.... http://mandoweb.com/Instruments/Martin-OM-28+Herringbone+acoustic+guitar-1931/3327 BluesKing777. I may have to stay happy with the newish OM....... Anyone here played it, or one similar - Tom probably, others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 You have very good taste in guitars that no one can afford. More importantly, you're a real good player, so I know you can pull the best sound out of that 'newer OM'.. I'd like to know what you think regarding having that Martin tone in the house. Being a Gibson partisan, do you find it fills in a missing element to your sound array? Now I know, though, why you suggested the OM sound clips. You had money burning a hole in your wallet. Just jealous... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I wish my guitars showed as little mileage as your do. Just beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 I wish my guitars showed as little mileage as your do. Just beautiful. I think it might be the lens I use, but it does hide the cracks and I should get someone to take MY photo with the thing before it breaks! The lens is liked by portrait people because it gives a 'flattering' shot! True - that's what I read. I'll do some more pics with the 'cruel' lens so I don't make everyone envious. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 You have very good taste in guitars that no one can afford. More importantly, you're a real good player, so I know you can pull the best sound out of that 'newer OM'.. I'd like to know what you think regarding having that Martin tone in the house. Being a Gibson partisan, do you find it fills in a missing element to your sound array? Now I know, though, why you suggested the OM sound clips. You had money burning a hole in your wallet. Just jealous... I might need a bit longer with the OM to give you a decent reply, JZ. I have had a Mahogany Martin 000-15 for 7 or 8 years and I have really liked it, except for the standard neck, so I have been looking for something like the OM18v for a long while, but my path hasn't crossed one while I have the cash...... I saw this one at Elderly's $US1800 and it had been there a while....I then got an email from them to say they had a 10% off everything sale. Take it! $1620 + my costs. I have to say I smelled a rat or two, but it is as stated - a full on Fingerpicker's delight with a large nut, bridge spacing and mod V neck that scares the pants off anyone use to a standard neck - the forums are full of complaints, so if you have any twinges, pains, cramps, broken bits, this guitar will highlight them for you! I have had a few years with the massive v neck on the L50 and my Nationals, so I thought I'll try it..... So this is the REASON for the price, my guess. Lucky me. Perfect for what I do. I have yet to get it to my guitar guy to wave his magic wand over....he can turn a struggle into a dream. So to fan the JedZep flames, Elderly currently have a used 2013 OM21 $US1685 - slightly diff neck and bridge spacing - not as cruel apparently. If it is half as nice as my om18v, well, thanks for fingerpicker's wide nuts, thanks I am skint! What a price. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Well, we have one that seems more like your style. First it is neither a OM-28 or an OM-18 -- it is a 1934 000-18. BUT, in 1934 Martin changed the name of the OMs to 000 before they changed the specs. So these, which are often called long scale 000-18, generally cost less than an OM because people are weird. But ours also has some other special features. First, it has a large sound hole -- like Tony Rice's D-28. This was done in days of old to remove pick ware from the sound hole (and to let out more sound.) Even more cool it has its own (patched) bullet hole. Here is its picture. Bullet hole (in?) -- low bout. Out on lower side. These are VERY different from your current guitars. These are often considered to be the first of the modern guitars. If so, they are they are certainly the lightest and most responsive modern guitars ever built. Guitars from Gibson at this time demand starched jumpers and returned milk cows and the Martins from the next year seek out and kill banjos -- faster, higher, louder! Not these. They say shhhhhh .. put away that dead turtle covering fragment and remove those fingerpicks. I am not to be attacked and I am not a weapon. I must be fondled -- and never too roughly. They are wonderful, but are you sure you can play in a China Shop? Just asking B). Let's pick, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks Tom. Beautiful isn't it? Lucky you used a bullet to persuade the old guitar player to give you the guitar, and not that canon of yours! Probably better I don't get to play one, but there is the Lottery. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 I was doing a bit more research and look who comes up! http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/861/535/86153585_640.jpg BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 The 000 is my next, and hopefully last G.A.S. driven act. I can't go back as far as those golden age bank account busters, but I played a friend's '58 000-18 and got woozy from the sweet sound. I've seen guitars from this era ranging from $2500 to $4000 and it'll be a little while before I can get there. It's been a 'search out and swap out' life with acoustics for me, kind of a journey through sizes and styles. After my old Goya, I bought my first new guitar in college, a '72 J-50. Here's the trail of guitars that got me to my current '30's L00 and L0 12 fretter resting place. Yea...who cares? I know. LG0's...a '58 and '64, '67 B25, two mid-'70's Guild D-25's, '96 Martin 5-15 TERZ, '57 Martin 00-17, '58 Goya/Levin M-26, '60 N-24, '62 S-18, '62 Guild M-20, '37 L00 re-top, '56 LG-2, '57 J-45, and a '65 D-18. In my old age, I plan to stay away from big bodied dreads for playing comfort, and when I get that last puzzle piece I'm counting on the lust to subside. I'll seek medical attention if it doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 The 000 is my next, and hopefully last G.A.S. driven act. I can't go back as far as those golden age bank account busters, but I played a friend's '58 000-18 and got woozy from the sweet sound. I've seen guitars from this era ranging from $2500 to $4000 and it'll be a little while before I can get there. It's been a 'search out and swap out' life with acoustics for me, kind of a journey through sizes and styles. After my old Goya, I bought my first new guitar in college, a '72 J-50. Here's the trail of guitars that got me to my current '30's L00 and L0 12 fretter resting place. Yea...who cares? I know. LG0's...a '58 and '64, '67 B25, two mid-'70's Guild D-25's, '96 Martin 5-15 TERZ, '57 Martin 00-17, '58 Goya/Levin M-26, '60 N-24, '62 S-18, '62 Guild M-20, '37 L00 re-top, '56 LG-2, '57 J-45, and a '65 D-18. In my old age, I plan to stay away from big bodied dreads for playing comfort, and when I get that last puzzle piece I'm counting on the lust to subside. I'll seek medical attention if it doesn't. We care, we care! That is a long list of goners! Wouldn't the '58 00018 have a standard nut 1 and11/16? I see where you are heading mentally, JZ, and I could probably pare down to an L-00, an L-0 and a 000-18! In an emergency. Though when that has happened in the past, the pawn shop usually gets everything. They wouldn't want my 'customised' L-0 pictured above, so that is probably what I would be playing....lucky it sounds better than it looks, eh? Another tack: the om18v is the first guitar I have ever owned that is a couple of grades up the timber grades...officially. It could go that direction - kinder than the beautiful golden eras above ....so one om18v...check....one National Tricone..check...one .............L-00 Legend...not checked.... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 The 000 is my next, and hopefully last G.A.S. driven act. LG0's...a '58 and '64, '67 B25, two mid-'70's Guild D-25's, '96 Martin 5-15 TERZ, '57 Martin 00-17, '58 Goya/Levin M-26, '60 N-24, '62 S-18, '62 Guild M-20, '37 L00 re-top, '56 LG-2, '57 J-45, and a '65 D-18. In my old age, I plan to stay away from big bodied dreads for playing comfort, and when I get that last puzzle piece I'm counting on the lust to subside. I'll seek medical attention if it doesn't. I have never had a lot of luck with at least 000-18 Martins. I have played more than a few that tended to "shimmer out" when played hard. Best way I can describe it is like the sound of cymbals cashing. The thing about being a geezer is we were able to play say 1960s and 1970s Gibsons when they were new. I recall not liking the necks on the 1960s guitars and looking inside those made in the 1970s to see how many t-shirts were stuffed as nothing else could make them sound as muffled as they did. So I and others kept hunting down the older ones. Unlike today, there really was no other choice. Same with electrics. My idea of heaven was exactly not a 1971 Tele which weighed 9 pounds with a mustard yellow finish and an icepick to your brain bridge pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I have never had a lot of luck with at least 000-18 Martins. I have played more than a few that tended to "shimmer out" when played hard. Best way I can describe it is like the sound of cymbals cashing. We have had five that I remember -- we still have four. They are from different periods and they do indeed sound quite different. I think all of ours sound fine -- but then I would not have bought them in the first place if I was not impressed. It is true none of them get's played either hard or often -- for bluegrass, they share the space with lots of Ds, and I tend to use Gibsons for the folk revival coffee house stuff. Ours all have different features. 1934 -- discussed above, perhaps the best sounding instrument we own based purely on tone. 1945 -- Adirondack with tapered braces give lots of teeth and a bit raw for a Martin. 1947 -- Sitka with tapered braces is much warmer but still with teeth -- this is a refin we bought at a gun show which has never been worked on because it sounds so good. 1953 -- Mystery top and strait braces is warm and full by comparison. My daughter has the 47 -- here she is on stage with us maybe 12 years ago. Let's pick, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 So did Martin om/000's have their 'Norlin' years or makes to avoid? BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Ahhh..'warm and full', Tom. Just the description I wanted to hear. But, I will need the wider nut, BK, and always fear the dreaded reset. Did I hear someone say enough with the Martin discussion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullmental Alpinist Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 tpbiii or anyone who has an answer, I've frequently heard of the enlarged sound hole on Tony Rice's guitar. If it makes guitars sound so good why aren't all guitars made with the increased diameter? Or are some of them made with it and some not? Thanks, FMA (BK sorry for the hijack.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 So did Martin om/000's have their 'Norlin' years or makes to avoid? BluesKing777. Yea, basically the same period. 1970-early 80s. Quality started to taper off in 68. I've frequently heard of the enlarged sound hole on Tony Rice's guitar. If it makes guitars sound so good why aren't all guitars made with the increased diameter? Or are some of them made with it and some not? It is my belief that it was done on the old ones to remove the pick ware on the bottom of the sound hole caused by heavy rhythm flat picking. I know that was done on the Tony Rice guitar when it was acquired by Clarence (and Roland) White because Roland says so. We have another old M***** where it has been done -- a 44 D-28. Both of ours are great guitars, as is the TR/CW guitar of course, but I don't think it has almost anything to do with the sound hole. The effect according to John Arnold is to make the guitar slightly brighter, but the sound is generally so dependent on different features that it is hard to prove. Best, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 Thanks Tom. My new baby look a lot like the old ones! Just to add some relativity, the best local shop for new acoustics, has an EC 00028 listed for $4499, a burst model EC 00028 for $4699, an om21 3095, an om28v 4195, and om28 Marquis $5399. As FB and some others know, it is really expensive to get a new Martin or Gibson here, so we appreciate them even more when we get them. And then I got what I think is a bargain om18v - others would cringe at the price, but.... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Yea, BK, but it's likely a nice compliment to the L0, with the different voice and all. After the rush of having a new guitar subsides it'll be interesting to see what you pick up and play more often. I look forward to sound samples and a photo. Meanwhile, I'm keeping track of this one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/131105609801?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Yea, BK, but it's likely a nice compliment to the L0, with the different voice and all. After the rush of having a new guitar subsides it'll be interesting to see what you pick up and play more often. I look forward to sound samples. I don't think this rush will wear off! Buying this guitar is a culmination of my research online skills - honing in on what exactly is required- plus trying out similar guitars at the local..... I am a touch annoyed with the experts at a couple of shops - they have seen and heard me play quite a bit and they should have said....for your playing you need....etc. BUT I am going to turn the computer off for a while and play the L-0....now. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I don't think this rush will wear off! Buying this guitar is a culmination of my research online skills - honing in on what exactly is required- plus trying out similar guitars at the local..... I am a touch annoyed with the experts at a couple of shops - they have seen and heard me play quite a bit and they should have said....for your playing you need....etc. BUT I am going to turn the computer off for a while and play the L-0....now. BluesKing777. Me too. Working on WZevon's 'Tenderness On The Block'. A new favorite song every damned day. Enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 So did Martin om/000's have their 'Norlin' years or makes to avoid? As noted, the '70s are always mentioned. But one of the sweetest guitars I've ever owned was a 1970 OO-18. Rosewood bridgeplate & all, it was a wonderful instrument. My recommendation would be to not dismiss this era out of hand. Try 'em all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 I was strumming away, thinking how this sounded like that etc. and trying to extract a few more dynamics and everything was sounding great and .... They guy 2 doors down has decided to clean out the outboard motor from his boat by running it in his driveway. wow! That is louder that a jet landing... Need to stoke up an electric guitar, not an acoustic... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullmental Alpinist Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 It is my belief that it was done on the old ones to remove the pick ware on the bottom of the sound hole caused by heavy rhythm flat picking. I know that was done on the Tony Rice guitar when it was acquired by Clarence (and Roland) White because Roland says so. We have another old M***** where it has been done -- a 44 D-28. Both of ours are great guitars, as is the TR/CW guitar of course, but I don't think it has almost anything to do with the sound hole. The effect according to John Arnold is to make the guitar slightly brighter, but the sound is generally so dependent on different features that it is hard to prove. Best, -Tom Tom, Thank you for yet another informative answer to one of my questions. FMA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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