Martin CEO7 back from setup -Warning: Martin content.

[BluesKing777]

 

Tying up a few loose ends with the big Virus lockdown business......after getting my J50 setup and picked up, I thought to get some work on the Martin CEO7 I bought around 2015 but never had setup......(so eventually it went to the back row!) In the movie “Yesterday” , the hero is given a CEO7 and plays it a fair bit, so out of the closet mine came but the neck had bowed a bit and it was playable but tricky. So off to my luthier for a setup, a K&K pickup and also a K&K basic preamp I can try after everyone talks about them.

So I got it back yesterday and all work items are fabulous! So it is Gibson L-00 shaped but sounds more Martin 00 with more......something.

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, I only played one in the store, and the CEO-7 is very nice. 

I was surprised at how little it sounded like a Gibson, and how much it sounded like a Martin. They sure baked their sound into that body shape.

[QuestionMark]

I had tried one, too.  Same impression.  Quite a bassy booming Martin sound coming out of that small bodied guitar.  Wasn’t a bad thing.  Just was a lot different than a Gibson sound.  I kinda liked the neck in the guitar.  That kinda had a bit of a Gibson feel to it.

 

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

 

 

[BluesKing777]

 

Ha!

I only just put it back in its case - I have torturing the poor thing all week since I got it back from the luthier.

L-00 size, Mod V neck, 1 3/4” nut, 2 3/4” bridge spacing plus new setup and pickup - just absolutely ideal for my style of bare finger picking - I can’t imagine many here liking it and most plain old hating it! The internet is full of people who loved the ‘idea’ of the guitar but the neck ‘hurt’ and they ditched it.

But for BK777 - it is the perfect blues fingerpicker! It is very L-00 though more Martin toned and great for ripping through rags and fast blues without too much clutter in the sounds to get in the way.......Cannonball Rag, say, or Robert Johnson tunes. Perfect! I went through a lot of that stuff yesterday morning, then in the afternoon I tortured the pickup in various gadgetry. K&K is good in various preamps, great actually, but..........there is always a ‘but’, eh? What? I love the guitar, get that straight.....first.....

I bought it new in February 2015 - if I bought it today in Australia, it is listed at $AU4750!!!!! Wow! And nobody has one. Setup, K&K plus installation and K&K Pure preamp cost me $AU620. So we are up to $AU5370......and then I have it in a Hiscox case $329 today......so total that to $AU5699. Every second person seems to recommend the K&K pickup and preamp but to me, it is ....quacky, piezo quack yep....especially if I get stuck in a bit harder.....and it needs to run in my Tonedexter and to make a wavefile to ‘de-quack’ it. The Tonedexter cost me about $AU650 to get here a couple of years ago, but you know, add that to the cost and we have $AU6349...should I add the cost of 2 guitar leads and a patch lead between the K&K preamp and my Tonedexter?

Got all that?

For personal comparison purposes, I grabbed my Maton custom finish black EBG808 with sitka over Australian blackwood in a deep body 00 format, but a very, very similar style of guitar to the CEO7.....blues fingerpicking machine, but with the Maton AP5-Pro pickup system often called the best live play system currently......played direct to my mixer with just guitar lead and guess what? I couldn’t take ANYTHING ELSE to a live gig...absolutely sensational plugged sound and a great guitar to fingerpick. Cost brand new a couple of years ago - $AU2200.

Hmmmm.

 

Photos!

Martin CEO7:

 

Maton EBG808 custom black finish:

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by BluesKing777