Gibsons and a Martin at Carter’s

[JuanCarlosVejar]

Folks ,

Check it out:

Personally my  favorites were the SJ -100 and the J 185 .

 

I thought the Martin sounded like junk .

Obviously you can’t get a detailed opinion just by a YouTube video … but it’s what we got to enjoy and comment about .

 

 

JC

[RBSinTo]

10 hours ago, JuanCarlosVejar said:

 

.......Personally my  favorites were the SJ -100 and the J 185 .

 

I thought the Martin sounded like junk.......

And here we go again:

Gibson Acoustic Forum topic no. 38 of 46, "How much better Gibson guitars sound compared to Martin guitars".

RBSinTo

[Paul14]

The sj wasn’t too shabby either.

[zombywoof]

While different ears hear things differently I felt the SJ was somewhat muddy sounding.  I preferred both the re-topped Martin D28 and  J185 to it.  But I was just not all that impressed with any of them certainly not the point I would even be remotely tempted to trade my '42 J50 in on.

[zombywoof]

37 minutes ago, RBSinTo said:

And here we go again:

Gibson Acoustic Forum topic no. 38 of 46, "How much better Gibson guitars sound compared to Martin guitars".

RBSinTo

JC was simply saying which were his favorites.  I doubt that his being non-impressed with the Martin was not meant to serve as an across the board indictment of their guitars.  If you hang around here long enough you will find that even though we are a bunch of Gibson freaks we are not above heaping some praise on Martins as well as others.  OK, so Taylor might be pushing it a bit.

[RBSinTo]

43 minutes ago, zombywoof said:

JC was simply saying which were his favorites.  I doubt that his being non-impressed with the Martin was not meant to serve as an across the board indictment of their guitars.  If you hang around here long enough you will find that even though we are a bunch of Gibson freaks we are not above heaping some praise on Martins as well as others.  OK, so Taylor might be pushing it a bit.

I have hung around here long enough, despite not having been invited to the party, so all this "the ones we like sound better than the ones they like"mischiguss is not new to me.

As an aside, your comment about the SJ sounding "muddy" is the second time recently I've heard that word used to describe the sound of a Gibson guitar. The first was a month or so ago when the Luthier who repaired my Guild GAD jf30 compared its sound to that of a J200 he was also working on and used that word to describe the Gibson's sound quality.

At least he was hearing them both live and in the flesh, rather than making judgements based on a video recording played through who knows what quality sound systems by people here.

And before the folks come looking for me with torches and pitchforks, know that I have both a D-28, and a j-45, and am very happy with both of them.

RBSinTo

 

 

[zombywoof]

11 minutes ago, RBSinTo said:

I have hung around here long enough, despite not having been invited to the party, so all this "the ones we like sound better than the ones they like"mischiguss is not new to me.

As an aside, your comment about the SJ sounding "muddy" is the second time recently I've heard that word used to describe the sound of a Gibson guitar. The first was a month or so ago when the Luthier who repaired my Guild GAD jf30 compared its sound to that of a J200 he was also working on and used that word to describe the Gibson's sound quality.

 

I have also heard this described as a a middle of the road nasal sound where they just lack clarity. 

The reason I think Martins have not really worked for me is they have a lot of after strum resonance.   I guess I just like guitars which say what they have to say and then quickly get out of their own way so as not to wear out their welcome.

Edited August 26, 2021 by zombywoof

[JuanCarlosVejar]

13 hours ago, RBSinTo said:

And here we go again:

Gibson Acoustic Forum topic no. 38 of 46, "How much better Gibson guitars sound compared to Martin guitars".

RBSinTo

Nope . I said personally I didn’t like that D 28 conversation… but I do like Martin guitars mostly their  style 18  small bodies and  style 15 small bodies .

 

I’ve stated from day 1 that I’m not a fan of Rosewood guitars for the most part but I’m sure there’s a couple out there I would dig .

 

JC

[JuanCarlosVejar]

11 hours ago, zombywoof said:

I have also heard this described as a a middle of the road nasal sound where they just lack clarity. 

The reason I think Martins have not really worked for me is they have a lot of after strum resonance.   I guess I just like guitars which say what they have to say and then quickly get out of their own way so as not to wear out their welcome.

+ 1 

 

JC

[E-minor7]

Sorry, but the sound quality doesn't quite give justice to these guitars. The guy's interest in acoustic guitars is occupying more and more space on the Tube and his audience expands.                             He did not start yesterday and it would do him good to raise the sonic bar.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Btw. he is buying and selling with a speed that makes our own Salfromchatham appear like a statue. 

 

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[olie]

The lack of quality of the recording made this just "Whoa - look at these expensive guitars!" vid.

The SJ didn't appear to have much of that Gibson bottom end . But, again, I couldn't get much out of the recording.

Must be fun to get to play these babies, though.

[RBSinTo]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:10 PM, zombywoof said:

 

  .................I guess I just like guitars which say what they have to say and then quickly get out of their own way so as not to wear out their welcome.

Zombywoof,

Well, I put both my D-28 and my j45 down on my bed, strummed them both and watched to see what would happen. Neither guitar moved out of their own way, in fact neither moved at all, so I'm a little unclear on what you meant. Should I be using a slicker surface like a glass coffee table? Please advise.

RBSinTo

 

[Paul14]

I like my own guitars the best😎

[olie]

1 hour ago, Paul14 said:

I like my own guitars the best😎

A healthy outlook!

[Dave F]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:10 PM, zombywoof said:

.... The reason I think Martins have not really worked for me is they have a lot of after strum resonance.  .......

I agree with the after strum but that's what I like about them.

[Larsongs]

Some Gibsons are great & some aren’t. Some Martins are great & some aren’t. No 2 are exactly the same……. Both Companies are the Bar by which every Acoustic Guitar is measured..  I own both & IMO both are exceptionally great.. Both different but both great!

Edited August 30, 2021 by Larsongs

[Jinder]

That J185 sounded light years ahead of everything else to me…that’s exactly the tone in my head when I think of really good, old Maple. Video sound quality was lacking but everything else sounded pretty ordinary next to that 185 to my ears.

[62burst]

51 minutes ago, Jinder said:

That J185 sounded light years ahead of everything else to me…that’s exactly the tone in my head when I think of really good, old Maple. Video sound quality was lacking but everything else sounded pretty ordinary next to that 185 to my ears.

I don't know, man. . . for Mr. Jeremy to say that J-185 has "such thickness and warmth". . . could he be confusing it with "needs strings less than a few years-old" ? 'Cause that's what I was hearing. Maybe if he grabbed a pick and actually strummed a few syllables.

Jalex posted a nice video a while back with Richard Hawley waxing about his '53 J-185. . . (last third of the video) that was nice:

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by 62burst

[Twang Gang]

I would agree with Jinder that the 185 sounded the best of them all (taking into consideration the quality of the recording).  When he first started playing it I thought he was plugged into an amp it was so alive.