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Location: SoCal | Was at the local GC today to buy some strings. Checked out the usual crappy selection of Ovations and started talking to the sales guy, telling him I didn't have an G.A.S. but was just looking. He said he could solve that and pulled out a guitar they just got in, which was in a glass case. It was a sunburst D-28V. Spectacular guitar! An absolute boomer. The only other Martin I've ever played that was similar was a D18 Authentic.
Makes me wish I had the $4k..... |
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Location: Tennessee | Welcome to the dark side ... |
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Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | :rolleyes: |
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Location: Hanau, Hessen, Germany | This thread should be deleted :D
:p |
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Location: South of most, North of few | Originally posted by stonebobbo:
Welcome to the dark side ... :D ;) |
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| For that price, you should check out a Collings CJ. But yeah, the D-28V is a superb guitar. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | That D28V is an " easy gettin` along goin` git ` " .. that meaning Yer an EASY gettin` goin` along FELLOW ??
Vic
.. there`s that someshun ` ... |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | $4K would buy you a really nice Adamas, or Three. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | ! |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by FlicKreno aka Solid Top:
That D28V is an " easy gettin` along goin` git ` " .. that meaning Yer an EASY gettin` goin` along FELLOW ??
No.... |
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Location: Miami | Originally posted by stonebobbo:
Welcome to the dark side ... The only dark side I'm seduced by is the round back, multi-soundhole look and sound of an A or an O. |
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Location: SoCal | Didn't say I was going to buy the guitar, just that I was impressed by it. For almost 4 large, it had better be good. What's amazing to me is that there are guitars out that that cost that much that aren't consistantly good, instrument to instrument (ahem, can anybody say "Taylor"?).
But this particular guitar was one helluva guitar... |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Never played that exact model, but I have heard real good things about it. Paul, that's why they invented credit cards.
Martin gets a bad rap because they're so damn popular and I think folks naturally dislike who ever the leader is that everyone else tries to copy. That's why I always choose Burger King over McDonalds. Martin also is guilty, just like ovation by the way, of building a lot of models that truely suck. But then there is the other end of the spectrum where they build some true gems. And it sounds Paul like you played one of them.
People loyal to Ovation might nevre want to try anything else, just like wood box loyalists might never be interested to play a plastic roundback. But if you can open your horizons a bit you will find a great big world of wonderful instruments out there. |
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Location: Utah | Our local GC usually has a very good selection of Martins, retailing up to or above $10k. There's one model in the $4k range that sounds really superb, the others just don't float my boat.
It would be fun to A/B that Martin with my 2080. |
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| Gal, Martin quality, in my experience, has been wildly variable even within models and even in the same production year. |
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| Originally posted by Losov:
...Martin quality, in my experience, has been wildly variable even within models and even in the same production year. Very true. On the Collings forum there was a question about why a certain Collings model, modeled after the D-18, didn't sound quite exactly like a D-18. The most cogent response was - what D-18 sounds like a D-18? There are some makers, like Takamine, Collings, and especially Ovation, where you can be assured of consistent tone within particular models. Martin isn't one of them. But a good sounding Martin is usually very good. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Definitely Ovation is THE most consistent sound and play quality from guitar to guitar. That's possible to do when your goal is B+ To be fair, that's not a criticism. The average Ovation guitar costs under $1000. and B+ is a very commendable goal.
When shooting to build THE best, price be damned, it's much more of a crap shoot. Martins will be all over the map from C- to A+ which is why you have PLAY them before buying and maybe play a LOT of them. Martin isn't alone. Every wood box builder I've tried has had plenty of variation. I've had the pleasure to have on several occasions "identical" guitars. Two Collings OM2's, two Takamine 360SBG's, two Takamine 2009 LTDs, two Martin OM42's and two Collings CJ's. The so-called "identical" guitars were far from socially identical. The two Tak SBG's probably came closest to being difficult to pick in an A/B blind test. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Mmmm, I don't know about the Grade B+ part...
But if you are going for consistency, None will jump out as Grade A+!
So... if you take five Martins (Taylors, Collings, whatever) and play them all side-by-side...
And ONE jumps out as THE BEST and one is THE WORST. How is that Good?
But if you play five Ovations of the same model and they all sound Good, but the same...
None will Jump-Out as being THE BEST, so they all get a B+?
[That ain't how they work it in today's colleges]
I have two 1778T's... one from 2003, one from 2006. Both sound Great.
The difference is one has EXP11 strings and the other has EJ16's.
So, if only a few of a make/model sound Great and the rest sound kinda so-so...
Why should I be giving these people Thousands of dollars while hoping to get Lucky? :eek: |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
So... if you take five Martins (Taylors, Collings, whatever) and play them all side-by-side... And ONE jumps out as THE BEST and one is THE WORST. How is that Good?
It's good if you are looking for the BEST one. You may have to play quite a few, hunt around, be patient. I tried at last 5 OM42s before I picked mine. Some were better than others and I sought out the best one. These are not guitars you just buy off ebay on a whim.
The B+ comment is my way of saying that Ovations are a consistently good guitar. There is nothing wrong with it, and if you want a guitar that is consistently good and you can just buy based on model number then Ovation is definitely the way to go. Wooden guitar makers have a LOT more variables to play with. That leads to a lot more variation than on a plastic backed ovation. But one good things is that when you have variation
you have the ability to exploit it to your benefit and when all things align just right you can turn out a truly stunning sounding guitar. And it seems like that's what Mr. Moody has stumbled upon.
You don't wait around and get "lucky" if you want the best, you need to actively go seek it out. Half the fun is in the hunt. |
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| Just to add to Dave's thoughts, with most of the really high-end guitars even by distance buying you can get them on approval, and the people selling them - both private and dealers - are very knowledgeable about them. I'm in the middle of the hunt for a high-end guitar right now (yes it's fun), and so far I've had 3 shops tell me that a particular guitar I've inquired about is not among the best they've heard in that model, and recommended I look further. Imagine that, steering a potential customer away from a big sale... |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Oh Yes, Dave...
If I were gonna spent a couple or four thousand dollars on a guitar, I would like to try it first.
I understand that the age/grain/quality of each piece of wood is a factor.
And Ovations have less wood.
But you can spend a thousand-plus dollars on an eBay Adamas and be pretty sure what you are getting!
(I was just being difficult.) |
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Location: SoCal | To be honest, this Martin sounded better than any Ovation/Adamas I've ever played. For the money, I would hope that it would be that good.
But would I buy it? Donno. Guitars are a lot of things combined together, and sound is just one of the components.... |
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Location: So. Cal. | Originally posted by Gallerinski:
Martins will be all over the map from C- to A+ ... I have personally owned arguably the world's worst sounding D-45 (or any Martin) for that matter. I would not have believed it if I hadn't actually owned it. It's a piece of crap from top to bottom. That said, my other Martin's are still out of this world. Adamas/Ovation, most of which bought sight unseen, never disappointed. Am I just lucky? I think not. |
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Location: SoCal | But Michael, you just sold me one...was that it?
I know I have lost some hearing due to twin GE J-79 engines on the Phantom and other assorted loud sounds but I didn't know it was that bad :confused:
I think the Custom D12-45 is great. :p |
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Location: So. Cal. | Tony,
D-45... not D12-45... and you know it! stop giving me heart trouble, like I don't already have enough... |
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Location: SoCal | :p :p :p |
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OT: Played a boomer...