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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4046
Location: Utah | What's the difference? I see the GT has an OpPro Studio preamp and a hand-laid bowl. Presumably many of the plain 1687 were the molded bowl, with various preamps across the years. Are there other differences in construction? Do they sound the same? Thanks. |
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Joined:
May 2011
Posts: 755
Location: Muenster/Germany | I can not speak for a 1687 but I had a 2080 GT and a WT guitar which I assume to have come from the same period.
And I had several old 1687 from the 80´s and early 90´s. The GT guitar was extremely light(like the 2008 c), had more sub-basses, but was all in all not as powerful as the old 1687 which I now use again. The GT had a very quick reponse in the higher registers, the guitar could literally "sing", but it was not so fundamental when I wanted to play a little more acoustic rock or blues. The GT guitar had a set neck and no rear access door. No big problem, if you might have trouble with something inside you can reach everything when you remove the pickup.
The old 1687 has a bolt-on neck which makes it easy to perform a neck-reset if disired. The GT guitar had a neck angle which was IMHO a bit too flat (just like on my 2008 collector), thus I had to fill the drilling holes for the strings in the string holder and drill new ones, about 2mm deeper to get enough pressure on the saddle. I would check this if you want to buy one of these and if it has a set neck, too.
I can not say which guitar sound is better, I use the light 2008 and the heavy 1687 for different purposes. If I have to play acoustic/electric I choose the 2008, if I want to play plain acoustic, the (louder) old 1687, that´s a Martin killer.
I would love to try a 1687 GT to compare it with my old one!
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 848
Location: Canada | I was wondering the same thing. The historic 1687 had a Kaman Bar in the neck, and I assume that the GT has an LX style neck with 2-way truss rod and graphite enforcement which explains the lower weight. As for electronics the 1687 evolved from two-knobber to more advanced pre-amps in the 90s. What I am curious about is if and how the top may have changed in various iterations. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4046
Location: Utah | d'ovation - 2019-08-15 10:23 AM
What I am curious about is if and how the top may have changed in various iterations.
I can't answer that, but I can say it sounds fantastic! The GT is a great guitar in all ways. The custom shop outdid themselves with quality workmanship. The tone is clear and balanced, with tons of sustain. The hand laid bowl is a real winner in all the various O's and A's I've got which have it. The standard molded Lyracord bowls are good, but the hand laid have just something extra. The neck is 2 piece Walnut with the LX truss rod. I presume it has carbon fiber stabilizers.
I have no complaints about the price I paid. This is a premium built and sounding guitar. Now that they are back in production I heartily recommend them.
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1687GT vs plain old 1687
