Do Martin Acoustic guitars sound good?
Martin guitars - one of the best acoustic guitars around.
We should rephrase the question – Do Martin acoustic guitars sound good and do Martin acoustic guitars play well? These are the two most important questions you need to ask yourself when buying any guitar – but especially an acoustic guitar.
Martin acoustic guitars are debatably one of the nicest sounding acoustic guitars around today.
The acoustic guitar has a revival every couple of years – but the acoustic has never gone out of fashion and fits in with all musical genres.
The acoustic guitar is often suitable to improvise with. We only need to look at all the blues Musicians from the past. With an acoustic it’s easy to get together with some friends and have a jam session.
The Martin Acoustic guitar is a steel string guitar as opposed to the nylon Classical or Spanish guitar, which originated in Spain. The steel string acoustic guitar seems very much an American instrument – however many steel stringed instruments were built in Europe, which predated the Martin. One example is the Mandolin.
The Martin Guitar Factory – shows how a Martin acoustic guitar is made - an American Tradition. Clip taken from CBS Sunday Morning Show. Martin Guitar Factory – Making Martin Guitars.
The Martin guitar company was established in 1833 (174 years ago) and was the first company in America to build guitars. In the You Tube video the present chairman and CEO of the Martin Guitar Company Christian Martin IV says ‘he is the sixth generation of Martins to continue with the making of the Martin Acoustic Guitar.’ The making of the Martin has stayed a family business and this family approach has spread to the six hundred and fifty employees who receive a share of the profits of the company.
The company makes 80,000 guitars a year and it takes between six weeks and three months to turn out a perfect finished acoustic. Prices of Martins range from $700 (£350) to over $100,000 (£50,000).
The video shows the various construction stages of the Martin guitar and one lady is shaving at the braces or struts of a guitar and mentions the importance of this in the production of a good sound.
Some workers are employed to just play new guitars and note any minor problems before the guitars are shipped out of the factory. What a great job !!! All Martin guitars are meticulously checked and ‘have to be perfect’ before they leave the factory.
Many of the great players use the Martin guitar for any acoustic work, be it solo guitar or backing.
On the video Willie Nelson is seen with his 1969 N-20 style ‘Trigger’ Martin and Eric Clapton likes to play an 000-42 style Martin.
Greenday use a Martin on the intro and backing to ‘The Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ owned by their producer. This particular guitar also plays a major role on a song by Chemical Romance.
A final note if you’re thinking of purchasing an acoustic guitar. The more handwork that goes into the making of an instrument the more it’s likely to cost. More machine work is used in making a cheaper guitar and of course there would be less rigorous checking involved. You’re paying the extra for the time involved in the making and meticulous checking necessary to get a nice action and a good sound. There is of course the quality of the materials.
Buy A Martin Acoustic Steel String Guitar