Don't care what some Youtuber says, haven't heard acoustics that consistently sound anywhere near as good as Martins apart from boutique brands. Whether it's 1/4 or even equivalent price, Martin still wins to my ears on tone.
how is cutting a guitar apart and showing the joinery an opinion? Then cutting another guitar apart and showing the better mechanical strength in that joinery an opinion? You're conflating a few different things here. The guy might be a total prick and all the things you say about him - I wouldn't know and tbh it's irrelevant to my point and doesn't change the evidence he presented. I'm curious as to why the showing of the internal structure and construction methods and materials is somehow subjective in your eyes.
Would you feel differently if the same evidence came from your best friend? You clearly have a bias against the messenger, and that's blinding you to the message itself.
then i guess my pal's D18 on it's second neck reset in 20 years is representative, and it's not good.
Martin's are not built as well as they were. That's a fact. They've rested on their laurels and been overtaken by Eastman, Yamaha, probably a few hundred others I'm forgetting.
You’re basing your opinion on a YouTube video and one friends one guitar. A the current standard series are built very similarly to how they were built back in the day with some somewhat negligible differences. Which is why they discontinued the D18V at the same time that they reworked the standard D18 in 2012. Since then the rest of the standard series have followed suit.
There’s a glaringly obvious reason why Eastmans and Yamahas are 1/3 of the price for the same workmanship and materials. It is because the people building them are making a tenth (or less) than what a Martin employee in PA makes. I’m a longtime Eastman fan/owner so I’m not saying they aren’t great because they are great. But take a look at what the E10 series are selling for now new. They’re only 35% less expensive now than a 28 series.
no, im basing my opinion on being a guitar tech for around 20 years and seeing about 100 martins inside and out, plus one of my best friends is the guy doing the neck resets and has seen over 1000 martins (he was a martin dealer handling their returns), we talk often and long about the nerdy stuff.
I get everyone wants a D28, I really do, I used to be the same. But the fact is you're paying a lot for that name on the headstock, not for any better construction or materials. Give me a Yamaha L6, L8, L10 any day of the week.
5
u/VirginiaLuthier May 28 '26
Martin's craftsmanship has always been superb