Martin Acoustics made of HPL
First off, I think we definitely need an "other guitars" section...
:hmm
So, a friend of mine was craving for a new acoustic. He was mainly a bass player and decided he'd stop playing in bands. Sold his Thunderbird bass and went for a nice acoustic he could play all by himself in a more introspective vibe.
He came to me for advice and since I am not an acoustic player myself, I know very little about non-classical acoustics, so we started reading about the modern options we have available in the market.
I was astonished when I found out that Martin builds some of their entry level stuff out of HPL laminate. I knew some guitar makers did laminate in their cheaper pieces, I myself own a parlor sized Washburn that has laminate back and sides, but hey, it's a $150 guitar!
Did any of you ever own/play one of those Martins? Do they actually sound good, I mean, good enough to be worth what they charge?
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sérgio
First off, I think we definitely need an "other guitars" section...
:hmm
So, a friend of mine was craving for a new acoustic. He was mainly a bass player and decided he'd stop playing in bands. Sold his Thunderbird bass and went for a nice acoustic he could play all by himself in a more introspective vibe.
He came to me for advice and since I am not an acoustic player myself, I know very little about non-classical acoustics, so we started reading about the modern options we have available in the market.
I was astonished when I found out that Martin builds some of their entry level stuff out of HPL laminate. I knew some guitar makers did laminate in their cheaper pieces, I myself own a parlor sized Washburn that has laminate back and sides, but hey, it's a $150 guitar!
Did any of you ever own/play one of those Martins? Do they actually sound good, I mean, good enough to be worth what they charge?
My stepson has one - it's decent, but I think I'd get an Epiphone MasterBuilt acoustic for around the same price (he has one of those, too and I think it's a nicer guitar).
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
HPL is probably a little different than the laminated wood on your Washburn. It's high pressure laminate which is made out of cellulose- paper. Formica is an HPL.
The sound on the Martin HPL guitars that I've played was a little thin. The guitars seemed to be very sturdy and well made.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Indeed, Don. Washburn uses laminated wood. It's laminated rosewood or mahogany, not some sort of formica.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
How does it sound? It usually depends on who's playing it. :glug
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Offshore Angler
How does it sound? It usually depends on who's playing it. :glug
Yes! Do you enjoy the music that's being played on it! They function well as musical instruments!
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
I played one of those Martins, and that one sounded great. I liked the neck too, wish I had the same neck on my HD-28 V.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Offshore Angler
How does it sound? It usually depends on who's playing it. :glug
You are always welcome in my threads, even when you mean to be a :da, which I already know for sure you are not!
Why don’t you drop the sour persona and say what you actually think of the material?
:D
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Offshore Angler
How does it sound? It usually depends on who's playing it. :glug
That's why I go guitar shopping with someone who plays better than I do... so I can hear the guitar - not limited by my playing... :bh
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gibsonjunkie
That's why I go guitar shopping with someone who plays better than I do... so I can hear the guitar - not limited by my playing... :bh
I do that too, but not necessarily because the person might play "better", I bring another player along so that I can hear the guitar being played by someone else. To me it definitely sounds different.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sérgio
I do that too, but not necessarily because the person might play "better", I bring another player along so that I can hear the guitar being played by someone else. To me it definitely sounds different.
When I bought my Martin 000-15M, the sales person and I took turns playing so I could hear the guitar. I love hearing my guitar being played.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sérgio
You are always welcome in my threads, even when you mean to be a :da, which I already know for sure you are not!
Why don’t you drop the sour persona and say what you actually think of the material?
:D
Sergio -
I have to say - this is a true statement from OA -
I have acoustics I HATE the sound of - UNTIL....... Someone else plays them!
Different hands, Different technique, Different Sound
My $0.02 of unbiased gunk on the conversation
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
FrankJohnson
Sergio -
I have to say - this is a true statement from OA -
I have acoustics I HATE the sound of - UNTIL....... Someone else plays them!
Different hands, Different technique, Different Sound
My $0.02 of unbiased gunk on the conversation
Of course it is true, we all know that.
But that's not exactly the point in a thread regarding the quality of the material used to build the guitars, now is it? :hmm
Relax, I like OA and he knows I meant no offense, I was just stating that such a comment is irrelevant to the topic, and he always seems to take the discussions to that perspective.
I am really sorry if I sounded harsh, Chuck.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Sergio,
In my profession we have a rule: Assume positive intent. I meant exactly as Frank interpreted it.
I'm sorry I speak plainly and if it offended you. Please forgive me.
In my former life I was required to make decisions and communicate them to other pilots and air traffic control while traveling at high speeds. Lives and dollars depended on it. Old habits are hard to break.
In my current job, I need to communicate highly technical concepts and data to multinational audiences and team members for which many, if not most, english is a second language. Again, this is often related to projects worth millions of dollars and with possible catastrophic failure including injury or loss of life resulting from a simple translation error.
I am not in the business of parsing words and using the nuance of language to make an argument.
I humbly ask that you remember this when interpreting my posts.
Peace,
Chuck
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Well explained, Chuck. That's what I'm talking about when I say we have a good bunch of geet-wankers here. We may have our differences, but we're a giving bunch.
Back to the Martin--laminate though it was, the one I played sounded like a D-28 so closely that I was surprised.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
I wonder if GC has any of those. For all the stories you read about GC being in trouble and all that, they just opened a new one in Manchester NH which frankly I thought was long overdue. It has to have a noticeable effect on the Nashua store because I highly doubt all those people up north are going to keep driving through manchester just to go to the Nashua store. I believe the new store is in an old Sports Authority store and is much bigger. From what I'm given to understand the Nashua store is a C tier store in terms of size and inventory although it had been one of the top performing stores per sq ft in the eastern half of the US. Whether that is true or not anymore I have no idea, my information is years old.
I've been getting into acoustic a lot in the past week, ever since I picked up my nephew's Jasmine and found the buzz to be not present after the guitar had been sitting in humidified air for the last 3 months. The other day I got lazy and let the humidifiers run out and the rh dropped to 25% and the buzz came back. I'm going to have to keep this baby constantly humidified I guess. I should get a sound hole thingie for it because I don't run humidifiers in the non-heating months.
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Offshore Angler
Sergio,
In my profession we have a rule: Assume positive intent. I meant exactly as Frank interpreted it.
I'm sorry I speak plainly and if it offended you. Please forgive me.
In my former life I was required to make decisions and communicate them to other pilots and air traffic control while traveling at high speeds. Lives and dollars depended on it. Old habits are hard to break.
In my current job, I need to communicate highly technical concepts and data to multinational audiences and team members for which many, if not most, english is a second language. Again, this is often related to projects worth millions of dollars and with possible catastrophic failure including injury or loss of life resulting from a simple translation error.
I am not in the business of parsing words and using the nuance of language to make an argument.
I humbly ask that you remember this when interpreting my posts.
Peace,
Chuck
It's all right, man!
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Having had the pleasure of Offshore Angler's company on numerous occasions - you'll never meet a better person! We always end up laughing so hard it hurts!
Re: Martin Acoustics made of HPL
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gibsonjunkie
Having had the pleasure of Offshore Angler's company on numerous occasions - you'll never meet a better person! We always end up laughing so hard it hurts!
I know that, and he knows I like him. Sometimes we just misunderstand each other's posts.
