Three Months with the Martin 000Jr
My first impressions have weathered very well. With a string change under its belt, and three months of daily playing, I am happy to report that it is still awesome
During the July 4th week, I did a quick dance and ultimate purchase of a new guitar. I wrote about it here:
Agonizing over a purchase
I work for a pretty cool company. They decided in January that we were going to shut down over the 4th of July holiday, and whilst plenty of my peers were peeved that they were being forced to take some of their precious PTO time over the holiday, I celebrated it.
I promised a more in depth review, and it has taken more than 3 months for me to get to it.
The basics
It is a “Mahogany” (actually Sapele) guitar, built at the Martin plant in Mexico. Being a “Junior” it has a shorter scale than standard (24”) and a fairly flat fretboard radius, that makes it comfortable to play. Indeed, that was the original justification to buy it.
The finish is a satin (aka, not polished. A “cost savings” sacrifice) clear coat on the dark brown Sapele top and back.
It has the custom electronics that Fishman makes for Martin, and I did install a battery to test it out, and it works. Then I removed the battery, because electric-acoustics are not my bag.
The fretwork and setup are, for want of a better word, perfect. It plays easy, frets easy, and when the strings are fresh it has that delightful “jangle” that a good acoustic has.
The reduced size of the body and the scale means that it is super comfortable to play. And I have played it virtually every day of the last three months.
It came with Martin brand “Retro” strings, that are Nickel-steel instead of the ubiquitous “phosphor bronze” that most guitars use. I read that many people dislike them because they sound a bit more muted than a fresh set of Phosphor-Bronze strings, but to me, since I am mostly a “barefoot” player, I rather like the tone. Furthermore, I have found that P-B strings live my fingers with an odor that rubs off, and they go flat pretty quickly.
The hardware is solid, but I will admit that having just changed the strings, the tuning machines are one other area that they economized on it. One day I may look for better tuners.
The Martin mystique
My last steel string guitar purchase was back in 2002. I was comparing Martin versus Taylor. And like the Coke v. Pepsi, the factions are fanatical. At the time I went to my local dealer and played several of each, and I will admit that I was underwhelmed by how the Martins played and felt. Furthermore, there was a lot of variability from guitar to guitar when I pulled them off the wall (yes, the same model). To me, that meant they struggled with manufacturing consistency.
The Taylor’s I pulled off the wall all sounded and were set up perfectly. I ended up buying a few year old Taylor 814C, and am still happy with it.
I chalked the Martin mystique up to snobbery.
Then I bought this guitar, and I have re-thought that assessment. Granted, this is not built at the US Martin plant in Nazareth Pennsylvania, instead at their plant in Mexico.
Many people may think that is a negative, but I have had other guitars that were built by south of the border manufacturing plants (Fender Tele, and Charvel) that were outstanding in build quality as well as fit and finish, all for about a third of the cost of a USA built guitar.
No, the care and concern that the technicians put into it is top notch. For a $750 guitar, it is an outstanding value.
Marketing
One thing I will point out is that Martin has a marketing machine. Once I registered my guitar, I was added to a mailing list, and I get probably 2 emails a week (about the perfect amount) that alternate between artist success stories, and news about guitars that I might be interested in buying.
And I will admit that a 015M is mighty tempting, but nah, I am good with my purchase.
As the kids like, there is tons of “merch” that they sell. Tools and chemicals for maintenance, strings, coffee mugs, hats, shirts and other goodies abound. I have not partaken on any of them yet, but I can see a coffee mug finding its way into a shopping cart in my future.
In summary
I am still in love with it, as I type this, it is right next to me on the couch. At lunch time whilst working from home, I grab it off the wall and strum off some chords.
With fresh strings, it is back to its jangly self, and I really just fall into the music. It is a joy to play, meeting every one of my expectations.
A great acquisition, one that I will appreciate for many many years.
Nice write-up! I grew up about 10 miles from their headquarters in Nazareth. I don’t even think I knew there were other guitars out there when I was little. I may be just a little biased. 😉
It's pretty!