Topic: Martin HD28 VS

[frankie]

It creates a very balanced sound, which is very maleable and expressive.

The best sounding dreadnaught I ever played was a D-18S (called so at the time, anyway) that was hanging in the "mini-museum" at the Martin factory.  I couldn't believe it!  I was expecting some awful, tubby experience, but nooooo...  it was articulate, balanced, throaty and powerful.  Could barely put it down...  I still have GAS pains about that one.

[waxwing]

F- Alright, another great avatar! I don't know if I'll bring mine east next month, but it'll definitely be available for a little fingering at PT. Throughout the life of this guitar (i.e in college I used to walk around with it on my back?!?! It got it's share of dings) luthiers have said basically what you just said.
All for now.
John C.

[Rivers]

Some people think that 12 frets give a more optimum placement of the various elements and I think I agree, for our kind of music anyway. I've heard it said going to 14 frets was a commercial move on Martin's part.

I veeery seldom go above the 12th fret on acoustic with one exception, so it's a no brainer. The mahog. top 000-15S has got to be one of the best value for money guitars around and perfect for CB.

[Rivers]

Hi weeners,

Hope you had a good time up in Port T this year, was naturally sorry not to be there but hey. 

To compensate for the misery this induced in me I had to go and buy a brand spanking new HD28V.  It did the trick, the neck, tone and volume make every other guitar I've owned seem like mere toys. Decided not to hang around waiting for an 'S' after playing this thing, and was having doubts about 12 frets anyway.

I'm so ecstatic I'm going to sell most of the rest of my guitars.

Rivers.

[Slack]

Congrats Rivers and good to hear from you!

[Johnm]

Congrats, Mark, on your new guitar, and it sounds as though it will be happy to go in your recent musical direction, toward the harmonic complexity of early Jazz.  Way to pull the trigger.
All best,
Johnm

[frankie]

I was wondering where you'd got to - congratulations on the new guitar!  Sounds like a beauty!

[Rivers]

Thanks guys, I'm stoked. As I suspected the breaking in phase is like a wrestling match or riding a horse, trying to keep it under control. That's what I wanted, something of a new challenge dynamically, adapting my playing style and exploring new sounds. Has everything I craved tonally, big, airy ambience when undamped, nice even balance across strings, sweet top and smooth bass, think Norman Blake's fingerpicked stuff on Whiskey B4 Breakfast.

Fretboard is fast and soapy, the ebony is a real treat for my fingers. Hammers, pulls etc are a joy. I've never seen a truer neck in my life, can fret two strings with one finger all over the board, couldn't do that before. Brings into range a lot of stuff I sort of played but could never quite nail.

I won't be touching the setup for a couple of months, it's a tad uppish being aimed at flatpicking I guess so the capo comes in handy for jazzy chord stuff. Having tone and volume to burn I'm going to be experimenting with nickel strings as per Merle Travis and am working on my flatpicking chops more than before.

And she's so preeeety...