garthman

Good stuff, Deep

Me too. . . . or how about zero?

Yes. I own different guitars too: acoustic, classical and electric (so that's neck widths ranging from 40mm to 52mm) and I switch between them without thinking about it.

I keep one (acoustic) guitar tuned to open C# (which is really just open D tuned down one semitone). I occasionally go down another semitone to open C but even with heavy strings you start running into intonation problems. The only other altered tuning I use is double-drop D (standare E tuning with both E strings tuned down to D). This one is usually on my 12 string acoustic.

New York Mining Disaster 1941 The BeeGees first hit. Before they discovered falsetto, phew! https://app.box.com/s/6sbh8hmmnj04l49hm9274s53705vggys

Congratulations, Misha. A nice looking guitar.

Joe. Sounds to me like a very good plan. I am currently enjoying a brief respite from the cold and damp of the UK in the sun and warmth of Gran Canaria (without a guitar, alas, but that's a small price to pay). A simple lifestyle in Sicily sounds heavenly albeit that I would probably head north during July an August. I sincerely hope that it comes to pass for you.

Hey Joe. Good to see back here - ups the number of contributors by a good 25% And thanks for the review of the Enya guitar. I've always harboured a deep suspicion of non-wood guitars but it seems that they might be worth a look. HST I don't need any more of them and am seriously considering thinning down the herd to a more storage friendly size. I play my LAG and Walden classicals most of the time. Look forward to hearing it I must put something up in the VOM1T thread too - been lazy this year. Where are you thinking of moving to?

I think that is a very sensible thing to do, Misha. I have always maintained that the Cort Earth guitars (and the Tanglewood Earth guitars - same thing because Cort made them for Tanglewood) are probably the finest instruments at the price point.

30 million, eh?

I would add: Check for wear on the frets, especially on the 1st to 5th frets under the 1st and 2nd strings (if there are deep grooves in the frets you may need to have them replaced). Check the height of the saddle above the bridge slot (if there is only a little of the saddle showing it may be difficult to lower the action should you need to).

Yes, it's a vey thin coating of (usually) matt (but sometimes satin) varnish. A friend of mine (to whom I'd recommended LAG) bought that (or a very similar guitar) a few months ago. He thinks it's the "best thing since sliced bread" and it is now his #1 guitar.

Hi Misha I haven't played either of the Martins you mention. I have played an X series with the HPL composite back and series and, like Daddymack says, it's fine plugged in. Generally though, I'm underwhelmed by Martin guitars - I don't think they play and sound any better than many guitars costing much less. For a very good, well made guitar that plays and sounds excellent and is very reasonably priced you could do a lot worse than the Crafter TO35. Here is a link to a UK store where you can check it out (it's also available as an electro-acoustic): https://badlandsguitars.co.uk/products/crafter-t-035 LAG (French company) and Walden also do some very good guitars. UK compnay Tanglewood are always worth a look too. I don't know if these brands are available in Canada but, if so, they are all fine instruments. But, like Daddymack also say, "try before you buy" if possible.

LOL. Yeah, I do that too. I have a box full of old bits and bobs.

Well, 5 minutes work with a touch of epoxy resin gave me over 4 years of use with the original tuners - and the repair was virtually invisible - with none of the aggro of finding good looking tuners that fitted. As it happened, I found some quickly and at a good price. Same as these but I paid a £ less: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295887569564?itmmeta=01HPHV2BTY5X0FWVHZP57PMB11&hash=item44e446029c:g:mOEAAOSwdq9k3yWg