Members Glenn F Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 Hi everyone, Well, my replacement D-15 has arrived, and seems to be in flawless shape. I have to go out in a few minutes, so I won't be able to make a more thorough post for a bit, but so far, so good! FINALLY!!!! Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 WOO HOO! Congrats on getting a good one.Please let us all know how you like it. I'll be waiting for a review... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 Yayyyyy!! Congrats, Glenn! I'm sure it was worth the hassle and the long wait. Do let us know how you like it -- that is, if you can stop playing it long enough to make a post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 DING! DING! DING! We have a keeper! Mmmmmmmmm.... More later.... Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flatcat Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 Awesome Glenn! See you at the Planet! Listen, will we be able to meet up while I'm over there? I don't recall if you were going to be around. Check the Jack Hardy website for the itinerary, it'd be great to meet up. www.jackhardy.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 See you in Germany! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 32-20-Blues Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 Hey, congrats. (MK Ultra, right?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 Hey, congrats. (MK Ultra, right?) SHHHH! It's a secret! And thanks! Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 Awesome Glenn! See you at the Planet! Listen, will we be able to meet up while I'm over there? I don't recall if you were going to be around. Check the Jack Hardy website for the itinerary, it'd be great to meet up. www.jackhardy.com. I dunno yet, but if someone comes over to you and says with a thick Eastern European accent, 'Ve know zat you vant to vork for your gofernment: Vy don't you vork for ourz inschteadt?' That might be me..... Cheers, The Craw..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Ok, here are a few pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SkippyX Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Ok, here are a few pics: oooOOOOo - purdy!Happy NGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Ohhh...man what a sweet guitar I think the D-15 I tried out Steve's Music once was one of the best sounding and playing dreads I've ever come accross.Congrats Enjoy the tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeffcoop Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Congratulations! That's beautiful. It looks like I'm going to be inheriting an older D15 around the new year. My stepmother has had the guitar for a couple of decades but between arthritis and a poorly-healed finger injury, she can't play anymore. I haven't played that guitar in a few years, but I know it needs some work. But I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Thanks for your good wishes, Ladies and Gentlemen! The Scoop on my new D-15: I didn't have a lot of time to play my new Martin yesterday. Life imposed, so I just got to noodle around a bit after my wife had fallen asleep. My first impression was that the tone was really nice: warm, smooth, and entirely different from my Taylor 310. The action was a bit high, and I thought that, today, I'd sand the saddle a little bit to see what I could do about that. This morning, I ended up taking about 1 mm off the saddle, and it had a significant improvement on the action. It is still an eensy bit high for my comfort, but after playing it today for a few hours, I am adapting well enough. I was planning on doing more, but after I had put the Martin away for a few hours this afternoon, and came back to it, when I strummed a D barre chord at the 5th fret (A position), the 5th string had a little bit of a rasp. Mind, I had to strum pretty hard to get that bit of a buzz. It makes me wonder whether I should've sanded that much. When I took out my Taylor and strummed it in the same fashion, the buzzing was, if anything, worse. Another slight problem reared its head when I attempted to do a pull-off on the 1st string in an A7th position, hitting notes G, F#, and then E. The 1st string seems to be too close to the bottom of the neck, and so any pull on the string pulls it slightly off the fretboard, and the notes short out. I'd read about this in the User Review section of HC. My final criticism is in regard to the truss rod: my Allen keys can't reach the hole. It is something like 2" before I hit metal with the Allen key reversed. I expect this is like this to thwart amateurs such as myself from doing something dumb. Fair enough. This guitar needs a bit more neck relief, though, in all probability. Those are really my only criticisms of this guitar. I am sure that they can all be dealt with, and I think it would probably be a good investment to take this guitar to a pro for setup. As soon as I find a qualified luthier, the D-15 will go for a loving tune-up. If I haven't mentioned that I love this guitar, I shall do so now: I LOVE THIS GUITAR! The tones that I can elicit from it are EXACTLY what I want: Deep, rich, balanced, SMOOTH, and it has that Martin 'je-ne-sais-quoi.' The overtones ring out. This guitar sings, and I expect with more playing, the sound will just get better. I played the D-15 and my Taylor 310 side by side this evening for a while. The Taylor is louder (even with Elixirs) and brighter, but the Taylor is 6.5 years old, and has definitely opened up. I look forward to the day when I notice that D-15 sounds better than the last time I played it, but, right now, I am quite happy with the tone. The Martin site says that the D-15 ships with med PB strings. It is a bit hard to believe, because the 1st and 2nd strings are pretty damn easy to pull up a tone, something I do a fair bit for lead playing. I would personally prefer to put lights or bluegrass (Light tops, Med bottoms) on it, but I would be concerned about the 1st string fretting out a bit more. Still, I can always try. I like the 1-11/16" modified low oval neck. I find it very much like an electric, and it is easy to play barre chords, and to move quickly around for leads. Fingerpicking is fine, intonation is fine (I always play 'Blackbird' to test intonation), it stays in tune just fine. As some of you people who've read my Trials and Tribulations in the Quest for the Holy Martin may remember, I tried a number of Martins at one of my local shops, which is clearing out the remainder of their Martin stock. This D-15 sounds as good as the best ones there, and better than most of the rest. It plays better, for the most part, too, and I am talking about guitars costing from twice to three times the cost of the D-15. The one guitar they had there, a D-16RGT, sounded good, had very good action, but it had buzzes all over the place, and I found them a little weird sounding. Don't know if it was my imagination or the Micarta fretboard, but, when pushed, it buzzed. I am pretty certain that, after investing in a competent luthier, this guitar will stay with me for the rest of my days. I hope that was a moderately coherent and somewhat balanced review. I won't assign a 'grade' to this guitar as of yet - that will wait until after its trip to a luthier (who must first be found). Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted November 25, 2007 Members Share Posted November 25, 2007 The D-15 was an instant classic, if you ask me. The first time I played one, I was stunned that Martin could make such a great guitar for such a low price. I thought it only made uber expensive models. Martin is showing vision with the DX & the 15's, 16's, etc. They see the future coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members babablowfish Posted November 25, 2007 Members Share Posted November 25, 2007 Wow, great review. That is a real beauty! It is so nice when the guitar you bought is exactly the guitar you thought you wanted. Good for you. Now play it, record it and post some clips on the Annex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 26, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 26, 2007 My wife and I will attempt to record something tonight. I've been battling some kind of bug for the last while, so we may have to do it when I am feeling better. We did do something last night with just the little mic on my Mac going into Logic, but that isn't ready for prime time. I changed out the strings on my D-15 a few minutes ago to Daddario Custom Lights (11-52s), which enabled me to get at the truss rod, which I loosened up a bit. The D'addarios really open up the sound of this guitar. In contrast, the Martin strings seemed quite dead. Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members missedmyexit Posted November 26, 2007 Members Share Posted November 26, 2007 Gorgeous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 26, 2007 Members Share Posted November 26, 2007 Glad you love it! Those Martin 15's are understated beauties. I plugged an OMC-15E in at my local store last week and had a ball fingerpicking on it. Lots of fun to be had and a welcome change to rosewood over sitka because of the nice warm in-your-face tone. I've also said many times to the walls that those Martin factory strings are crap. Which D'Addorios are you using though? Are they the regular ones or the long-life EXP's? BTW - I thought that you'd ordered a couple of 000-15's? What made you switch to a D-15? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 26, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 26, 2007 Glad you love it! Those Martin 15's are understated beauties. I plugged an OMC-15E in at my local store last week and had a ball fingerpicking on it. Lots of fun to be had and a welcome change to rosewood over sitka because of the nice warm in-your-face tone. I've also said many times to the walls that those Martin factory strings are crap. Which D'Addorios are you using though? Are they the regular ones or the long-life EXP's? BTW - I thought that you'd ordered a couple of 000-15's? What made you switch to a D-15? I am using D'addario PB Custom Lights, non-coated. The next set that goes on may be some Elixir nano PBs, but we'll see how long these last. Yeah, I thought the Martins were a little dead. I figured that, since this guitar was mine now (I have taken off the plastic over the pickguard, and then slightly dinged it last night...DOH!) I'd change the strings and see if I could get access to the truss rod. The 1st string is still a bit 'snappy,' though it isn't fretting out anymore than it did with the Martin mediums on it. I hope the truss rod adjustment will take care of that snappiness. If it does, then this guitar will likely not have to go to a luthier. I decided to go with the dreadnought for a couple of reasons: first, just thought that 2 000s with problems were enough, and, second, I didn't trust the shop to not ship me the guitar I had just shipped them, and since getting the box to the post office is a pain, as well as not cheap (taxi), I decided to get the dread so there'd be no mix up, and, perhaps, better luck. I intend to get an 000 sometime next year, as fortunes permit, possibly a Larrivee or an OM-21. Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lauren Posted November 27, 2007 Members Share Posted November 27, 2007 yummy:love: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 27, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 27, 2007 How are you doing, Lauren? Well, this goes under the 'Live and Learn' heading: I probably shouldn't have sanded a mm off the saddle. The 1st string is very 'snappy' when picked with any velocity, and it is quite low. I've fashioned a shim out of an old plastic health card, which seems to have ameliorated the snappiness somewhat, but now the action is pretty much back where it started. Methinks I am going to have to have a pro install a new saddle and do a proper setup. Only problem is, the only 'pro' I know is at my favourite local shop. sigh.... Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members missedmyexit Posted November 27, 2007 Members Share Posted November 27, 2007 This thread has been at the top of the forum for days now.. It needs to go away now.. Those pictures light hitting the satin finish, accenting the grain is just too much for a simple man to handle. If this keeps I'm going to do something rash that will cost me somewhere in the nieghboorhood of $949 Shipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Posted November 28, 2007 Members Share Posted November 28, 2007 Not to tempt you further, but some time ago (I think it was here) someone was selling one for $450 shipped, though they usually go for $100-$200 more used. I didn't discover these and the D-16GT that I lust over until after I bought my D-1, or it would have been a toss up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted November 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 28, 2007 This thread has been at the top of the forum for days now.. It needs to go away now.. Those pictures light hitting the satin finish, accenting the grain is just too much for a simple man to handle. If this keeps I'm going to do something rash that will cost me somewhere in the nieghboorhood of $949 Shipped. I'm sure you can get a better price than that! I put a .012 on my D-15, and that seems to have taken care of the snappiness. In other news, I was downtown at another shop today, where I had tried a few Martins. The owner of this shop actually goes to the US and picks out the Martins and Taylors himself without going through a local distributor. He's off on a purchasing trip right now, so I've asked the shop to order me a new saddle. They also said they'd match internet prices within reason, so the next guitar I buy will likely be from them. It is a shame they didn't reply to my email about a month ago. The D-35 they have there is an absolute MONSTER in terms of tone. They also had a very nice D-18, which I likely would've bought had I not bought the D-15. Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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