Members jd-drafter Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 i really like the per month price... $1066.00? 8^) http://www.music123.com/Martin-D-28-Authentic-Dreadnought-Acoustic-Guitar-513360-i1175484.Music123 and the 31k is after a 20% discount- it was $39,999.00 me thinks a decimal place is off...?
Members denvertrakker Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 Yeah, but you're saving $8000!
Members rjoxyz Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 f me thinks a decimal place is off...? Don't think so. That is a D-28 "Authentic". Very limited production model and VERY expensive...inexplicably expensive.
Members moctzal Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 Martin Authentic guitar with Brazilian Rosewood back and sides. If all of them have wood like the guitar pictured, that sounds about right. It's all about marketing my friend. You pay for the name on the headstock.
Members rjoxyz Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 I am aware...check my sig line.
Members iago Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 Legalized price scalping. It's worth whatever the market will bear.
Members Fuzzbomb20 Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 If the guitar is made out of similar materials as the guitar in the pictuere it is quite significant. The Brazilian rosewood is of a streight and regular grain unlike alost all Braz. Rosewood back you see these days which is full of knots and imperfections., IF you can get a guitar that looks like the picture it is probably worth it. I have heard roumers that MArtin have stocks of prime brazillian held back and this may very well be the real deal. I wish I could play one of those beauties to hear the tone... they could sound out of this world http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/icons/icon5.gif Questionhttp://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/icons/icon5.gif Questionhttp://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/icons/icon5.gif Questionhttp://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/icons/icon5.gif Question
Members moctzal Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 I am aware...check my sig line. Well, Larrivee isn't there...yet...
Members hammergjh Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 The Music Emporium in Lexington, MA has a 50 thousand dollar Martin. A 40's vintage model, original body and neck, but totally reconstructed with a new top. 50 grand. Who would buy it?
Members DonK Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 The price is accurate. List on the D-28 Authentic at the Martin site is $39,999, just as M123 shows. As others have noted, it's supposed to be a faithful reproduction of a 1937 D-28, i.e., one of the coveted pre-war models. Lots of Brazillian rosewood and Adirondack spruce. Not something I'd pay $32K for, but I'm sure someone will.
Members iago Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 I've heard many Brazilian guitars sound no better than many of the best Indian rosewood guitars. Anyone who bought one of them sight unseen is a MORON
Members sdelsolray Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 I've heard many Brazilian guitars sound no better than many of the best Indian rosewood guitars. Anyone who bought one of them sight unseen is a MORON And rather rich, even if you consider them morons. Of course, having never played a Brazilian rosewood Martin, what would you know?
Members jd-drafter Posted September 30, 2007 Author Members Posted September 30, 2007 wow... well color me suprised... i just don't get the logic i guess. but if a person has the $ then more power to them- i really don't feel bad asking 2 to 3 thousand for our aluminum units- 8^)
Members drnihili Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 I understand why someone might want to pay that sort of money for a primo guitar for their collection. I don't understand why they might buy it from an online place where they wouldn't even be able to see it first. Frankly, if I had that kind of dough to spend for a collectible guitar, I'd want to buy it straight from Martin, even if it did cost 8,000 more.
Members guitarcapo Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 Brazilian Rosewood of that quality sells for around 700 dollars a set. I have about 70 of them in my garage I'm saving for my retirement building. I can make a guitar exactly to the same specs as that guitar for about a thousand doallars worth of materials without much budgeting. Come to think of it that back isn't even 100% quartersawn. My wood's better I mean...here's a pic from an OM set I sold recently. I even went to the trouble of bending the sides and joining the back. the set sold for 375.00 plus $20 shipping AUCTION LINK Trust me under finish it is the same wood. Now granted it's a little smaller, but I have pure quartersawn AAA stuff JUMBO SIZE that I can't get 500 bucks for.
Members guitarcapo Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 Oh yea...and that's not a very good Adirondak top...thick grain lines in places and a crappy bookmatch. I sell better ones for 80 bucks a top.
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 Hate to nit-pick (no, really! ), but "Back inlay: Black/White Boltaron ", "Pickguard: Delmar Tortoise Color ", "End piece: Grained Ivoroid ", etc. doesn't sound all that authentic!And for nearly $31K, I'd want a lot more "personality" in the Brazilian rosewoob b/s!
Members Clif Schlicher Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 When I was at the Martin factory a couple of months ago, they told me there were about 200 set of Brazilian Rosewood left. At Martin, this would mean pre-1969 well selected sets, well book matched, and the minimum price on a guitar made with it would be about $15K. This particular guitar would would be totally handmade, no doubt. I understand that after the ban, Martin tried a work around, setting up a joint venture with a Brazilian company to process BR, since the government insisted that henceforth all BR had to be processed in country by a Brazilian firm. The effort was not a success. I'm no authority, but as I understand it the draw of Adirondack spruce has to do with it's sound qualities. It is not a particularly beautiful wood. Further, we have all read posts here that cast doubt on the assumption that tight grain is tonally better than a more widely space grain pattern. Take a look at some good old violins from Italy and Germany where, given the wide choice of materials available 400 plus years ago, they often opted for a mixed grain, which I would assume would resonate well over a broader range of frequencies. All that said, the real question is, does it sound those thousands of dollars better than a standard D-28 or HD-28? I'm sure it sounds great, but not that great. The sad part is despite it's sound, very few people will get to hear it, as it will be locked up in a vault somewhere with a very expensive sound system playing music to it so it will open up. It is after all, an investment. The really amazing thing here is that as an investment the assumption is that some day someone will be willing to pay a really ungodly sum for this guitar. Stadivarii and Guanarii selling at astronomical prices today. Just think if Antonio had been on this marketing trip in the 15th Century. That's this po' boy's opinion, but it ain't this po' boy's problem. Gotta keep playing what I got the way I play it and make do.
Members guitarcapo Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 As for the Adirondack, you didn't get what I was saying. The grain LINES are thick in some spots and thin in others. I'm not talking about spacing. The lines have varying thickness. There's also a lot of runnout in that top and that's why you get the "harlequin" look at the center seam when photographing the top.A quality spruce top should be cut from quartersawn split billets so there is no runnout. And of course uniform color, no pin knots, uniform line spacing, bookmatched, and defect free. Closer line spacing is rarer but I agree really doesn't have a lot of bearing on what tone you'll get.. As for the Brazilian problem...my understanding is that Martin is having a problem with DOCUMENTATION more than actually having a problem buying wood. CITES-approved Brazilian with all the properly stamped "visas" has to go through certain channels in Brazil to insure that the wood was salvaged and not from a recent tree cut. My supplier told me there are CITES certified passports he can obtain for 85.00 a set for his wood. My guess is that they are just paying off corrupt bureaucrats with the money to get the paperwork...although the best wood is usually the old stuff that's been salvaged years ago anyway. No one is cutting down modern trees in Brazil for back and side sets. Not because of some ethics. It's because it's easier to process old salvaged wood and the quality is better when dealing with the small amounts needed in luthery. A big company like Martin is high profile and has to have all that paperwork in order. Luthier's Mercantile dropped out of selling BRW totally because of the documentation hassle. Small hand builders like me really don't worry much about it. My supplier complained to me a few years ago that Martin didn't seem to want to buy Brazilian rosewood from him....just the paperwork to "legitimize" rosewood it already had. He also mentioned a program where old salvaged rosewood was being sold and the money used to buy and maintain forest in Brazil. He said he was one of only 4 guys in Brazil who were involved in the legal government sanctioned export of Brazilian rosewood. Or it could all be bull{censored}. Anyway...I have enough to last me the rest of my life so I'm all set.
Members guitarcapo Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 Hate to nit-pick (no, really! ), but "Back inlay: Black/White Boltaron ", "Pickguard: Delmar Tortoise Color ", "End piece: Grained Ivoroid ", etc. doesn't sound all that authentic! And for nearly $31K, I'd want a lot more "personality" in the Brazilian rosewoob b/s! Most guitar builders will tell you: The prettier the wood, the worse it is for making a musical instrument. Straight boring grain is what you want. Leave the crazy quilting /flame/wild color variation stuff for furniture. Straight grained and quartersawn Brazilian is the most difficult to find too.
Members Tony Burns Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 i think theirs a sucker born every minute - who ever pays that much for that guitar is two slices short of a full loaf of bread - I know of a half a dozen luthiers you could buy alot better guitar, with BR back and sides for less than half of that - and I know their better guitars !!!
Members guitarcapo Posted September 30, 2007 Members Posted September 30, 2007 The plastic binding kinda bugs me. Plastic should not be involved anywhere on a guitar costing 30 grand. Not on the tuners. Not on the pickguard. Not on that little strip at the neck heel or where the endpin goes. I'm not saying it has to be ivory. But flame maple, koa or snakewood would be o.k. Maybe ebony.
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 1, 2007 Members Posted October 1, 2007 I've heard many Brazilian guitars sound no better than many of the best Indian rosewood guitars. Anyone who bought one of them sight unseen is a MORON You've heard that, eh? Well, quite a few people seem to think that Braz IS worth the price and are willing to pay 40 big ones. As a matter of fact, the whole production run of 28A's was presold - that right, there were enough MORON's with 40K (or the discounted amount) to poney up sight unseen. Some, of course, are stores who plan to make a small killing as a bunch of these morons line up to buy them. BTW - haven't heard a 28A, but I was treated to a D18, D18GE and D18A - and in my small opinion, the hype was worth the price.
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted October 1, 2007 Members Posted October 1, 2007 Most guitar builders will tell you: The prettier the wood, the worse it is for making a musical instrument. Straight boring grain is what you want. Leave the crazy quilting /flame/wild color variation stuff for furniture. Straight grained and quartersawn Brazilian is the most difficult to find too.I've played both (straight/boring and fancy/colorful)...not enough difference in the tone to be worth discussion. As far as longevity, a buddy of mine's dad has had a BRW D-28 for over 45 years with the wildest grain on the back and sides you've ever seen...it's a sweetheart in every way. So, for that kind of $$$, I'll take the colorful stuff, thanks!
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