Johnny Cash black sig Martin

[LiveMusic]

Does paint affect tone? I have always wanted a black guitar and I *love* Johnny Cash music, play a lot of it.

 

Anyone know how much this costs?

 

[guit30]

Thanks for asking, I was just thinking that, just picked up a black Alvarez acoustic/electric(was thinking of Cash too)

Jim

PS- this guitar is slightly used, it has some scuff marks on it, what can I clean them off with, tried just wiping

[bdecorsey]

The JC signature model was a limited run of 200 guitars, so I doubt that they're gonna be cheap, if you can find one. I'm sure if money is no issue than one could be had, but these really are collectors items, especially since his death.

[theGOOCH]

I thought he usually played a Gibson

[dadgad7]

Always seen Cash with a Martin,

 

anyway, to try to help with your query about paint.

 

I used to always think paint would restrict resonance, and vowed never to buy a painted acoustic, no matter how cool it looked....

 

then i did a little comparison between two identical models, one with stained cedar top, the other painted black top, could not distinguish any difference whatsoever.

 

these were concert sized guitars too, so I can't comment on Dreads but the paint is so thin, yoiu can still see and feel the ridges of the wood,

 

so the long and short - I don't think it affects it one way or the other -

 

I saw that JC model and though it was way cool:thu:

 

but one and let us know!

[bjorn-fjord]

It's not paint. It's black tinted lacquer and no, it will not affect the tone any more than will clear lacquer. That said, I've always been suspicious of black guitars. I wonder if factories reserve their lower grade wood for black guitars.

[dadgad7]

 

Originally posted by bjorn-fjord It's not paint. It's black tinted lacquer and no, it will not affect the tone any more than will clear lacquer. That said, I've always been suspicious of black guitars. I wonder if factories reserve their lower grade wood for black guitars.

 

 

I've never thought of that, and it makes alot of sense,

 

I'll bet you're right that they use lower quality wood, at least visually for painted guitars.

 

Yeah good point:thu:

[Queequeg]

yeah, I never saw Cash with anything but a Martin.

Those black guitars show every mark and thumb print, though. Like a black car shows dust. If you have a black car & you don't mind, then you probably wouldn't be bothered by this, either.

Me, I'd rather drive my car than wash it.

I'd prefer to play my guitar as opposed to polishing it.

[theGOOCH]

hhhmmm...looking around the net he did usually have a Martin. I watched a documentary of him recently and there were several still shots of him with a Gibson...maybe they sponsored the show :-)

[DonK]

 

Originally posted by bjorn-fjord It's not paint. It's black tinted lacquer and no, it will not affect the tone any more than will clear lacquer. That said, I've always been suspicious of black guitars. I wonder if factories reserve their lower grade wood for black guitars.

 

 

Yep, lacquer is lacquer. With electrics it's pretty obvious that opaque finishes are more likely to have cosmetically inferior (not "bad", just inferior) wood. That's one reason Fender has a $50 to $100 upcharge for natural and sunburst finishes: you can actually see the wood. I had a PRS Swamp Ash Special - same deal - mine was seafoam green, but a sunburst model was $150 more.

 

It's hard to imagine that even as reputable a maker as Martin could resist using at least cosmetically - if not sonically - inferior wood on a painted guitar. That said, the black ones they've made, like the Johnny Cash, D-28 Negative Image, and Eric Clapton Bella-whatever have all been very pricey models, so they'd have no excuse for using lousy wood.

[hondro]

whats with this notion that good looking wood sounds better?

 

 

 

JUST BECAUSE THE WOOD IS GOOD LOOKING, DOESN'T MEAN IT SOUNDS BETTER!!!!

[guit30]

Interesting,

With acoustic guitars you pay more for black or sunburst finishes, still suspicious of this black guitar, what's underneath, good to know it's just a lacquer, Johnny Cash actually had a D-28 painted black once.

this guitar is nice, not as nice as the regular RD20S, the neck is a bit beefier

Jim

[CyranosCottage]

Cash started out with Gibson but somewhere to the middle till the end of his career he was mostly seen with a Martin guitar and pretty much only used a few diffrent models..

[washbud]

Is indeed used to hide lower grades of wood. I know this for a fact . Washburn does it .

[theGOOCH]

 

Originally posted by CyranosCottage Cash started out with Gibson but somewhere to the middle till the end of his career he was mostly seen with a Martin guitar and pretty much only used a few diffrent models..

 

 

OK, that makes sense. I thought the guitar from his early days with his signature inlaid on the fretboard was a Gibson

[Terry Allan Hall]

 

Originally posted by theGOOCH OK, that makes sense. I thought the guitar from his early days with his signature inlaid on the fretboard was a Gibson

 

 

He did, indeed, have a J-200 w/ his name inlaid on the fingerboard, but prior and after that guitar, he mostly used a Martin...D-28 and, after about '73, a D-35 and/or a D-76, until the 1st JC Sig. was given to him.

 

At the 1st Folsom prison concert, he used a bolt-neck Fender (possibly just in case things got ugly) and at the San Quentin concert, he used one hand-made by Dick Boak, I believe.

 

Back to the subject of black guitars: At a festival I was performing at some summers ago, the act following my set put his black Tak on a stand, unfortunately in the sun...black, as we all know absorbs heat, and towards the end of my set, the Tak literally exploded!

 

Moral of this story? Be careful about leaving a black guitar in the sun on a hot summer day!

[darksun]

i don't know anything about the guitars in question, but after reading this thread i dug out some of my johnny cash cd's, hav'nt listened to them in a long time, thanks for reminding me what a cool guy he was:thu:

[Queequeg]

BTW I recently had occasion to contact CFM 1833 Shop about a different signature model that had been well, not discontinued, but had exhausted the limited run, to be more accurate, I suppose. They pointed me to a shop in BC Canada that happened to have one. So if you're looking for this Johnny Cash model, try sending an email message to the 1833 shop. I got a response in about 72 hours. Apparently they are tracking unsold guitars by the absence of any registration.

[BlackCustom]

It was inspired by JC's D-42 signature, which I could not afford. I had this one built by a small maker in the town I went to high school in.

 

It's a great guitar, I go into shops looking for something better from time to time, but rarely find anything to compare.

 

I'd love to get one of the signatures, but then I already got a black git tar (not to mention the black custom).

[WaveRay]

Originally posted by LiveMusic Does paint affect tone? I have always wanted a black guitar and I *love* Johnny Cash music, play a lot of it. Anyone know how much this costs?

 

 

Retail is $5499.00

Most guitars are cut about 30% off retail by the dealer.

Good luck finding a limited, though.

[Cldplytkmn]

 

Originally posted by washbud Is indeed used to hide lower grades of wood. I know this for a fact . Washburn does it .

 

 

i hope you're not expecting us to believe that just cause you say that washburn does it that ALL black guitars are made with lower graded wood...

[steve_man]

 

Originally posted by washbud Is indeed used to hide lower grades of wood. I know this for a fact . Washburn does it .

 

 

Washburn=cheap, IMO. Never played one I thought was good.