Adirondack best on which Martin?

[Bazaboy33]

The CEO-7 is one of the best sounding guitars at any price. My favorite Martin.

I traded a Gibson ES-135 for mine and still can't believe it.

 

[Mr Fingers]

Before I read the body of your post, I was going to say 00 or 000-18, so you've got my vote. I'm pretty much done with all the Ds as I'm tired of the piercing highs, unnecessary volume, and boomy bottom now that I don't play in a string band anymore. I think the 00, especially, is awfully wonderful, and the Adirondack top gives air and clarity that ice the cake, IMO. Ditto for a Gibson L-00 (if you get a good one, which is always iffy).

 

[tga-3]

I have two Custom Shop Martins with Adirondack tops, and they are both extraordinary guitars. My M-38 (20 years old) is the best all around acoustic I’ve ever played. My other is a D-41 (15 years old) that is very dynamic and sounds great either finger style or flat picked. Like any good acoustic, the more you play it, the more it opens up. Never held on to an acoustic long enough to experience it, and I attribute a lot of the tone to the Adirondack wood…

 

[andrekp]

I get that totally. The only real reason I ask is because I owned a 000-28 with an Adirondack top and it was a special guitar. I'm not skilled enough to know if it was the top, the bracing, or some other special mojo that made it amazing, but I guess I'm just trying to recreate that special guitar.

Speaking of AGF....don't get me started

The answer is right in this post from you. You know it already. You have no idea if the top made this guitar special. Probably, nobody could, assuming the agreed with your assessment of specialness.

These are acoustic guitars, largely handmade from wood. They will ALL vary from each other. One D-18 might sound quite different than another hanging right next to it in the store. Maybe one will be “special,” maybe neither would be. Maybe what YOU think is special, isn’t what I think is special. It’s all subjective anyway.

You cannot “create” a special guitar, you just have to find one. You can put whatever someone says is best in in the mix and still come up with duds. Don’t get into the mindset of people who pay, sound unheard, thousands of dollars for guitars based on reputation. They are not the ones to defend anything and can give little advice worth staking your preferences on. Go out and find the guitar that speaks to YOU. That is special to YOU. Everything else is just BS.

 

[fjblair]

I've had excellent Martins with sitka and adirondack, I don't think there is any magic in what species of spruce you choose. Too may variables besides top. I would not sell a good sitka D-18 just to buy the adirondack version. Might be "better", might not.

 

[GuitarsFromMars]

I have had only one Martin and it had a 'hog top, as well as neck/back sides. Only certain luthiers know how much tuning/adjustment the wood requires, to make it a master-built instrument. I found that guitar.

EIR back and sides, Sitka spruce top, laminated neck.

It wasn't a Martin. Go figure.

 

[BigPapiFan]

I do like the sound of my 000-18 with the Adirondack top. Enjoy the tones i get.

That combo works really well in my Guild D40 Bluegrass Jubilee!

 

[Urobouros]

Personally, I've noticed much greater tonal differences between back & side wood changes than tops. I'd also be more concerned with matching the size of the guitar whose tone I'm chasing than the wood but YMMV.

 

[Shades of Blue]

oddly enough, I fell in love with a Taylor AD22e. But....I'm about to look at some mahogany topped Martins too...

 

[tammuz7000]

I have a d18 with an adi top. I love it. I have a 000-18 also with sitka. I’d much prefer it on the d18

 

[gibson3798]

The answer is right in this post from you. You know it already. You have no idea if the top made this guitar special. Probably, nobody could, assuming the agreed with your assessment of specialness.

These are acoustic guitars, largely handmade from wood. They will ALL vary from each other. One D-18 might sound quite different than another hanging right next to it in the store. Maybe one will be “special,” maybe neither would be. Maybe what YOU think is special, isn’t what I think is special. It’s all subjective anyway.

You cannot “create” a special guitar, you just have to find one. You can put whatever someone says is best in in the mix and still come up with duds. Don’t get into the mindset of people who pay, sound unheard, thousands of dollars for guitars based on reputation. They are not the ones to defend anything and can give little advice worth staking your preferences on. Go out and find the guitar that speaks to YOU. That is special to YOU. Everything else is just BS.

It can't be said any clearer than this. It can't be said any more correctly than this.

" You cannot create a special guitar, you have to find one".

I read more nonsense on AGF (and this is another of those) about tonewoods being magical and guaranteeing a great guitar, and it's "just BS". Non-stop, recycled "BS".

There are plenty of excuses for not going out and finding "the guitar that speaks to YOU", so don't waste them responding to me, I've heard them all. It boils down to laziness and lack of commitment, wanting a group of strangers to tell you what you should do and what you should buy, from the comfort of your computer chair.

Then, a few months later they're back, disillusioned with the guitar someone else told them would be perfect for them, and they're employing the same methodology as in the prior purchase.

andrekp, great post.

 

[Twang_Banger]

I have a 000-18 with adi top and sinker mahogany back/sides. Might be the loudest acoustic I have ever owned! Is it “sweet” sounding … no, but it is full, well defined with highly articulated notes, sounds very old … so it is unique in my collection. Sounds kind of like my CEO7 on crack.

 

[Shades of Blue]

It can't be said any clearer than this. It can't be said any more correctly than this.

" You cannot create a special guitar, you have to find one".

I read more nonsense on AGF (and this is another of those) about tonewoods being magical and guaranteeing a great guitar, and it's "just BS". Non-stop, recycled "BS".

There are plenty of excuses for not going out and finding "the guitar that speaks to YOU", so don't waste them responding to me, I've heard them all. It boils down to laziness and lack of commitment, wanting a group of strangers to tell you what you should do and what you should buy, from the comfort of your computer chair.

Then, a few months later they're back, disillusioned with the guitar someone else told them would be perfect for them, and they're employing the same methodology as in the prior purchase.

andrekp, great post.

I was "removed" from AGF after saying that I was planning on selling a guitar to help fund another. They told me I can't advertise the sale of a guitar in the forum. I told them several times that I didn't have a guitar to sell, that I was hypothetically saying that I might sell something to fund a new Martin. Got booted 10 min later. Can't stand that place and the pretentious vibe there.

 

[gibson3798]

I was "removed" from AGF after saying that I was planning on selling a guitar to help fund another. They told me I can't advertise the sale of a guitar in the forum. I told them several times that I didn't have a guitar to sell, that I was hypothetically saying that I might sell something to fund a new Martin. Got booted 10 min later. Can't stand that place and the pretentious vibe there.

I have a similar history with AGF, and no longer waste my time there. They're a childish group and that comes from the top down with that forum. Moderators who are overzealous and members who use the rules against anyone who contradicts their opinions. As in your case, many times you can get suspended for nothing. I was suspended once for positing that some people don't like an expensive guitar (or car, or whatever), simply because they can't afford it.

GP is staffed by adults and real guitar players who are allowed to agree or disagree with passion and conviction. I no longer need to tiptoe around a group of men-children who don't know half of what they think they know. You'll be much more comfortable here and you'll get far better advice or feedback.

 

[andrekp]

AGF just shows the same symptoms of any forum largely populated and run by old people. This isn’t an anti-old person post, as I am old. But you get some groups of well-off, mostly white, old people together on a forum about expensive things, and it inevitably descends to this pattern. Believe me, I’ve been on a few over the years, and it inevitably leads to trouble. I got kicked off of one for making a Stalin joke. (The meme about “dark humor is like food, not everyone gets it”). There is little worse that old rich retired people forums.

 

[andrekp]

It can't be said any clearer than this. It can't be said any more correctly than this.

" You cannot create a special guitar, you have to find one".

I read more nonsense on AGF (and this is another of those) about tonewoods being magical and guaranteeing a great guitar, and it's "just BS". Non-stop, recycled "BS".

There are plenty of excuses for not going out and finding "the guitar that speaks to YOU", so don't waste them responding to me, I've heard them all. It boils down to laziness and lack of commitment, wanting a group of strangers to tell you what you should do and what you should buy, from the comfort of your computer chair.

Then, a few months later they're back, disillusioned with the guitar someone else told them would be perfect for them, and they're employing the same methodology as in the prior purchase.

andrekp, great post.

Thanks. Truth be told, though, this applies to most everything talked about on TGP. Wayyyyyy too much “what should I buy” leading to flipping the previous recommendation to buy the next. All to fight the good fight of trying to sound exactly like some particular millionaire rock star.

 

[gibson3798]

AGF just shows the same symptoms of any forum largely populated and run by old people. This isn’t an anti-old person post, as I am old. But you get some groups of well-off, mostly white, old people together on a forum about expensive things, and it inevitably descends to this pattern. Believe me, I’ve been on a few over the years, and it inevitably leads to trouble. I got kicked off of one for making a Stalin joke. (The meme about “dark humor is like food, not everyone gets it”). There is little worse that old rich retired people forums.

Can't disagree except to say that like you, I'm "old", reasonably "well off", semi-retired and caucasian, but I'm not thin skinned and petulant, like the whiners on AGF. Something within that group has more to do with the founder of that forum and his arbitrary "be nice" dictum. How arrogant to assume he gets to regulate what is "nice". He then gives authority to moderators who then further filter down what is "nice" to keep those not in the cool club tamped down.

They then recycle the same questions, garnering the same answers and call that a forum for discussion, when it's nothing more than an echo chamber for whiners who don't like to be challenged.

Those people are product of being a member of a close knit group of cry babies who don't like to be disagreed with. They control the flow of "information", crush adult discussion, and eliminate anyone with a backbone, unwilling to conform.

I'm proud to be one of those, unwilling to kneel at the feet of some blowhard with 20k posts.

 

[PastaPizzaMammamia]

Adirondack best on which Martin?

adirondack is the best on everything.

 

[andrekp]

Can't disagree except to say that like you, I'm "old", reasonably "well off", semi-retired and caucasian, but I'm not thin skinned and petulant, like the whiners on AGF. Something within that group has more to do with the founder of that forum and his arbitrary "be nice" dictum. How arrogant to assume he gets to regulate what is "nice". He then gives authority to moderators who then further filter down what is "nice" to keep those not in the cool club tamped down.

They then recycle the same questions, garnering the same answers and call that a forum for discussion, when it's nothing more than an echo chamber for whiners who don't like to be challenged.

Those people are product of being a member of a close knit group of cry babies who don't like to be disagreed with. They control the flow of "information", crush adult discussion, and eliminate anyone with a backbone, unwilling to conform.

I'm proud to be one of those, unwilling to kneel at the feet of some blowhard with 20k posts.

I think some forums tend to be a vast majority of that demo without many young people that speak up. This is where the trouble comes from, I think. Diversity is necessary on a forum. And the disagreement that naturally comes from diversity needs to happen. TGP is far from perfect, and there is too much moderation for my likes, but it is nothing compared to the monolithic viewpoints and demographics of places like AGF.