Your Grandpa's Guitar

Martin 000-15sm

I have no problem with things that are a little rough around the edges.  This is especially true when it comes to people, cars and guitars.  In fact, I tend to seek this characteristic out.  A little banged up, but still works fine - now that's for me.  That probably explains a lot about why I focus on the instruments that are featured on this site.  Most are a little rough around the edges, and i love them because of it. 

When it comes to guitars I've also never been a fan of easy.  Many times I've listened in wonder as someone stated the action was a little to high, the strings aren't "their brand", the neck doesn't feel right, the string spacing isn't wide enough.... on and on and on.  I get it - Especially if you pay a lot for an instrument - you want it to fit your musical needs and probably deserve that.  But there comes a time when we must say "shut up and play".

Perhaps we should consider that maybe, at least on occasion, we should try to tailor our playing to the construction of the guitar as opposed to the guitar being tailored to our style of play.  You can learn an awful lot from this.  It can get you out of your comfort zone and form new points of inspiration.  If the actions to high, wail away in first position and go back to the basics of I,IV,V - or throw a slide on it in an open tuning.  If you are getting some buzzing, use a lighter touch and see where that takes you.

What's the point of all this?  Well, after a lifetime of playing guitars that were far from perfect and having to take the long way around in figuring out how these sometimes hard to play guitars would fit into my musical scheme of things, I recently bought what may be the nicest guitar I have ever owned, a guitar that is insanely easy to play and just as easy to love.



 

 

This is a Martin 000-15sm.  The (s) for slothead, the (m) for mahogany.  It is a beautifully bold piece of guitarmaking by Martin.  They currently have a whole line of these Mahogany instruments including a 000 without the slothead as well as a dreadnaught and cutaway dread.  The whole guitar is mahogany except for the fretboard, bridge and headstock plate.  With this series of guitars it seems that Martin remembered that they are the greatest manufacturer of guitars in the world and decided to show us all what they are made of.  In reading some of the posts in the acoustic guitar forums, I was sensing this underlying current that Martin seems to have spent the last few years(or more) chasing Taylor guitars around.  The chase ended with this Mahogany series as Martin has found a way to look forward by beautifully recreating the past.  The Martin guitar story is one of the greatest American business stories we have as a country.  A company that predates the Civil War should be able to look to their past for future inspiration.

 

Notice the elongated body with the robust lower bout.  Many feel this body design centers the bridge allowing for more effective movement of the top thereby increasing volume and enhancing tonal qualities.

 

You can find reviews of this instrument all over the internet and all of them rave about this instrument, so I'm not going to go into details regarding specs... but a few notes...

 

This guitar was made for fingerpickers and bluesmen.  It truly is a wonder to play - extremely light and responsive.  The guitar was ready to play right out of the showroom and I've seen many stories of those who had their guitar shipped to them that stated the guitar was ready to play right out of the box.  The workmanship is incredible and the woods are beautiful.  I have caught myself a couple times just admiring the grain patterns.

 

Look at the grain pattern on the headstock plate which is an east indian rosewood veneer.

Look - I'm not here to sell you a guitar, but if you are in any way shape or form a fingerstyle player you need to at least find a way to play one of these.  It is a lovely experience.  I'll be getting back to plenty more "Off Brand" models in the near future.  You know - guitars that are a little rough around the edges.  For now, I'll just bask in the enjoyment of finally becoming a part of Martin Guitar history.