Ashurbanipal
Well-known member
In '08 I went on a research trip for five months, and, like a prize fool, didn't think to invest in some kind of travel guitfiddle to keep the fingers prim and trim, and the soul tranquil. Five months without leaves you quite :boggled:. Determined not to let this happen again, decided to make an appropriate investment. I wanted something that would also give me incentive to play it at home, rather than having it sit packed away when I'm not away.
After some searching I decided to target the Taylor Baby, Martin LX1 and the Mini Maton, so yesterday I went down to the Acoustic Centre (Australian members from Melbourne would know it) and tried out a few things - a Martin LX1, mahogany Taylor Baby, and two Mini Matons (EML and EMS).
The main problem with small guitars is tone and volume vs. size but I was surprised at how generally good they sounded acoustically. However, the Maton has a smaller body than the Taylor and Martin and I think it suffered somewhat from this - the top string sounded a tad thin and the lowest string didn't quite balance with the middle four. However, these guitars come with a pickup and I suppose they're made more for being plugged in (smaller body would help reduce feedback), which I didn't test out because I'm interested in a purely acoustic sound. They are very cute and well made though, so probably a player with different requirements might find them a treat. Good neck feel too.
Switching to the Taylor brought with it a volume lift and a more balanced sound across the strings. Very clean construction (solid mahogany top, neck, laminated back and sides) and not a heavy mahogany visual overload like some of those Martin 15 series guitars, which look quite dark. It was a good player overall but I didn't connect with it, I felt it was somewhat lacking in tone, and the neck was a bit too slim.
Then I went to the Martin and was startled by the midrange and overall warmth of the tone, as well as the intonation - virtually spot on. This thing has a laminate neck, back and sides, and a solid spruce top. Neck is of generous depth with a V-ish profile. I'm mostly a thumb behind the neck player so this suited me fine, though something like a D profile would've been even better. Like the Matons and the Taylor it's satin finished and cleanly put together (except for some slightly rough internal struts), with a fairly low action and no fret buzz. Push it with a plectrum and it gets surprisingly loud; down to DADGAD, more resonance. The tone is kind of similar to a parlour guitar in terms of midrange emphasis, which I liked better than the "smaller guitar = smaller tone" of the others. It also has what look like Martin branded Gotoh tuners, which have a good feel to them.
The good thing about all the guitars that I played is that they come with 12 gauge strings, which helps a good deal, I would imagine. For me, the Martin was the winner and I took it home today. They had another one on the rack today which I also tried out and there wasn't really any difference between them.
So, the Martin, for its size, is quite a toneful little package (comes with a well padded gig bag too). Worth checking out if wanting something for travel or even as a beater with good tone and volume.
Some pics to prove that it happened
.
After some searching I decided to target the Taylor Baby, Martin LX1 and the Mini Maton, so yesterday I went down to the Acoustic Centre (Australian members from Melbourne would know it) and tried out a few things - a Martin LX1, mahogany Taylor Baby, and two Mini Matons (EML and EMS).
The main problem with small guitars is tone and volume vs. size but I was surprised at how generally good they sounded acoustically. However, the Maton has a smaller body than the Taylor and Martin and I think it suffered somewhat from this - the top string sounded a tad thin and the lowest string didn't quite balance with the middle four. However, these guitars come with a pickup and I suppose they're made more for being plugged in (smaller body would help reduce feedback), which I didn't test out because I'm interested in a purely acoustic sound. They are very cute and well made though, so probably a player with different requirements might find them a treat. Good neck feel too.
Switching to the Taylor brought with it a volume lift and a more balanced sound across the strings. Very clean construction (solid mahogany top, neck, laminated back and sides) and not a heavy mahogany visual overload like some of those Martin 15 series guitars, which look quite dark. It was a good player overall but I didn't connect with it, I felt it was somewhat lacking in tone, and the neck was a bit too slim.
Then I went to the Martin and was startled by the midrange and overall warmth of the tone, as well as the intonation - virtually spot on. This thing has a laminate neck, back and sides, and a solid spruce top. Neck is of generous depth with a V-ish profile. I'm mostly a thumb behind the neck player so this suited me fine, though something like a D profile would've been even better. Like the Matons and the Taylor it's satin finished and cleanly put together (except for some slightly rough internal struts), with a fairly low action and no fret buzz. Push it with a plectrum and it gets surprisingly loud; down to DADGAD, more resonance. The tone is kind of similar to a parlour guitar in terms of midrange emphasis, which I liked better than the "smaller guitar = smaller tone" of the others. It also has what look like Martin branded Gotoh tuners, which have a good feel to them.
The good thing about all the guitars that I played is that they come with 12 gauge strings, which helps a good deal, I would imagine. For me, the Martin was the winner and I took it home today. They had another one on the rack today which I also tried out and there wasn't really any difference between them.
So, the Martin, for its size, is quite a toneful little package (comes with a well padded gig bag too). Worth checking out if wanting something for travel or even as a beater with good tone and volume.
Some pics to prove that it happened
.
