Martin 000-15

[32-20-Blues]

Thining of one of these for my next guitar. Played it, enjoyed it, just wondering if anyone had any thoughts.

[Track Rat]

Interesting. I have an old 000-18 and I love the Grand Auditoium body size. The 000-15 is all Mahogany but it's solid, not laminant.I'd love to hear one.

[Light]

As far as I'm concerned, the Martin style 15 guitars (D15, OOO15, etc.) are the best value on the market. Nothing comes close. They are made of 100% solid wood (a really big deal, though if you haven't already, read some of my past humidity threads, or perhaps the one I'm probably gonna write in the next few days), and though they do not have the classic spruce top sound, they sound really good.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[TelePaul]

its a little dark sounding which you probably know if youre thinking of buying it. Love my D 15, i think it has a nice even sound. And as light said, the solid wood is just fantastic, sustains forever. I went for the D 15 because a dreadnought suited my strumming. If you're gonna pick, go for the 000.

[mrface2112]

+1 on the D15 and 000-15 here. I LOVE my D15.....but there are times where i wonder if i'd have been better suited having bought the 000.

my d15 records beautifully, too, FWIW.


cheers,
wade

[32-20-Blues]

Originally Posted by TelePaul

its a little dark sounding which you probably know if youre thinking of buying it. Love my D 15, i think it has a nice even sound. And as light said, the solid wood is just fantastic, sustains forever. I went for the D 15 because a dreadnought suited my strumming. If you're gonna pick, go for the 000.

The dark sound is what attracted me to it. Yeah, fingerpicking is what I'm aiming for; although, from what I hear, strumming is fine too. T

Thanks Light for the input. I couldn't justify spending about a grand on a laminate guitar - it's quite a bit of money for me - so the solid wood factor is important. I have a solid rosewood and cedar classical that is holding up well with regard to humidity, so I'm not as worried as I would otherwise be. Maybe a soundhole humidity controller is the way to go.

[TelePaul]

buy lots and lots of those salt rocks

[JCH]

I have a 000-C16. It's an older one with the oval soundhole. I bought it used in '95. The cutaway robs some tone I imagine, but it's a great guitar. I especially like the size of it for playing seated..

[TelePaul]

Originally Posted by mrface2112

+1 on the D15 and 000-15 here. I LOVE my D15.....but there are times where i wonder if i'd have been better suited having bought the 000.

my d15 records beautifully, too, FWIW.


cheers,
wade

cool, can i ask what you record with and what your setups like? Im having a little difficulty getting mine to sparkle.

[Track Rat]

Martin Dreadnaughts can "woof out" a mic if you're not carefull. Stay away from the sound hole with mics. The body/neck joint is a good starting place.

[Light]

Originally Posted by JCH

I have a 000-C16. It's an older one with the oval soundhole. I bought it used in '95. The cutaway robs some tone I imagine, but it's a great guitar. I especially like the size of it for playing seated..

Actually, it is pretty well agreed upon that cutaways have zero impact (or at least, so near zero that you would never be able to hear the difference) on the sound. The basic theory is that you are taking away a section of the top which has very heavy bracing anyway, so it can't move very much. Not moving, it doesn't really have much effect on the sound of the guitar, and so removing it is a non-issue sonicly (though, for sure, it is still a lot of extra work, and therefor more expensive).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[Milnoque]

My only real experience with cutaways comes from archtops. I have had a couple of different opportunities to do side by side comparisons of similar guitars. Once I had four early '50s Gibson L-7s in the same room. Two of them had cutaways. There was an unmistakeable difference in tone. It was more obvious as a listener than when I was doing the playing.

I have also had the chance to play a '30s Gibson Nick Lucas next to a Century model of the same vintage. Both were maple B/S and had the same basic shape. The Lucas had deeper sides. They sounded very different.

I believe the difference in sound is real and is due to the air volume inside the box.

All of these were great sounding guitars and the difference wasn't "good" or "bad" it was just a difference. It can be heard mostly in the lower frequencies.

Back to the mahogany tops.

Many wartime Gibson flattops had mahogany tops. They've held up well over time. I've played some of them. SWEET.

Lastly,
If it sounds good and it plays good it is good, Period.

[Treeline]

Buy it quick before you get nervous. Just do it! They're beautiful guitars.

[Treeline]

Originally Posted by Light

... read some of my past humidity threads, or perhaps the one I'm probably gonna write in the next few days...

Your humidity post of last year should have been made a sticky.

FOLKS, LISTEN TO THIS GUY WHEN HE WARNS ABOUT LOW HUMIDITIY!!

[32-20-Blues]

Originally Posted by Treeline

Buy it quick before you get nervous. Just do it! They're beautiful guitars.

Yep, I think that's what I'll do........I may have to combine it with an early Christmas present type of thing. You know how it is.

[TelePaul]

humidity REAL aint a problem in Ireland!

[Monkey Allen]

Well, I have $3000 Australian dollars to spend on a nice Martin. I wanted a Martin but ended up buying a Taylor 110 over a year ago. Anyway, I'm thinking about a Martin or a 'Cole Clark'.

[TragikRemix]

i'd say nice pick.

i want to try out some acoustics sometime this *cough* year or so. lmao, i spent too much on my DAW...

i was looking at the mid range martins and taylors, the 314 CE looks really nice to me, i think its $1599, (is that still a mid range acoustic?)

i do a lot of acoustic stuff, and i have a cheapo.. i'd rather get a really nice acoustic instead of an expensive electric, i'm satisfied with my fender mexi strat.

[Light]

Originally Posted by TelePaul

humidity REAL aint a problem in Ireland!

You might think that, and I'm certainly no expert on the region, but if you ever have to heat your house you probably do need to be concerned about it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[32-20-Blues]

Originally Posted by Light

You might think that, and I'm certainly no expert on the region, but if you ever have to heat your house you probably do need to be concerned about it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

Yeah, I did hear that. I keep my guitars in quite a small room that I do not heat deliberately.

[TelePaul]

Yup its October and im freezing my ass off.

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by TelePaul

cool, can i ask what you record with and what your setups like? Im having a little difficulty getting mine to sparkle.

absolutely!

first is the strings. i use Martin SP Phosphor Bronze strings, Light gauge. They're the ones i've found that sound best with that guitar. i can't stand the "regular" (non-phosphor) bronze strings, and the coated ones just plain suck. i used to play d'addarios on my Yamaha acoustic and tried them out of habit on my D15 when i bought it--horrible sound. went with the Martins thereafter and that's all i'll put on it.

the thing with the SP's is that you've gotta break em in for about 2 hours--straight out of the box they're a little "too brassy" for me, but broken in they sound really sweet for a couple weeks' worth of nightly playing.

i've been miking my D15 with a pair of MXL 603's. the little bump the 603's have in their high end really works with the D15. i typically work in a spaced pair configuration--one about 8-12inches out from the 12/14th fret and the other hanging over the guitarist's strumming shoulder, kinda next to their ear, pointing down at the bout and bridge area.

the concept behind this spaced pair is that one mic gets the "neck tone" and the other mic more or less gets what the guitarist hears.

mix that in with a room mic (i usually use my BLUE Dragonfly) 4-6ft back, pan the MXL's hard L/R and the dfly in the middle and you'll be cookin.

i used to use a pair of mackie VLZ preamps and go from there into a Symetrix 425 (dual mono compressor) and into my delta 1010. the mackie pres are totally usable as long as you bypass the rest of the channel (i tapped the inserts of my console for direct outs) and the 425 added this nice sheen even when it wasn't compressing--just running a track through it gave it a nice character.

these days i'm using my apogee minime for preamps and the built-in compressor is a nice change. overall, though, the recorded tone of the guitar hasn't changed all that much with different preamps.


cheers,
wade

[TelePaul]

wade youre a gentleman, thanks alot!

[mrface2112]

my pleasure! please drop me a PM if you want to hear any of the tracks i've recorded with it, and i'll be glad to shoot you a URL with some "suggested listening".


cheers,
wade

[TelePaul]

ill definetely get round to that when i split form college...My D 15, though levely sounds very bassy, and ill really have to sort out stereo micing.