about to give up on my Martin :(

[phavriluk]

Streams of puffery here about how brand 'x' plays nice and brand 'y' is tough to play, and very little comment that the brand is irrelevant compared to the setup. The fingerboards and strings are all but interchangeable, but the care in attending to the relationship between the two makes virtually all the difference, save the quality of the fret installation.

Anybody ever sell a car because of lousy tires?

[zoopeda]

Something to try… play the guitar, then play the guitar capo on first fret. If it’s significantly easier to play w capo on one, your nut slots need lowering.

[Wardo]

I have a D18, an HD28V and an HD35 CS. All of them are loud and easy to play all day long bluegrass flat pickin with 13s. As mentioned above, see if you can get somebody to do a set up on it. Moreover, I had a set of Monel 11s layin around and I put them on my 35 to kinda see what the Monel strings sound like even though they would be different with 13s. Mainly I just wanted to use the strings up and see what would happen. Anyway, I took them off after a couple of days because 11s are way too soft and don’t generate much volume.

[Gress]

If not the nut, you might want to look at the Martin neck shapes

[AndUandI]

Originally Posted by zoopeda

Something to try… play the guitar, then play the guitar capo on first fret. If it’s significantly easier to play w capo on one, your nut slots need lowering.

yep.. i did that and it is.. so I have to at least get that checked out and then make a decision.. thanks