Martin 00018

[vanpatten]

I love mine as well. Great instrument. I've also been contemplating putting ivoroid tuners on her to make it a little different.

[negriljerry]

Originally Posted by Sasquatchian

Just a note on the Waverly's. If you're going to install them, and having done this several times, they are extremely sensitive to proper mounting hole spacing. Even mounting them in place of Grover Sta-Tite's, where the mounting hole spacing is literally 1/10th of 1mm different, that's enough to cause the Waverly's to have major backlash issues. It'd be nice if Stew-Mac's website would tell you about this, but they don't.

The solution is to plug all the original hole with tiny Mahogany toothpicks that I make using my hand drill as a mini lathe and then use the ingenious little jig that Stew-Mac sells (around $60 or so) that lets you both accurately align the hole placements in regards to the headstock and drill new holes that are exactly at the prescribed 25.4mm spacing. The difference between winging it and using this jig is amazing and I would not have believed it had I not seen it myself.

So the process of swapping out tuners goes from a twenty minute job to one that takes a full day or more to make the tiny plugs, glue them in and let them dry, but doing that I went from - and with the exact same set of brand new Waverly 21:1 tuners - from individual tuner that had a full 1/4 to 1/3 turn backlash free play to ones with virtually none. Still not as nice as the Gotoh 510's but aesthetically more appropriate on many guitars.

My non-existent luthier skills (other than setup type stuff) eliminate me from such detailed activity, and more importantly -

I've never encountered tuning machines that were so flawed that they really needed replacing. The old Gibson Klusons were in fact about the worst simply due to that one flaw, where they *click* up to pitch and then you have to re-tune to be sure. So the above process sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through for a purely cosmetic issue.

The original tuners on my humble Martin 000M work fine. I love the 000M. Now I really want a 000-18!

[kakashi]

congrats! an exceptional piece by martin. enjoy!

[Skip Ellis]

I have one and like it very much. Used to have D18's but didn't really need the big body or big low end so I made a step down in size and have never regretted it. It flatpicks OK, too, if you're not playing with banjos.

[RussellHawaii]

No picture?

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by RussellHawaii

No picture?

What he said.

[chopinhauer]

Originally Posted by kayakman

I might change the tuners to Waverly /with the ivoroid buttons, any thoughts?

Really no need. If the Grovers work well then the Waverlys won't make a difference in functionality or appearance. They were perfect on my 2019 000-18, and no worse than the Waverlys on various Martins and Collings I own/owned. Good Waverly open backs (and not all are good) are no better than good Grover open backs (are not all of those are good). Replacing good for good just adds snob value.

[mikef]

Congrats, I hope you enjoy it! I love mine. The 000-18 is probably my favorite Martin model.

[gmel555]

Originally Posted by kayakman

Visual appearance,The Gotah`s are ok, but like the look and smoothness of the Waverly`s..Im a little obsessive.

Congrats .Great guitar, enjoy! Just wondering does your 000-18 really have Gotohs (not std Martin tuners)? If, so that's upgraded already. If you really want the Waverly look by all means go for it, it's your guitar; though Gotoh's -if functioning as they should- should be about as smooth as it gets (IMO). Again, whatever u decide, enjoy your awesome guitar.

[Jim Owen]

Enjoy. I have a 65 and a 2004. If I had the coin, I’d have the reimagined. I did put Waverlys on the 2004. Gotoh knockoffs of Statites on the 65 because the originals were seriously worn.

I’ve had a 000 18 since 73. They are guitars that suit me.