The Martin

[ifret]

I am not a Martin expert, so I am asking those of you who are.

During our recent Martin factory tour, we noticed some necks being worked on that had a headstock that said "The Martin". It was also not a standard looking Martin headstock.

Can someone explain?

[Bingoccc]

They came out with a model to copy the Gibson look.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by frets4fun

During our recent Martin factory tour, we noticed some necks being worked on that had a headstock that said "The Martin". It was also not a standard looking Martin headstock.

Best thing would be to just forget you ever saw that.

[ifret]

Yes, that's it. Thank you.

Well, they only had lower end Martins to play in the visitor center, so I didn't get to play one like that. Pretty cool, though.

[Teleman52]

It's sort of a joke alluding to many of the old Gibsons from the 20s and earlier

[Kip Carter]

Chris 'The Martin' CEO would be responsible for that debacle more than likely. The man has head stock envy.... check that... style envy period. from the look of some of the CEO model's that have been released in the recent past. Personally though they are many great playing and sounding guitars I'd really hesitate to ever purchase one for the very reason you speak of.

[Steel and wood]

Yep ...... as a Martin fan ....... I just don't get their Gibson take on these guitars.

[sbeirnes]

Martin does some silly things. Making a Gibson copy when you are an iconic brand is one of them.

Maybe they will start making Strats next.

[RustNeverSleeps]

^ I would love to try out a Martin strat! Wouldn't you?

Originally Posted by Kip Carter

Chris 'The Martin' CEO would be responsible for that debacle more than likely. The man has head stock envy.... check that... style envy period. from the look of some of the CEO model's that have been released in the recent past. Personally though they are many great playing and sounding guitars I'd really hesitate to ever purchase one for the very reason you speak of.

I'm not sure "envy" is the right word to explain why the CEO models often look like Gibsons. IMO it's more a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that Gibson acoustics owe a lot to the Martin brand. It also serves a useful purpose as there are some that want the Gibson look with the Martin sound. Collings have also recognised this with the Waterloo (Kalamazoo) range.

[Ed-in-Ohio]

The worst things about the CEO-8 are that it is not short scale, and that it doesn't have a 12" radius on the fretboard.

Really? You're going to make a Gibson-style guitar and not build in these features? I can almost hear the Martin design team..."Now, the one thing we need to be sure of...No matter how much it looks like a Gibson, it MUST NOT be as easy to play as a Gibson."

[AndyFrank]

Love that Martin went ahead with that model in spite of Gibson.

[Mike McLenison]

First thought: They don't need to be a follower

Second thought: I wonder if it sounds better than the Hummingbird or J-200

Third thought: Is it a great sounding guitar that sold under 50 worldwide that will be worth its weight in platinum in 20 years?

[bluzfvr]

the "Commercial". Really? I think they shot themselves in the foot on this one. I could be wrong but i wouldn't buy it.

[Rmz76]

Originally Posted by Steel and wood

Yep ...... as a Martin fan ....... I just don't get their Gibson take on these guitars.

If you could see the grin on Chris Martin's face when he talks about them you'd get it... The guy has a sense of humor. The iconic guitars by Gibson and Martin from 40s are long outside patent protection. So they've both "borrowed" quite a bit from each other over the years in indirect ways. He's poking fun. Chris Martin knows there are Martin "purist" who won't touch a Gibson, but he also know secretly some of them would't mind owning a J-45, a J-200, etc... Which is why he refers to them as "our take on a competitors iconic model".

The fact these exist is one of the reasons Chris Martin is my favorite leader in the industry. The guy doesn't take himself too seriously. He's done his part in keeping the family business a private company and yet has also successfully expanded Martin. He's given us the Authentic line, reintroduced the affordable D18 and when asked what his favorite guitar is he sites 15 series. Talking about how proud he is of his companies ability to product a guitar of the same quality as the higher end models for much lower price.

His company in't using marketing to try to come up with clever terms for plywood. Although Martin is taking advantage of NAFTA and building in Mexico, they aren't selling a Mexican built line of guitars with plywood back and sides and stamping a $1500 MSRP price tag on them. C.F. Martin isn't using PR to overstate environmental efforts, or to focus religious related marketing exclusively to a religion that's very different from his own beliefs or that of his CEO. Taylor hasn't broken any laws here, but would I stack up the things I see I find C.F. Martin to have a better track records when it comes to ethics.

Then again Chris Martin's job has been to preserve the family legacy and keep Martin customers happy. Maybe his successor will Martin their counterpart to Andy Powers and let the company start introducing some strong innovative new models

Bob Taylor's job as been arguably much harder, building a business and establishing a brand from he ground up. Even if I believe he's selling the 200 series for much more than Taylor should. Even if I think poorly of his ethics overall and most of his product it's very hard not to admire what he's done as a salesman and a business man. He was also bright enough to name a successor who is more talented than he is.

[Bingoccc]

Originally Posted by sbeirnes

Martin does some silly things. Making a Gibson copy when you are an iconic brand is one of them.

Maybe they will start making Strats next.

Do you mean like the old Stinger? http://www.johnbeck.org/stinger-guitar/about.html