We Love New Martin DAY! | Martin Standard 2025 Guitars

Transcription:

Hey, this is Dan Albert at Chicago Music Exchange, and I am joined by our acoustic savant, I know about that expert Somalia, yeah, our tonewood sniffer, um, no, that's that's good stuff. Yeah, give me another hit.

So we have our hands on the brand new standard series editions. Um, these are just the three that Martin was sending out to early dealers, so we have a Triple O Seven here, D-17 and a D-28. Old Faithful there, can't go wrong with a D-28.

Absolutely, uh, can you tell me a little bit about, uh, about what we got going on here in terms of changes and whatnot?

You know, this is still a D-28. It is the old standby. There are a few things that they've done to, uh, bring the model more into the 21st century. The biggest change overall that most people are going to notice is going to be in the bracing. Uh, the bracing with this is adapted from the Modern Deluxe, the Golden Era bracing they have in the Modern Deluxe. What that means for us as a player is that this is going to give a deeper scallop on those braces that is going to increase the low end while still maintaining a lot of clarity. You know, it's not going to get muddy, uh, but you're going to get that kind of low-end power you expect out of a Martin, just a little bit more.

That's the big change in the bracing. What people are going to notice, we do have a bigger diamond on the back of the D-28. That's a little bit bigger. That's going to increase your, your. You don't have a diamond on the 17s there.

And then that brings us to the two new models in the line, which is going to look somewhat familiar to you. Now we have a standard series OOO-17 and a standard series D-17, so USA-made, all-mahogany body. Uh, if you're familiar with the 15 series, this is taking what might look a little familiar and bringing those into the standard line. So you're moving to a 1 and 3/4 inch nut, you're moving to that Golden Era bracing, um, so it's taking an all-mahogany guitar and elevating it just a little bit. You know, we're going to get a really nice hard shell case with it, and you get that big Golden Era bracing sound.

Yeah, and we, you were pointing out just some on the 17s just a little bit of, it's kind of confusing in Martin's line right now 'cause you have the American-made 15s, you have the Navajoa, the Mexico 15s, and then we have these kind of elevated 17s made in Nazareth. Um, but obviously you were pointing out Golden Age tuners on the, uh, on the, on the 15 series, whereas now on these we're getting Grover tuners.

Yeah, so upgrading the tuners, um, and just an overall just a little bit more premium price product. Yeah, we got the bone pins on everything. Um, I mean, people are always changing those out.

I feel like, and being in the acoustic room every day talking to people about things like the 15 series, one thing I do hear a lot when people are playing D-15s and OOO-15s, you get a lot of players, particularly finger pickers, who like having a little bit wider nut that you have on a standard series like on the D-18, the OOO-18, whereas the 15 series always had a 1 and 11/16 inch nut. These is the standard 17 series D-17 OOO-17 do have that wider nut. So if you have a Triple O-15, you're like, "I love this guitar, I just wish it had a little more string spacing." There you now have that option with the OOO-17.

Yes, absolutely. There's also an OM-45 for the first time. We obviously don't have that here, 'cause I don't see much pearl, but.

No, no. Not, not quite as much bling on these, uh, compared to an OM-45, but I am really looking forward to seeing that.

Yeah, that's going to be awesome. Is that's going to be very pretty.

Yeah, a lot of Abalone. Oh yeah. With the standard series refresh, there are some models that are not changing. The SC-18 and the SC-28 are staying the same for now. Um, outside of the standard series, Modern Deluxe is not changing at all. Um, there are some model discontinuations, unfortunately. We, we talked about the M-36. R.I.P.

Rip, one of my favorites. But I understand why.

Yeah, well, it'll be back next year, I'm sure. I don't know that we're, we're going to order most of the M-36 that are left, uh, at, in Nazareth.

One M-36, call me.

Yeah, we'll get you taken care of. Um, yeah, when they were kind of running us through the changes, um, it did come up that they were doing, uh, some fingerboard-related changes. Uh, can you tell me a little bit about those?

Yeah, so what they've done is on like a beautiful ebony fingerboard like this here, they've made it a little bit thinner and they've rolled the edges. So if you're like me and love vintage guitars, and you pick up a vintage guitar and just how well-worn and kind of lovely that feels, it's just a nice feeling. They've done that with their new guitars to take, you know, some of the edge off the edge of a fingerboard to give it just a nice kind of lived-in, worn-in feel, just a lot more comfortable overall. Uh, and then they've also changed the net, the, uh, angle of the nut, how it sits on the, the neck angle there, and increased the string spacing just a little bit so you can get a little bit more articulation, you know, when you're up there in those first position chords.

Yeah, I think it was like .037 in, or whatever it is, amazing how much of a different that makes though when you, when we're talking about guitar construction, you know, the 16th of an inch between 1 and 11/16 and 1 and 3/4 is profound for some people's hands. So this just makes it a little bit easier, you know, you're less likely to kind of stumble over your own fingers.

Martin standard series is the Martin for everyone, and that it's the guitar that you buy to either, if you're marking a big occasion or you're want something that you're going to play for 30 years and pass down to your kids, you know. I have people who bought their D-28s in the '70s and '80s and are passing them down to their children now. It is, you know, the, it is the Martin that most people think of when they think of a Martin. I, in the standard series, the D-28, the D-35s, you know, OM, M-28, things like that, it's the, it's what I would consider the Martin for, and it's like the family, the family heirloom type thing to me, this standard series. And having been the Martin buyer for a little while now, the standard series is like, if you want all the best choices to have already been made for you on a guitar, that's the standard series. This, the standard series, is Martin saying, "This is what a D-28 is. This is Martin as we stand today. You know, this is what we feel a D-28 is and was best representative of a D-28 all around, for everyone." Someone may want an authentic '37 that is a little bit closer to what they were making, about as close as you can get to what they were making pre-World War II, but not everybody wants an Ader on top, or once hide glue, or once a bigger neck profile. This is, you know, a very modern guitar in its construction. It's got a very comfortable neck, very easy to play, but it is still carrying on that legacy that Martin's been building for, you know, almost two centuries now.

Did we miss anything? It's, it, this is so hard because we see Martin standard series every day.

Yeah, there's, you know, there's little refinements, you know. If you're the belly bridge, it's a little bit smoother on the edges. You know, there's greater contour to it. Um, the heel has been changed a little bit so it's a little bit narrower there, a little bit smoother taper to it, um, not quite as big and chunky down there. So there's just little refinements to make the guitar more playable, a little bit sleeker, um, you know, and a little bit more comfortable for us as a player.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, yeah, I am super excited. We obviously have these three right now. These are sellable. Um, a bunch of other ones just shipped from Martin, so, uh, by the time this video comes out, we should be well stocked and, uh, and ready to go. And, you know, the cool thing about Chris is that you can call them and talk to... call me anytime. Call me, email me. I am always available.

Yeah, so I'm going to throw you under the bus and make you even more busy than you already are.

I'm okay with that.

Cool. Well, yeah, thank you so much for taking the time. Really do appreciate it. And thank you to Martin for sending these out early for us. Uh, we obviously love getting this content made for, for y'all before, uh, before the stuff comes out.

Is a weird-ass sentence.

See you.