Goededag Milo! I really enjoyed this video. Owning 5 Martin guitars myself and living just under 75‐minutes from Nazareth, I"ve known the Spruce Story of Martin Tops fairly well. That they used Adirondack Red Spruce until 1945-46, then switched to Northwestern Sitka thereafter. I also knew that Fred Martin did acquire a nice supply of Euro Engelmann Spruce in the early 50s. But today, after the tops have darkened so much with age, unless the grain width can be the defining marker, getting a TRUE read on which species the tops are can be, as your video title suggests, quite the mystery. Dick Boak, Martin's former expert with the company for decades might know the answer. He still is affiliated with Martin, as he's always lived near the factory. A shout-out (through Martin) to Dick Boak, might help you solve the mystery by sharing this video and good photos of the guitars in question? BTW, my oldest Martin is my 1971 D-28, that although having some of the well-known issues with '70's models, it is a true cannon. A tad beat-up, but I had it with me when I lived in Leuven, Belgium from 1973-75, studying Philosophy at KU Leuven and traveling all over Europe with it for those fabulous 2 best years of my life. My other models are more recent: 2015 OM-28 E-Retro, with the F¹Aura pickup system; 2019 000-28 Modern Deluxe; D-18E 2020 (Limited Edition to 2,020 axes); and my most recent gem, a 2023 O12-28 Modern Deluxe Parlor, that is a masterpiece thru and thru. Anyway, good luck tracking down your "Magical Mystery"! Tot zeins, Tim McGurl
Thanks for the kind words Tim! Dick Boak sounds like a good option to explore this mystery further. Sounds like you have quite a nice collection and have a personal bond with Martin in general. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Brandon! Great to get some feedback on how the Benchtalk videos are received ;) More coming up! And we all love it whenever Tom plays some nice acoustics ;)
Very interesting ! Though I already knew there was a supposed change from Adi to Sitka around that time. 2 Qs: 1.Has any "world expert on spruce" ever examined photos of the woods, best taken no doubt from the inside the guitard ? 2. What about measures of thickness..?? The perceived wisdom I have read is, that being supposedly the stiffest and strongest of the group, Adi can be made thinner than the others, and usually is..?? Anyway...likely to remain a mystery, I guess ☺️👍👍
The guitars in question have seen quite a few luthiers and experts in their time. But none have been 100% sure about the definitive answer, this included measuring the thickness, checking the grain and all the other 'tests' that they could come up with.
Adirondack spruce used to have fairly tight grain. But overharvesting has caused Martin to use younger trees with wider grain from growing in more open country side where sunshine was not at such a premium.
I like bench talk videos very much!
Goededag Milo!
I really enjoyed this video. Owning 5 Martin guitars myself and living just under 75‐minutes from Nazareth, I"ve known the Spruce Story of Martin Tops fairly well. That they used Adirondack Red Spruce until 1945-46, then switched to Northwestern Sitka thereafter. I also knew that Fred Martin did acquire a nice supply of Euro Engelmann Spruce in the early 50s. But today, after the tops have darkened so much with age, unless the grain width can be the defining marker, getting a TRUE read on which species the tops are can be, as your video title suggests, quite the mystery.
Dick Boak, Martin's former expert with the company for decades might know the answer. He still is affiliated with Martin, as he's always lived near the factory. A shout-out (through Martin) to Dick Boak, might help you solve the mystery by sharing this video and good photos of the guitars in question?
BTW, my oldest Martin is my 1971 D-28, that although having some of the well-known issues with '70's models, it is a true cannon. A tad beat-up, but I had it with me when I lived in Leuven, Belgium from 1973-75, studying Philosophy at KU Leuven and traveling all over Europe with it for those fabulous 2 best years of my life. My other models are more recent:
2015 OM-28 E-Retro, with the F¹Aura pickup system; 2019 000-28 Modern Deluxe; D-18E 2020 (Limited Edition to 2,020 axes); and my most recent gem, a 2023 O12-28 Modern Deluxe Parlor, that is a masterpiece thru and thru.
Anyway, good luck tracking down your "Magical Mystery"!
Tot zeins,
Tim McGurl
Thanks for the kind words Tim! Dick Boak sounds like a good option to explore this mystery further. Sounds like you have quite a nice collection and have a personal bond with Martin in general. Thanks for sharing!
yes, fascinating, indeed!
Great video! I Love the bench talks and Tom’s playing is fantastic as usual
Thanks Brandon! Great to get some feedback on how the Benchtalk videos are received ;) More coming up! And we all love it whenever Tom plays some nice acoustics ;)
Serieus vette shit dit Milo, Tom & Maico! Keep up the great work ❤
Thanks buddy! We sure will!
Fascinating, thanks.
Glad you liked it ian! And thanks for the compliment ;)
Very interesting ! Though I already knew there was a supposed change from Adi to Sitka around that time.
2 Qs:
1.Has any "world expert on spruce" ever examined photos of the woods, best taken no doubt from the inside the guitard ?
2. What about measures of thickness..??
The perceived wisdom I have read is, that being supposedly the stiffest and strongest of the group, Adi can be made thinner than the others, and usually is..??
Anyway...likely to remain a mystery, I guess ☺️👍👍
The guitars in question have seen quite a few luthiers and experts in their time. But none have been 100% sure about the definitive answer, this included measuring the thickness, checking the grain and all the other 'tests' that they could come up with.
Thanks ! 👍
Adirondack spruce used to have fairly tight grain. But overharvesting has caused Martin to use younger trees with wider grain from growing in more open country side where sunshine was not at such a premium.