Looking for opinions on the Little Martins

[Pens]

A few weeks back I was hanging at a friend's place and they had one of those Epiphone Nino tiny acoustics that I started plucking on, and I really liked it. Sadly they don't make them lefty, but it got me searching for a similar guitar that was proper lefty. Martin is generally the only maker that does lefty stuff, so I narrowed onto that.

I found one on Reverb for a great price, just trying to convince myself that I need it (I really don't), maybe trying to talk myself out of it.

Anyone have any experience with them? Do they suck or are they as nice to play as the full size Martins? I have a D-15 that is my best-playing acoustic, just wondering if maybe these little guys are made like crap, the price is too cheap in my mind.

[Pens]

Fuck it, I went ahead and ordered the one I found on sale, as it went more on sale and had free shipping. I guess this thread will become a NGD thread here in a few days.

[dezb1]

APB on this guy

MV5BMjFhNTcwNTUtNDgwOC00NmU0LTlhZDAtZDY5ZTJjMTMxYzJlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjkwOTAyMDU@._V1_UY180_CR45,0,180,180_AL_.jpg (5.98 KiB) Viewed 1307 times

[sunshiner]

MV5BMjFhNTcwNTUtNDgwOC00NmU0LTlhZDAtZDY5ZTJjMTMxYzJlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjkwOTAyMDU@._V1_UY180_CR45,0,180,180_AL_.jpg

Ah, the Short version of Steve Martin

[plopswagon]

MV5BMjFhNTcwNTUtNDgwOC00NmU0LTlhZDAtZDY5ZTJjMTMxYzJlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjkwOTAyMDU@._V1_UY180_CR45,0,180,180_AL_.jpg

Ah, the Shortscale version of Steve Martin

[dezb1]

The Internet hates me... this new fangled picture posting thing is evil

[Pens]

It looks fine in your post, just in the quotes is it mangled.

[Pens]

So it arrived last night, I spent time playing it for a bit before bed. I'll do some pics later when work stops being ass.

First impressions, it sounds a bit weird, like the high strings sound like ukulele like, which I suppose is due to the smaller body. It is mostly impossible to play past the 12th fret but that's not a big deal on an acoustic anyway. The only weird thing I'm getting used to is where I have to hold my hands, it's almost more comfortable to put the butt of it in my lap rather than past my lap like a normal acoustic.

It came with 13s, so they feel quite stiff. I ordered a few sets of 11s and some 12s to try out later, not sure if I like the super high tension on it. I usually do 11s on all of my guitars. HOWEVER, it plays really, really nice, like a Martin does. It's very close to how my D-15 feels to play, aside from the increased tension.


EDIT: Pics

It has some interesting grain pattern on the neck, not sure what kind of wood that is. Also, family photo to show scale reference.

[sunshiner]

Congrats! It looks really nice. The neck is laminated, Martin is using that approach on many of their guitars

[sunshiner]

MV5BMjFhNTcwNTUtNDgwOC00NmU0LTlhZDAtZDY5ZTJjMTMxYzJlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjkwOTAyMDU@._V1_UY180_CR45,0,180,180_AL_.jpg

Ah, the Shortscale version of Steve Martin

Missed this one