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It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted a top of the line Martin.

(Their new building is made to imitate the look of their original factory just a mile or two away)

I can’t imagine any other guitar player who loves a good acoustic doesn’t feel the same way. As far as I’m concerned they make the best acoustic guitars hands down and the runner up has some catching up to do. Their guitars have a warmth in them that I haven’t heard elsewhere, but of course as with anything else that’s good in life, they come with a price tag.

(The walkway in is a guitar headstock! and their lobby [wish I could capture it in picture] is the continuation of this walkway as it’s in the shape of a guitar)

They have a line called the x-series that starts around $500, but those are really just budget acoustics IMO.

Martin DCX1E

If you want to jump into the start of the quality lines you’ll have to pay around $2,500. Their pricelist has several guitars priced out at $10,000 and even some, made of Brazillian Rosewood, that can cost as much as $100,000. Apparently this is due to the rarity of the wood. All I know is a 100k guitar should play by itself lol

Martin HD-28 Standard

I’ve been thinking about buying one of their backpacker guitars for my office at work One of the things I like about working from home is that I can spin 180 degrees in my chair, pick up my acoustic and play for a bit. I find it really rids me of any stress or fatigue.

Backpacker

Anyhow, the last time I was in the studio, Mozart gave me a heads up that their factory was just over the border in Nazareth, Pennsylvannia - about 1 1/2 hours away from here. I hadn’t even realized. He told me about how they give free tours and he and his son really liked going. With Jonathan recently starting to play guitar, I’ve had it on my mind for a while now. So, Sandy and I took off work today and planned a surprise road trip. 

We hung around for about an hour, played their guitars and checked out their gift shop until the tour started. They have a smallish room filled with their high end guitars in it that someone needs to unlock with a key to let you in. Not only are the acoustic guitars awesome, but the room itself had such a great sound that anything you played sounded like a million bucks. Jonathan was whipping out some Enter Sandman and Sweet Home Alabama. He’s impressing me with how quickly he’s picking up the guitar. I don’t think I picked it up nearly as fast. Then again I guess I didn’t have a Father who played.

When the tour started, they gave us headphones and a receiver so we could hear the guide and he took us and 9 others around the entire place. They had walkways all through the factory marked by yellow lines that you were asked not to step out of. We were able to see the entire process from start to finish of how they make their guitars and the level of detail and craftsmanship they put into them is really inspiring.

Here are some of the pictures I snapped on the tour.

(It’s amazing how much of the guitars are made by hand. They have machines in many areas such as benders, sprayers and polishers, but most of everything else is very manual. They even have an area where they make acoustics using the same methods they used back when they started in 1833.)

(Ah, the finished product.)

(Some last minute guitar detailing.)

(This is a massive guitar mock up they said they built for a parade float. Unfortunately it never got used so it sits there.)

(They have a really amazing and inspiring museum. It’s truly awesome to see craftsmen take such pride in the history of their work. So many people have not only used their guitars, but have had signature series designed for or by them.)

Our visit was something we’ll never forget and I highly recommend it even if you aren’t a guitar player. Being an American company started in 1833 coupled with the quality of their work and the history…I was really in awe most of the time. And it doesn’t cost a dime so how could you go wrong!

There is one side affect however. Don’t be surprised if you get back home and learn of your new love/hate relationship with your non-Martin acoustic. I’ve tried rubbing the side of my Yamaha and chanting “Be Martin, be Martin”, but it’s still a Yamaha. I was truly spoiled in that playing room they had.

I haven’t been posting as much as I would like due to numerous things taking up my time lately, but I wanted to post this video I took just this past fall. I can’t believe I hadn’t posted it sooner. It’s really quite awesome. We have at least 1 family of bear that hang around our house’s general area. This video is just one of them and believe it or not, he or she is the middle-sized one.

Here’s a couple funny stories regarding the bears.

One night, Sandy forgot to close the garage door. Of course this is where we keep our garbage cans. In the morning, Jonathan heard something outside and he came into our room to tell us to look out the window. Sure enough there were 4 bear dragging our garbage through our backyard into the woods. There were 2 little ones, the one in the video above and a bigger one. I remember the quote of the morning. Sandy says “wow that’s so kewl” and I replied, “yeah well you can clean it up” lmao Obviously we all pitched in. What a mess!

Another day Sandy was in the backyard leaning over the pool looking at the water when she heard a crack. I wasn’t there so I can’t verify the distance (hehe), but she said there was a bear approaching her from about 10 feet away. I had been upstairs and didn’t know it until I heard her screaming like she was on fire. She bolted right for the house (we talked about walking away slowly next time lol). I ran downstairs and sure enough there was a bear (the same one from the video) walking up around the back of our yard towards the left side of our house. I walked out on the deck (he was about 50-100 feet away) and he seemed to completely ignore me. I’m not sure if he realized I was claiming my territory…or that I would have went back in the house had he come towards me haha

Then, another time, Sandy and Jonathan ordered me a box of cherries for Father’s Day. They arrived, but some of them were spoiled so after a phone call to the company they agreed to send out another box. After about a week I asked Sandy about where it was and she said she wasn’t sure. The next morning I found the box on the side of the house with a bear claw mark in the side of it. There wasn’t one cherry, pit or stem left. I was so pissed! lol

The final story is just before Thanksgiving this year. We typically always cook a turkey a week or so before Thanksgiving for practice and use the leftovers for lunch, etc. Well, Sandy tossed the carcass in the garbage in the garage and left the door open cause Jonathan was outside. She later comes into the garage to find a bear with both paws around the turkey carcass chomping away at it. The bear ran away into the woods when she saw him/her, but damn! lol

As of now, they’re hibernating, but I have a feeling we’ll see more of them in the spring.

P.S. – Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!