March 6, 2023 • 54 mins
For today’s Martin Guitar discussion, we'll focus in on the 10 best-selling Martin Guitars at MaurysMusic.com. Maury & Spoon chat about the 10 Martin Guitars that passed through Maury's Music more than any others. Are most of them Dreadnoughts? Are they all rosewood? :) Does Spoon know which models are on the list? Sit back, relax & let's find out together. Big thanks to our friend Jeanie, for the excellent show suggestion!
If you’d like more information on any guitars from this episode, please contact us today - or visit us online at https://www.maurysmusic.com/martin
Welcome to the today's episode of the Martins & More Podcast with Spoon Phillips! We will be discussing the 10 best-selling Martin guitars at Maury’s Music. Martin guitars have been around since 1833 and have a reputation for producing some of the finest acoustic guitars in the world. These guitars have been used by many famous musicians, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and John Mayer, to name a few. In this podcast, we will be discussing 10 of our best-selling Martin guitars. This list outlined below, is NOT in any particular order. You'll need to listen to the show to find out which model was #1.
1. HD-35. The HD-35 is one of Martin's most popular guitars. It features a three-piece back made from Indian rosewood and has a Sitka spruce top. The guitar produces a warm, balanced tone and is suitable for a wide range of playing styles. It's a great guitar for both strumming and fingerpicking, and it's no surprise that it's a best-seller. 2. D-28. The D-28 is an iconic guitar that has been around since 1931. It features a Sitka spruce top and East Indian rosewood back and sides. The D-28 has a deep, resonant tone that's perfect for bluegrass, folk, and country music. It's been used by countless famous musicians, including Hank Williams, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell. 3. D-18. The D-18 is another classic Martin guitar that has been around for over 80 years. It has a mahogany body with a Sitka spruce top and produces a warm, mellow tone that's ideal for blues and folk music. The D-18 has been used by many famous musicians, including Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley. 4. OM-28. The OM-28 is a smaller-bodied guitar that's perfect for fingerpicking. It has a Sitka spruce top and East Indian rosewood back and sides. The OM-28 produces a bright, clear tone that's ideal for intricate fingerstyle playing. It's a versatile guitar that's suitable for a wide range of musical genres. 5. 000-18. The 000-18 is a smaller-bodied guitar that's perfect for fingerpicking and light strumming. It has a mahogany body with a Sitka spruce top and produces a warm, mellow tone that's ideal for folk and blues music. The 000-18 has been used by many famous musicians, and records very well! 6. HD-28. The HD-28 is a slightly modified version of the D-28. It has a Sitka spruce top and East Indian rosewood back and sides, but it also has herringbone trim and scalloped bracing, which gives it a slightly different tone. The HD-28 produces a warm, balanced tone that's perfect for a wide range of musical styles. 7. 000-15M. The 000-15M is a smaller-bodied guitar that has a mahogany body and top. It produces a warm, mellow tone that's perfect for fingerpicking and light strumming. The 000-15M has a simple, understated design that's perfect for musicians who prefer a more minimalist look. 8. 00-15M. The 00-15M is another smaller-bodied guitar that has a mahogany body and top. It produces a warm, mellow tone that's ideal for fingerpicking and light strumming. The 00-15M is a great guitar for musicians who prefer a smaller, more comfortable instrument. 9. 000-28. The Martin 000-28 is an acoustic guitar known for its exceptional tone and craftsmanship. It features a solid Sitka spruce top, solid East Indian rosewood back and sides, and a mahogany neck with a ebony fingerboard. The body is
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Welcome back to Martins and more.
My name is Marie Rich and I'm Spoon Phillips.
We have a lot to talk about and I just have to say,
I feel like one of us has even more wisdom than normal that they can bring to this program because they're a little bit older.
Yesterday was a very,
very significant birthday.
We're taping this show a little bit ahead of time.
So you might not hear this for a couple of weeks,
but yesterday was February 25 you guys know what that means.
(00:35):
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Birthday,
Mr Smithers.
Happy Birthday Spoon Phillips.
Yeah.
(01:03):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I know everybody listening.
Can just hear it in your voice.
How old do you feel?
I do not feel Mr Smithers Old or Mr Burns Old,
but somewhere in between.
Well,
from all of us at Mari's Music.
Thanks for listening and Happy Birthday Spoon Phillips,
this program,
(01:24):
this store,
this website,
this youtube channel and this friendship would not be what it is today without you.
Well,
I appreciate that very much.
I appreciate all the sentiment that I've been uh receiving.
Um,
I uh just a quick shout out to Colin in Dorset in England.
Hey,
your surprise package arrived on my birthday.
(01:48):
Um I haven't even had time to send him an email to tell him that,
but he sent me a uh a West Ham United coaster and a couple of vintage West Ham United badges.
Those little metal badges,
you pin pin,
you know,
pin on things like hat.
So I have very touched that he would give those up from his collection.
So thanks very much.
(02:09):
That is our friend Colin,
the left handed D 45 player,
by the way,
what's up Colin?
So,
speaking of wonderful guitars.
Um Today we have a very special show.
Uh We've decided to focus on the top 10 most popular Martins at Mari's Music based on what the customers have decided.
(02:37):
Pretty cool,
pretty cool.
And I want to thank Jeannie for the idea and I kind of took this idea and turned it on its head a little bit.
Jeanie wanted to know specifically Martin production numbers by model or by percentages.
If production numbers are secret,
she's wondering which are the most popular guitars.
How are they trending?
It's kind of like a sales and marketing episode.
(02:58):
And I wanna say Jeannie,
thank you very much.
I did spend some time reaching out to my contacts at Martin and they told me some answers,
but if we told you,
we would have to kill you.
And I know everybody thinks we're kidding.
But,
so I'd just like to send out condolences to,
uh,
family of Fred who,
uh,
we did tell,
you know,
and,
(03:18):
and yes,
of course.
I am kidding.
Um,
but,
uh,
but,
um,
do you imagine?
Oh,
yeah,
exactly.
So,
we are focusing instead on,
on,
uh,
Mars music specifically,
um,
because I had asked,
you know,
when he told me about this,
I basically reached out to him and said,
(03:39):
well,
I'd be curious to know what is the most popular,
uh,
Martin's,
you know,
these days,
uh,
based on what,
uh,
your actual experience is.
So I'm gonna begin by guessing and I would say that,
uh,
while I'm saying this and guessing my list,
if our listeners would like to jot down their guesses for what they think the top 10 most popular Martins are based on Mari's music's experience.
(04:06):
You can compare,
uh your list with the actual list that as we go through it.
But here rather slowly.
So you guys have time to think about it and make your own list is spoons.
Guess at the most popular Martins starting with number 10,
the D 15 M,
number nine,
(04:26):
the D 41.
Number eight,
the triple 0 15 M number seven,
the D 10 E from the road series.
Number six,
double oh 18,
number five,
triple 0 18,
(04:48):
number four,
the standard D 28.
Number three,
the O M 28 number two,
the D 18,
the number one,
the H D 28.
So I'm looking very forward to finding out just how wrong I am.
(05:09):
I'm looking even more forward to telling you how wrong you are.
What a guy,
what a guy.
Ok.
Spoon.
So I don't want to make it feel too awkward.
This is so,
so early in your new year you just turn the corner from whatever age you were 33 or whatever and now you're the new year.
I don't want you to feel very uncomfortable with that.
You know,
so little about the popular selling Martin guitars here at Mari's music.
(05:33):
But are you surprised that nine of them aren't?
Oh,
m 28.
Well,
um,
you know,
in a word.
Yes.
Well,
let's begin.
Let's take a long look at the most popular selling Martin guitars ever at Mari's music.
We'll see how it compares to Spoon's List.
Be honest.
(05:54):
Let us know how it compares to your list and we'll begin with number 10.
Wait,
so this is the,
the list is the most popular ever,
not just recent years.
You're really going back to the beginning of the business in,
in 2003.
Yep,
this is the data collected at Mari's music since we've been to stores.
This is actually concurrent with all the guitars we've ever sold.
(06:14):
Well then Kudos out to,
to Laurie Rich because obviously she is the diligent brain behind uh the,
the great man in the front office and So she's,
I am assuming is the one that came up with these figures for you?
Well,
whenever anything is really impressive,
you should assume she did it.
And I'll be honest,
(06:35):
I think some of it was a computer.
She might have gone to look for the data,
but I don't know that she went back to old records in filing cabinet.
It's all the movie.
What was that movie?
The Da Vinci Code?
Like,
I don't think she would gets that much credit here.
I thought you're talking about,
uh,
um,
the,
uh,
the sequel to Despicable Me since,
(06:58):
uh,
I thought that was the only,
only movie you watch.
I want to watch that again now.
All right,
back to,
back to work.
The 10th most popular Martin Guitar Soul that Mari's music ever is the Martin H D 35.
(07:19):
Who,
what do you think of that?
I think that's very cool.
I guess.
I'm not surprised actually,
since I know a variety of people who actually own that model and I must say I'll just my,
you know,
my disclaimer is,
I wasn't thinking all time since you opened.
So I was thinking more in recent years of what,
you know,
in the past five years or so.
(07:42):
But,
um,
it's not on my list,
I'd be curious to hear later on or see later on if people post their lists if that was on their list.
So the H D 35 as everybody knows,
or maybe they don't know,
the H stands for the Herring bone trim around the edge of the top.
Um Basically,
it is uh like the D 35 or the three piece back,
(08:05):
but it has the unique H D backs strip,
um,
which looks really cool with the three piece rosewood back and it has a scalloped bracing,
quarter inch scallop bracing because it's style 35 which gives you a quarter inch bracing.
But unlike the standard D 35 it's got bracing.
(08:26):
So quarter inch scallop,
bracing really supercharges the top.
I would say when people ask me what is really the most resonant uh Rich Echo Martin out there,
that's to my ear is in fact the H D 35.
So that made the top 10.
Very cool.
Very cool.
Now hearing that news,
I'm going to ask you a question and full disclosure,
(08:49):
I won't give you the answer this early.
But knowing that the H D 35 made the list,
I want to ask spoon and I want to ask the listeners out there.
Do you think that almost automatically means the D 35 must have also been here too?
Well,
I didn't even have uh the H D on my list,
let alone the D 35.
So I,
(09:10):
I guess I will say yes,
since we're now really going back almost uh almost 20 years,
uh based on your figures.
So I would,
I'm gonna guess that the D 35 is in there somewhere.
And I'll tell you the truth,
I'm gonna answer this part as a player.
Not necessarily a music store owner.
(09:30):
A lot of the things that happen here,
day to day are customers emailing me,
calling me messaging me and we talk about guitars all the time,
but I don't make a habit of going and looking at what did we do this week?
How good was our week sales wise.
And I most certainly don't go every weekend or every month and see what did we sell more of some of these instruments do surprise me as well.
(09:51):
And a lot of the forum activity that I see whether it's on Facebook or the U M G F or the A G fa lot of people that ask the question,
should they get ad 35 or an H D 35?
It's rare to me to,
uh,
to say that I see people recommending the H D more often.
And if I had to really guess as one of you listening,
I would think overall the D 35 might be a little bit more popular still,
(10:15):
but you'll have to wait a little longer for that answer because we're not gonna tell you just yet.
Number 10 was the H D 35 that's all you need to know right now.
All right.
I've marked that mark that down.
Yes.
All right.
Spoon pop quiz.
Do you think the next guitar has a rosa back inside or not.
Well,
now I have to flip my coin.
I am going to say yes,
(10:37):
it does because the one I put at number nine was the 41.
The ninth best selling Martin guitar.
Amari's music is the legendary triple oh 28.
Wow,
there's a big and a triple oh 28 classic short scale auditorium size body.
(11:02):
And it,
of course,
they made a great many more triple oh 28 uh in the 14 ft era,
then they made O MS,
which is almost the same guitar except it's got a long scale neck instead of the short scale neck,
so comfortable uh these days made with a high performance neck.
Of course,
as almost every guitar we're probably going to hear about in these lists which matches a modified low oval profile to the high performance footboard taper.
(11:30):
It gives you 11 and three quarter inch of the knot,
only 208 at the 12th threat like the old 1,
11 16th inch necks.
So a little more room out there at the uh heads stock but still very as you go up the neck,
very great for modern music league guitar players and such like,
and they're really fine guitars.
(11:51):
A lot of people are familiar with the Eric Clapton model over the years.
They,
today's triple oh 28 is almost the exact same guitar in terms of the build it's got the exact same bracing.
It just doesn't have the uh fancier trim of the Clapton.
And there may have been a time in the past where the Clapton might have got slightly higher wood,
(12:13):
but I don't remember if that's true back when the vintage series got slightly uh higher spruce uh than the standard series.
But uh great guitar and uh I think they were very smart to overhaul that instrument from the old one that had the stark white binding and non scallop bracing.
So,
(12:33):
so interesting.
Again,
not on my list.
So I'm,
I'm gonna blow the dust off that duns cap that I haven't had to wear in a long time.
Get it ready.
And I,
I apologize.
I forgot to tell you for everyone.
You get wrong.
You have to buy the instrument on my list.
So you have to put an order in for two guitars now.
But I have,
I have a good feeling you're gonna actually recover very soon and I don't know where you spent your birthday money yet,
(12:57):
but you can just send it right on to me.
So,
all right.
Spoon.
We got two rosewood guitars in the top 10.
I wouldn't be surprised if these two guitars making another appearance later.
They're so great.
I love the rosewood stuff.
I hope you guys listening,
can hear it in my voice.
I'm gonna be very disappointed if not every single guitar on this list has that classic premium,
(13:19):
uh,
what's the word better back in sides?
But we'll see.
Let's talk about the next guitar on the list.
Um,
I'll tell you the truth.
I'm a little bit surprised.
It's a,
it's a guitar that we saw a lot of,
but I didn't realize it was this popular spoon.
Do you care to take a guess again,
or what did you have at?
Number eight?
I had the triple 0 15 M,
(13:41):
oh,
the eighth best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the triple oh 15 S M.
Wow.
Oh,
look at that.
Well,
I'm really happy to hear that.
(14:02):
I,
I really love that model and it's,
I'm,
but I'm still shocked in this day and age that um that a 12 fret guitar made the list.
But then again,
this is going back to 2006 and my list was,
wasn't going back that far in my mind.
So,
so,
uh well,
bully for the American public for buying that one of the super cool 12 fret guitars and one of the few 12 fret guitars that's readily available out there by any maker these days.
(14:32):
So uh very cool,
very cool indeed,
solid mahogany back sides and top in the classic slope,
shoulder 12 fret,
what they used to call the standard body size,
which is where the s comes from and in the,
in the name and um scar bracing long scale guitar.
(14:54):
A lot of people don't remember that.
Uh 12 fret,
triple Os at Martin all the way back from their introduction in circa 1917 maybe.
Uh are long scale guitars.
So big voice.
Great bass response.
Beautiful.
Nowadays you get these beautiful vintage diamonds on the fret board and that uh yeah,
(15:16):
really cool vintage look to them.
And um and so I'm,
I'm tickled to death.
You know,
I was shocked when it was removed from the website and then I found out that that was actually just a clerical error and they didn't like,
get rid of it.
So I'm glad to see that it is back on the website and,
and has always been in production and available.
(15:36):
So,
uh Kudos to Martin for keeping this model afloat and to the American public for,
for,
uh,
for recognizing uh its value.
Um So that's really cool.
It's the doorbell.
Hold on a second.
Who is it?
Land shark?
I liked almost everything you said about that,
(15:57):
but one thing was terribly,
terribly wrong.
We've been in business since oh three,
not oh six,
but I'll give you a pass.
My apologies,
my apologies.
I guess I'm still trying to be younger the day after my birthday.
Either that or somebody told you I didn't really work very hard in the first three years,
so they didn't count.
(16:17):
And that was,
I was almost right since I picked the triple 0 15 M 14 pret version.
But what do you know about that?
Well,
surprise surprise,
surprise to quote Go Pyle.
And what do you know about that?
Everybody out there listening.
What do you think?
Do you expect that spoon's choice of the 14 fret,
triple 15 M will appear later on this list.
(16:40):
Let us know right now before you keep listening,
hit the pause button.
Tell us in the comment section and stick around for the answer.
We do hope you're having a good time here and I want to thank Jeannie again for the great idea.
Even though we had to make it a little bit different from the way she asked.
We had every intention on bringing you sales figures from Martin guitar directly to answer the question.
(17:00):
What are the 10 best selling Martin guitars from Martin guitar?
But we had to kind of channel it into Marie's music sales numbers and if we can get some better information for you from Martin down the road,
we'll certainly come back to this podcast episode on youtube and add it in the comments section.
So you don't have to wonder next up.
The seventh best selling Martin guitar ever at Mari's music is six places too low.
(17:24):
If you ask me,
it's the Martin O M 28.
Well,
do you know?
Well,
you know how much you love that model?
And I've always been a huge fan of it and I am impressed that it is that low.
I would have thought in O M.
Well,
I had it in number three.
(17:46):
So that gives you an idea of how I feel about it.
But there again,
maybe both of us are emotionally connected to that model.
And so,
uh so I uh I will stand corrected or in this case,
sit corrected.
So the arm 28 of course,
the classic orchestra model has the auditorium body size,
(18:08):
same body size as the triple 0 28.
but it has quarter inch bracing where the triple oh 28 has 5/16 inch bracing.
Both of them are scallop bracing,
however,
but that long scale neck of the O M with the quarter inch bracing and that uh working with that string tension gives you a an extra resonant body,
(18:33):
non dread knot body and they are little powerhouses.
You can,
as anybody who has seen um Mari playing in concert knows there's nothing you can do on a Dread Knot that you can't do on an O M 28 and you don't get quite the bass boom,
but plenty of power.
But also,
of course,
it's one of the most popular finger style instruments as well.
(18:54):
So I'm really curious to see the six above the of this uh classic model to see what uh supplants it so far down the list.
So there we have a classic Herring bone,
diamonds and squares,
uh looks basically exactly like uh O M 28 from 1931 and always a favorite.
(19:15):
Always a favorite.
And what I find very interesting here.
Spoon and I'm not just trying to,
you know,
blow up this model.
This doesn't include all the popular sales we had of the 28 V before the guitar was actually dropped in the vintage series and the 0 28 took over its place.
So if you consider all the sales,
we must have had of that model.
The O M 28 it's just even more popular than I would think people have thought it's not a popularity contest,
(19:40):
but I'm so proud of it.
Yeah.
So it's a very good point that uh that the Vinci series was retired.
And I guess we can say that with maybe some other,
we'll see other guitars that may show up on this list that the O M 28 V was certainly popular.
And maybe that would really,
if you combine the two of them together,
it would really boost it up the list.
So that's a very good point because it is basically the O M 28 V.
(20:03):
The O M 28 existed from 1990 and it was retired maybe right before the M 28 V came out.
So it was only around for maybe six years.
I don't remember exactly.
And that was a different guitar uh than the one we see today.
It had white binding.
It had uh white dots on the fret board,
(20:25):
black pick guard still had the O M quarter inch bracing,
but it had a much wider,
flat or low profile neck with the standard taper and stuff.
So,
so not the same model at all is the one we have today,
but the one we have today is the O M 28 V but with a modern neck rather than the,
than the V neck from the vintage series.
So I think that's a great asterisk.
(20:46):
So just like,
you know,
they do and,
and,
uh records and stuff.
I think this one gets an asterisk for being so far down the list.
So,
all right.
So you're saying the asterisk is that kind of like in sports?
Maybe you're saying that the 0 28 shouldn't have hit so many home runs because it was juice.
No,
quite the opposite.
(21:07):
I would say it's more like these are just regular season statistics that doesn't include the playoffs in the World Series.
Oops.
Well,
you and I can finish each other's sentences so often,
but not today.
I was just gonna say that let's take a break from the irresistible comedy and get back to the task at hand.
(21:29):
The sixth best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the triple 0 15 M.
You were so close.
Oh,
it's more popular than I thought it was.
How about that triple 0 15 M the 14 fret version.
So here is a wonderful bargain.
(21:52):
It is all solid wood,
uh mahogany back top and sides.
Not everybody loves the mahogany top sound,
but I certainly have always been a big fan of it.
Uh,
warmer mellower.
It really starts sounding pretty and prettier and prettier as it gets older as our friend.
(22:14):
Scooter can attest because he's got several fifteens that are now many years old.
And this is the,
maybe the last 14 for triple O in the catalog that's still a long scale triple O.
Starting in the late nineties.
they started making long scale triple Os because it became the indu industry standard.
So it's essentially,
it's essentially a O M 15.
(22:35):
Um because nowadays,
the O MS have the uh you know,
have a skinnier neck though in the 15 series,
you still get the one in 11 16th inch nut width.
Also one of the last places to get that nut width in uh the catalog,
but really uh really fine looking instrument with that thin satin finish.
(22:57):
So you can actually feel the wood vibrate in your body.
So,
so I'm not the least bit surprised it's on here.
It's E but it's even more popular than I realized.
So uh very cool triple 0 15 M for mahogany.
So it's to recap,
we've only been halfway through this list.
And so far we've told you the best selling Martin Guitars at Mari's music are the H D 35 the triple oh 28 triple 0 15 S M O M 28 triple 0 15 M.
(23:30):
I wanna ask our listeners and I wanna ask Spoon.
Are you surprised?
There aren't more dread knots yet?
I am surprised there's not more dread knots.
I am surprised.
Um uh,
well,
I'm,
I'm just surprised at the placement of the,
of the two mahogany guitars and the fact that they're both fifteens,
they're not eighteens.
So that's pretty cool.
(23:53):
How about that?
I mean,
all the guitars Martin has made over the years and all of the guitars that Martin's marketing department have pushed on us in one way or another when something new comes out every so many years,
Martin makes a really serious effort to get it out to stores to make sure that the buying public has an opportunity to grab it.
I'm a little bit surprised at how the 15 series has sort of started to eclipse this list.
(24:16):
We haven't seen an X series guitar yet,
which surprises me a little bit because they're so affordable and we haven't seen a road series guitar yet and the fact that we have no road series yet,
no X series yet and only one Dread Knight.
The fact that we already saw 2 15 series guitars makes me wonder if the 15 series guitar isn't one of the best values and the smartest buys.
(24:36):
How weird would it be?
And I'm just,
I'm just hypothetically how crazy would you think this is if I told you the double oh 15 and was also on this list that would be so weird.
Right.
No,
I don't think so.
I think now we're seeing a trend and,
and I've always enjoyed that model too and I know people who could have easily afforded much more expensive Martin's Fancy and Martin's larger Martins that,
(25:01):
uh,
chose the double oh 15 M because they,
they like the feel the size and sound.
So,
let's see.
So we're at the halfway point.
Any,
any hints for our listeners of what's ahead?
Well,
I don't want to go there yet,
but I,
I just have to keep this train rolling and I can't get off this thought.
I mean,
we haven't seen ad 15 M yet.
(25:23):
A lot of times I see people asking on forums or in my emails,
should I get a double oh 15 and M or a triple oh 15 M unless they tell me a really specific use case where they play.
So finger style only they never want to strum or,
you know,
I can get into the,
the nuts and bolts of that later.
But I really do think that most of the people that we talked to here at Mari's music and we're helping you find the right guitar the first time those customers to consider the double Os versus the triple Os.
(25:49):
Frankly,
in any series often land on the side of the triple O.
It would just,
I don't know what I would say.
I don't know how I would react if I was gonna tell you that the next guitar on this list was double oh 15 M.
Let me just,
let me just see what it says.
I'll just read it.
The fifth best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the double oh 15 M.
(26:16):
Wow.
How about that?
Well,
I think that's pretty amazing.
I had the triple oh 18 at this point I had the double oh 18 at 16 at number seven.
I had the D 10 E from the road series.
So I had one Dread Knot uh one double O and one triple oh,
but I had the eighteens,
not the fifteens.
So I think that's pretty amazing.
(26:37):
And I think what we're seeing here are two things because again,
we have all solid woods.
So we're seeing people who want all solid wood Martin guitars,
but they want,
they want an affordable all solid wood Martin guitar in the 15 series.
Definitely gives you that.
And we're also looking at mahogany and how lovely mahogany he sounds to just about everyone except ma and uh and,
(27:02):
but again,
he's always kidding about that,
but he prefers rosewood.
I love rosewood.
I play rosewood most of the time.
Uh You know,
but then I get out my mahogany guitar and I love that too.
So I'm gonna just say,
wow.
Uh double oh 15.
As I said,
it's a,
it's fun to play.
It's a very nice size uh for smaller people,
(27:23):
but even people who,
uh,
are larger in stature and big hands.
I think they go for it too.
Perhaps,
uh,
double Os in general because they already have a Jumbo or a Dread Knot and they want a smaller guitar and it's even more,
uh,
different than a triple O or an O M than their dreadnought.
But I think the public has spoken.
(27:44):
I will say one other thing about these fifteens now that we have three of them in the top 10 all time,
best selling Martins at Mari's music is people probably know somebody who owns one and were as convinced who liked it,
heard it liked it and said,
(28:05):
I'm gonna get one of those two.
Um,
that may be part of this.
That's a good point.
So,
yeah,
look forward to hearing uh or reading the comments below on the youtube version of this podcast to see uh if we have any 15 owners out there.
Um,
and hear,
uh what people's thoughts are on the 15 series since we're seeing it clearly being popular.
(28:28):
We have three fifteens and we have 2 20 eights and 1 35 so far.
Uh style 35 2,
style 20 eights and three style fifteens.
Really cool.
If you're listening to this live on youtube,
please let us know in the chat.
How surprised are you so far?
(28:49):
Is there a Martin guitar you thought for sure would have been in the bottom five of this list and deserves to be there.
Please let us know what you're thinking.
And if you found this program after the fact watching or listening to the replay,
uh,
use the comment section on youtube to tell us what we got wrong so far.
But how could you,
this isn't a popularity contest?
It's sales numbers.
We can't get this wrong.
It's just let me know in the comment section.
(29:10):
If you'd like Laurie's email address,
take it up with her.
Uh,
somebody will be wearing their crash helmet when they go home.
Um,
she's out of town.
I can talk like that for a couple of days.
All right,
next up,
we are getting so much closer to the top of this list.
Would you not be completely freaked out if I told you the next guitar was ad 15 M buckle up.
(29:36):
Be honest.
Get ready for the surprise of your life.
That can't be true,
can it?
Well,
I,
I don't know what to believe anymore,
but again,
I think we've already established now of why fifteens are so popular.
It's a combination of economics,
quality,
uh,
all solid wood guitars and also,
(29:58):
like I said,
a great many people buy a 15 because they already own a rosewood guitar or they already own,
uh,
a larger Martin and,
and a more expensive Martin.
So that may be part of it as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like my dad used to say,
never let facts get in the way of a good story.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the fourth best selling Martin guitar ever at Marty's music is the Martin triple oh 18,
(30:30):
yeah,
mahogany rejoice,
mahogany rejoice for people who don't know.
My longstanding uh Martin uh forum fantasy football team is in fact the Nazareth mahogany and um and I had that at number five,
so it's even more popular than I thought so.
(30:51):
Uh triple oh 18 being a big seller very popular.
It is uh essentially they didn't make a triple 0 18 V back then.
The closest thing you could get to that was the triple oh 18 Woody Guthrie model,
which was essentially the same bracing and neck as the Clapton model.
(31:12):
But in style 18,
style 18 and everybody might remember from those days if you're old enough to triple oh 18,
used to have non scallop 5 16 finch bracing,
black pick guard,
black binding,
uh white dot fingerboard.
And it was revamped to have vintage style 18 appointments with the three dots that are just uh that are slightly smaller as you go up the fingerboard tortoise shell,
(31:41):
faux tortoise shell binding,
pick guard and quarter inch scallop bracing which sets it apart from other triple Os.
It's one of the only triple Os and maybe the only triple O being built.
Now that is uh that has quarter inch bracing and it makes a very lively fun guitar to play wonderful for fingers picking patterns.
(32:03):
And um I'm not surprised at all because I know it's a big favorite for many,
many people.
So triple oh 18 from the Standard Series at number four,
most popular since 2003 at Mari's music.
You got it.
Now,
let me ask you a couple of personal questions.
We're gonna get yes or no answers and we can look back on this part of the podcast to see just how smart the birthday boy is today.
(32:29):
I'm all ears.
Yes or no.
The next three guitars are from the Standard series.
True.
Yes or no.
The next three guitars are Dread Knots.
True.
Yes or no.
The next three guitars have mahogany back inside false.
(32:53):
Are you ready for the next guitar on the list of the Martin guitar best sellers at Mari's music at number three,
the best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the Martin D 28.
(33:14):
So the Martin D 28 I had that as number four.
So I'm zeroing in,
in these,
in the top five here.
So uh I had the triple 0 18 and I had the D 28 D 28.
Of course,
is a ship of the line for the Martin Standard Series and Martin Guitars in general.
(33:34):
Uh The D 28 has changed a lot over the years.
They came out with the H D 28 in the 19 seventies to bring back scallop bracing and Herring Bone and the Standard E 28 retained the Nonscaly bracing and the black and white line ping that originated on Martin's old jazz arch top guitars in the 19 thirties and in World War Two,
(33:57):
when they could no longer get Herring Bone trim from Germany,
they uh converted the,
all their models to that black and white lines and,
and they've kept it all these years,
you know,
the classic 19 fifties,
uh D 20 eights um similar to the D 28 Rich Robinson,
the 1960 D 28 similar to the D 28 John Lennon,
(34:18):
uh the 1970 D 20 eights played by people like Dwight Yoakam and Michael Hedges.
And on up has remained a non scallop braced guitar which gives you greater focus,
particularly in the bass notes and uh,
records very well plays very well in a group.
Doesn't have quite that Wally Echoey you get from scarlet bracing,
(34:40):
but that's not a bad thing always.
And,
um,
and just a,
you know,
classic and I'm,
I,
I'm,
I'm pleased to see that.
It's still selling well at Morris music and has been since 2003.
Chris Martin insisted on keeping it non scallop braced,
it was moved to the forward shifted bracing in 2017 and uh which gives it even more base response,
(35:03):
but you still get that focus to those fundamental notes from the non scallop racing.
So,
uh,
no wonder it's so popular and it sells,
you know,
wildly overseas.
And now we see,
uh,
also in the United States of America.
So the Martin G 28 still a legendary classic dreadnought acoustic guitar.
(35:24):
Very cool.
And I'll tell you the truth,
I don't have this data in front of me as far as you know,
reading you real numbers,
but I do know for sure since 2017,
Martin making that change to give this forward,
shifted non scallop racing,
the sales of the D 28 at Mari's music did make a big jump.
So this guitar did certainly become more popular after the change.
(35:45):
And I don't know that it wouldn't have been on this list without that happening.
But when they made that decision and came out with the redesign,
reimagined D 28 it wasn't just here at Mari's Music,
the entire Martin dealer network,
you know,
saw a big spike in,
in the popularity for the D 28 I hope they keep it that way for a long time because I think it might sound cliche,
but people who aren't sure if they want ad 18 or an H D 28 the D 28 literally does seem to feel like it lands right in between.
(36:14):
It gives you a lot more base than ad 18 but still remains clear punchy and distinct,
especially in the mid range.
And then the H D 28 gives you that bass pushes you over the cliff with the bass.
So I think the D 28 if they would have given that scallop bracing,
it would have kind of been an H D 28 clone.
And if they would have kept the bracing the way they used to keep it after they gave the D 18 its face lift,
(36:37):
I think it would have fallen too far towards that mahogany guitar.
So,
I think it's great just the way it is.
Yeah,
I think it's a,
it's a brilliant assessment and it definitely is a unique sound within the Martin catalog.
It's uh the D 35 also got the shift in the um in the four shifted bracing and remains nonscaly,
(36:58):
but it's quarter inch bracing.
So you get a different sound than you get from the D 28.
I think the D 28 you call it punchy D 35 to me has more of a mid uh mid-range trough as they call it.
I think it has more precise,
thin can sound like a negative word but more precise trebles which then makes that D D 35 famous bulbous base um that you hear at the end kind of like if you look at a baseball bat,
(37:27):
it's almost like the D 35 is shaped like a baseball bat where you got that big round and at the bottom of the bass and thinner,
more precise troubles at the other end.
And the D 28 gives you,
I think a more uh more balanced fuller uh bass and treble balance and a punch of your mid range.
So it's a,
(37:47):
it's a great guitar and I'm not the least bit surprised to see it's at number three,
even though I said it was gonna be at number four.
Very good.
Very good.
Very good.
Ok.
Let's give our listeners and our viewers just a minute to collect their thoughts and answer this question in the chat.
And then there were two.
What do you think is coming up next on this list?
We'll give our listeners a couple of minutes to answer that question and I'll ask spoon to remind me top to bottom.
(38:13):
What did you have as your top 10?
My top 10 started with the D 15 M followed by the D 41 which apparently Pearly Martins did not make it on this list as far as we know yet.
Triple oh 15 M which uh I almost got right because it was the 12 ft version.
And then I had the D 10 E because I know that's a popular guitar from the road series,
(38:37):
relatively speaking,
but not on this list so far.
I had the double oh 18 at number six,
I had the triple oh 18 at number five,
I had the D 28 at number four.
I had the O M 28 at three which we know fell all the way to seven.
Um And my next two I have at number two,
(38:59):
the D 18 Standard series D 18 and number one H D 28.
Ok.
Guys,
you heard it here.
First spoon really knows this stuff.
I dare to say that if you got anything more correct on this list,
people would suspect that you're an employee here and since you're not,
I think it's great the way this is working out.
And yes,
and I know you have always enjoyed rubbing your hands together when I've been wrong.
(39:25):
Well,
those are both very,
very fun days for me.
All right,
guys,
we only have two more guitars to talk about.
Let's see if Spoon has the right guitars and if he has them in the right order,
the second best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is oh Spoon.
(39:48):
You know what the music means.
We're out of time.
Uh No,
you can't do this to us.
The Martin H D 28.
Wow.
The H D 28 is number two about it.
That's fascinating.
That's fascinating.
I knew it was gonna be high.
(40:09):
I picked it as number one.
I do know that it was number one for many years.
But that's going back to,
to when uh when young Maury was still in swaddling clothes.
But um but uh so and a major,
well,
maybe Manji but um um we have the H D 28 Herring Bone trim diamonds and square board marker.
(40:37):
It is basically the old H D 28 V without the V neck.
And instead it's got the modern high performance neck and so we got forward shifted scallop racing with the looks of the late 19 thirties 28.
And so no wonder that it's,
uh,
still sells so well,
(40:59):
whether it was the H D 28 V or the H D 28 just,
uh,
just in many years,
the quintessential rosewood acoustic guitar sound.
Yeah,
I'll tell you the truth.
I'm not totally surprised that the H D 28 is a better seller than the D 28.
(41:20):
But harkening back to the email that Laurie gave me last week,
she was clear to remind me and I maybe I should have said this earlier in the program.
Some of these guitars on this list are not far apart from each other.
They're all accurate.
But the fifth best selling might only be better than the sixth best selling by a small number.
So it's not that these are leaps and bounds.
You probably could have taken,
(41:40):
you know,
five and six and switched them up.
Eight and nine are probably pretty close.
None of these guitars are automatically just have great distances between them.
So when you say the H D 28 outs sold the D 28 here at Mari's music,
it might have been by a very small number.
I'm happy to say that scallop racing outs sold forward,
shifted non scallop racing.
But as I say it out loud,
(42:01):
it's so silly.
It's just my emotional attachment to the sounds I like.
And like you said earlier,
spoon,
the market has spoken.
This is stuff that is just changeable.
If anybody out there listening to this show is so upset that your favorite guitar didn't make the,
let's buy 19 of them from us next week.
And I'll redo this program and you can,
you can actually,
(42:21):
you have the power to make this list different.
All you have to do is manually,
you know,
make these sales numbers different.
And the way to do that is to buy them.
So I don't like to talk sales too much on this program,
but that's a great idea.
Uh Let me see where my checkbook is.
Oh,
yes.
It's in the trash torn into because.
(42:46):
All right.
So we're down to one.
We've looked at a lot of Great Martin guitars.
This is the part where I'm going to give you a true confession when Laurie told me what these guitars are.
I was extremely surprised so far to not see an X series,
to not see more Dread Knots and to not see a road series guitar yet.
So certainly if I'm being true to how I feel what this program is doing.
(43:06):
The best selling Martin guitar since we've ever been in a store has to be in the road series or the X series and it's got to be a Dread Knot.
Shall we see if I'm right?
I guess I can hold my breath no longer.
Come on.
Fake some enthusiasm.
The number one,
best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the Martin D A yay.
(43:37):
Well,
I had done one and two flipped.
So,
um,
I had the H D 28 but the D 18,
but again,
I'm old enough that I still think in terms of what I knew were popular back in the day.
But since the reimagined,
uh,
series came out in 2018 and they,
(44:01):
and prior to that,
the standard D 28 got its remake in 2017 and the D 18 got it started it all off.
It was actually 2012.
They went back that far uh when it got the makeover and got scallop bracing instead of non scallop racing and got forward shifted bracing instead of non Ford shifted bracing and got the faux tortoise shell binding and pick guard instead of black and basically open back tuners and the toner on the top.
(44:29):
So that it basically was the uh D 18 V from the Vinci series.
But again,
replaced with the modern neck and really uh revived the D 18 and,
and turned it into AAA best seller when it was not selling very well.
Uh amongst all those uh forward shifted scallop,
(44:50):
braced or non Ford,
shifted scallop brace guitars,
so wonderful guitar,
a very good price.
Mahogany Martins will always be uh at least a little less than their rosewood counterparts.
And it's uh still a very full robust sound.
You know,
they talk about Rosa being basi here.
(45:11):
That doesn't mean mahogany isn't bay,
um particularly the genuine mahogany,
South American mahogany and the uh C O uh mahogany from Africa.
Both of them have a great base response.
They don't have as complex uh harmonic overtones.
So the bass isn't as rich and complex in terms of that swelling undertone and all that stuff,
(45:34):
but uh still a big powerful guitar uh perfect for bluegrass flat picking and lead guitar playing.
And,
you know,
you can just look around amongst your friends and celebrities out there to see just how popular the mahogany Spruce D 18 is.
So the most popular best selling Mart guitar at ma's music since they were opened is the Standard Series D 18.
(46:03):
So that's very cool.
I only missed it by one.
So,
in fact,
just to gloat a little bit of the top five I have,
let's see,
that's the D 18.
So I have one,
I have two.
I have three of the top four.
(46:23):
I got.
Correct.
So,
but still shock the number five,
double oh 15 M shocking,
shocking to me that uh that it's that popular and it's gotten that high up in the sale.
So,
so again,
uh bully for the fifteens,
uh they,
the little David's coming out against the big uh the Big Dread Knots uh Goliaths.
(46:46):
So very,
very cool.
So I'm uh and when you looked at this,
Marie.
What were your thoughts when you actually saw this for the first time?
What were the big surprises for you?
Well,
I'll tell you the truth.
The biggest surprise,
my biggest takeaway here was we only see two series represented the standard series and the 15 series.
I'm so surprised that we didn't see a healthy dose of,
(47:07):
I mean,
you know,
in fairness,
the modern deluxe hasn't been around that long,
but as soon as it came on the scene,
they took off like wildfire.
As far as I thought,
I'm really surprised we didn't see an X series and I don't know,
maybe I just right or wrong.
I guess I thought we would see more inexpensive guitars make the list just because for everybody who saves up and buys ad 28 1 of the most popular guitars here,
(47:30):
I kind of get the impression we're selling a lot of G PC elevens or we're selling a lot of,
I mean,
at one time we had eight or 90 MC X one black guitars from the X series and we go through them,
you know,
in spurts.
So I,
I guess it's just,
I remember what I bring home from Martin.
I inspect every single thing that comes in.
I photograph them all.
(47:51):
I help Andrew bang our heads against the wall where we're gonna put all these guitars and they don't all seem to be standard series and fifteens.
So either I don't know where he puts things away after I photographed them or the 15 series just are never here and I don't recognize the turnover,
but I'm surprised it's only two series.
If Martin told us next month,
hey,
we're having trouble keeping up with demand.
(48:12):
We have to pair it down to two series.
What should we do?
I hope they would pick these two because I,
I can't believe we don't see any other series represented.
That's the biggest takeaway I have.
That's very,
it's an interesting point.
I do know that Martins are more expensive overseas.
So it's possible those series may sell more overseas,
but to be fair,
this is going back to 2003 at the time you guys went into business and a lot of the guitars you're talking about weren't around back then.
(48:39):
So,
so they may sell very well over the last five years or eight years.
So that may be maybe not another program,
but maybe you could ask Laurie to look into since the,
uh maybe just since the reimagined Standard Series and maybe put that in the comments at some other time.
And here are the top 10 from just from 2018 when the,
(49:03):
when the uh reimagined Standard Series uh came in and I would suspect where then we're going to see an encroachment of the road series.
That's just a guess.
But,
and maybe we should do something fun here and do a little bit of pay it forward if you guys would hit the Like button and promise that you're gonna hit the Like button.
I'll tell you something.
I wasn't gonna tell you and we could have made it a different episode.
(49:25):
We could have milked this and done another week.
If you hit the Like button for us,
I'm gonna tell you numbers 11 through 20 really quickly.
And if you didn't hit the Like button,
uh earmuff it for him and put your hands over your ears,
mute your stereo and then come back in like 20 seconds because you don't deserve to hear this.
But had we made this the top 20 number 11 and after it's all over spoon,
(49:48):
tell me what you think.
Number 11 would have been D junior 10 Sitka 12 would have been S C 13 E coa 13 would have been triple oh 10 E 14 0 M J M 15 0 M 28 Modern deluxe.
(50:10):
Here they come.
16 CEO seven.
How is that?
Not on the top 10,
17 D 15 M.
There she is 18 D 28 modern deluxe,
19 triple oh 28 E modern deluxe.
(50:30):
Here we go.
And the 20th best seller to date is the O M 21.
Interesting stuff.
Fascinating.
Fascinating.
Well,
just looking at it very quickly,
I would have thought the M 21 would have been higher.
Uh I was not expecting a junior to be in the top 20 and So a lot of what I just said about this going back to 22,003,
(50:55):
maybe one or two things would happen is that the list,
if you only went back to 2018,
maybe a lot of these in the next 10 down would be in the top 10.
But a lot of these guitars have not been around that much.
Uh Not that long.
The modern delux is particularly and look how well they're selling.
(51:15):
They've already made the top 20 going all the way back throughout your entire history of your business.
So,
and we have an S C 13 Eco A.
It has sold that well and they haven't been around for,
they've barely been around and they're already in the top 20 all time.
That's really amazing.
So,
I'm glad you shared that with us.
(51:35):
I think that's really fascinating and that the no mayor continues to sell and be popular.
So,
uh so you can see why the CEO seven and the mayor have remained in the catalog long after a CEO model and a artist signature model by all rights would have been retired a long time ago,
but they just sell too well.
(51:57):
Uh It was very good reason.
Oh,
yeah.
And it's funny,
I was at the Martin Factor a couple of days ago and I got,
I put a post up on Facebook and immediately our friend Peter Cree said,
oh,
I just missed you and I said,
you know,
what time were you there?
I said the day before,
but kidding aside,
he actually played everything in the lobby and everything in the Martin picking parlor.
And he said,
hands down the S C 13 E special was the best sounding guitar in there.
(52:21):
I mean,
there were some good guitars on the wall there.
So,
you know,
Peter knows stuff.
He's bought a lot of guitars from us and,
uh,
shout out to our friend Peter C C studios.
The S CS are here to stay and I,
I don't want to ever use the word guarantee,
but I almost guarantee if it's February of 2023 right now.
Let's revisit this list next year.
I would almost guarantee more than a couple of S C from the road series are gonna be in this list.
(52:45):
Maybe even including that crazy custom shop,
CS S C 2022 that you and I gushed over to a fault with Tim Thiel back in the Martin Museum a few months ago.
But this S C stuff is not a fad if you haven't,
uh you know,
given it,
it,
it's due,
you're missing out.
And if you want to really playable Martin guitar,
(53:05):
regardless of,
do you play high up in the neck or do you plug in the S C 13 E 13 E special?
Uh the 13 E special,
burst the S C 10 E,
get your hands on one of them if you can,
but you're gonna see that in the top 10 list here soon.
It's probably only a matter of time.
So I do hope you guys enjoyed this program,
Jeanie.
Thank you again for the idea.
Uh We hope,
(53:26):
uh,
we didn't stray too far from the original premise of asking Martin what the top 10 guitars are.
But again,
if we can get some information to you guys later,
we'll certainly add it to the show notes and spoon.
Once again.
Happy birthday.
Hope you had a great weekend.
Yeah,
it was very,
it was very nice.
Yes,
I spent it,
spent the night before with friends.
Uh I spent yesterday with family,
(53:48):
my sister,
uh she happened to have a,
a cabaret performance.
So I was actually at the cabaret performance being the videographer.
And so I had a quiet night and I carried over this morning to an indulgent pancake breakfast.
So making the most of a birthday weekend.
But thank you very much.
And this was been great fun and I look forward to the next from all of us at Maury's Music.
(54:11):
Thanks for listening.
Hear you later.
Pancake.
This has been a presentation of Mari's music.
Your trusted source for Martin and Blue Ridge Guitars.
Find us online at Mari's music dot com.
Welcome back to Martins and more.
My name is Marie Rich and I'm Spoon Phillips.
We have a lot to talk about and I just have to say,
I feel like one of us has even more wisdom than normal that they can bring to this program because they're a little bit older.
Yesterday was a very,
very significant birthday.
We're taping this show a little bit ahead of time.
So you might not hear this for a couple of weeks,
but yesterday was February 25 you guys know what that means.
(00:35):
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Birthday,
Mr Smithers.
Happy Birthday Spoon Phillips.
Yeah.
(01:03):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I know everybody listening.
Can just hear it in your voice.
How old do you feel?
I do not feel Mr Smithers Old or Mr Burns Old,
but somewhere in between.
Well,
from all of us at Mari's Music.
Thanks for listening and Happy Birthday Spoon Phillips,
this program,
(01:24):
this store,
this website,
this youtube channel and this friendship would not be what it is today without you.
Well,
I appreciate that very much.
I appreciate all the sentiment that I've been uh receiving.
Um,
I uh just a quick shout out to Colin in Dorset in England.
Hey,
your surprise package arrived on my birthday.
(01:48):
Um I haven't even had time to send him an email to tell him that,
but he sent me a uh a West Ham United coaster and a couple of vintage West Ham United badges.
Those little metal badges,
you pin pin,
you know,
pin on things like hat.
So I have very touched that he would give those up from his collection.
So thanks very much.
(02:09):
That is our friend Colin,
the left handed D 45 player,
by the way,
what's up Colin?
So,
speaking of wonderful guitars.
Um Today we have a very special show.
Uh We've decided to focus on the top 10 most popular Martins at Mari's Music based on what the customers have decided.
(02:37):
Pretty cool,
pretty cool.
And I want to thank Jeannie for the idea and I kind of took this idea and turned it on its head a little bit.
Jeanie wanted to know specifically Martin production numbers by model or by percentages.
If production numbers are secret,
she's wondering which are the most popular guitars.
How are they trending?
It's kind of like a sales and marketing episode.
(02:58):
And I wanna say Jeannie,
thank you very much.
I did spend some time reaching out to my contacts at Martin and they told me some answers,
but if we told you,
we would have to kill you.
And I know everybody thinks we're kidding.
But,
so I'd just like to send out condolences to,
uh,
family of Fred who,
uh,
we did tell,
you know,
and,
(03:18):
and yes,
of course.
I am kidding.
Um,
but,
uh,
but,
um,
do you imagine?
Oh,
yeah,
exactly.
So,
we are focusing instead on,
on,
uh,
Mars music specifically,
um,
because I had asked,
you know,
when he told me about this,
I basically reached out to him and said,
(03:39):
well,
I'd be curious to know what is the most popular,
uh,
Martin's,
you know,
these days,
uh,
based on what,
uh,
your actual experience is.
So I'm gonna begin by guessing and I would say that,
uh,
while I'm saying this and guessing my list,
if our listeners would like to jot down their guesses for what they think the top 10 most popular Martins are based on Mari's music's experience.
(04:06):
You can compare,
uh your list with the actual list that as we go through it.
But here rather slowly.
So you guys have time to think about it and make your own list is spoons.
Guess at the most popular Martins starting with number 10,
the D 15 M,
number nine,
(04:26):
the D 41.
Number eight,
the triple 0 15 M number seven,
the D 10 E from the road series.
Number six,
double oh 18,
number five,
triple 0 18,
(04:48):
number four,
the standard D 28.
Number three,
the O M 28 number two,
the D 18,
the number one,
the H D 28.
So I'm looking very forward to finding out just how wrong I am.
(05:09):
I'm looking even more forward to telling you how wrong you are.
What a guy,
what a guy.
Ok.
Spoon.
So I don't want to make it feel too awkward.
This is so,
so early in your new year you just turn the corner from whatever age you were 33 or whatever and now you're the new year.
I don't want you to feel very uncomfortable with that.
You know,
so little about the popular selling Martin guitars here at Mari's music.
(05:33):
But are you surprised that nine of them aren't?
Oh,
m 28.
Well,
um,
you know,
in a word.
Yes.
Well,
let's begin.
Let's take a long look at the most popular selling Martin guitars ever at Mari's music.
We'll see how it compares to Spoon's List.
Be honest.
(05:54):
Let us know how it compares to your list and we'll begin with number 10.
Wait,
so this is the,
the list is the most popular ever,
not just recent years.
You're really going back to the beginning of the business in,
in 2003.
Yep,
this is the data collected at Mari's music since we've been to stores.
This is actually concurrent with all the guitars we've ever sold.
(06:14):
Well then Kudos out to,
to Laurie Rich because obviously she is the diligent brain behind uh the,
the great man in the front office and So she's,
I am assuming is the one that came up with these figures for you?
Well,
whenever anything is really impressive,
you should assume she did it.
And I'll be honest,
(06:35):
I think some of it was a computer.
She might have gone to look for the data,
but I don't know that she went back to old records in filing cabinet.
It's all the movie.
What was that movie?
The Da Vinci Code?
Like,
I don't think she would gets that much credit here.
I thought you're talking about,
uh,
um,
the,
uh,
the sequel to Despicable Me since,
(06:58):
uh,
I thought that was the only,
only movie you watch.
I want to watch that again now.
All right,
back to,
back to work.
The 10th most popular Martin Guitar Soul that Mari's music ever is the Martin H D 35.
(07:19):
Who,
what do you think of that?
I think that's very cool.
I guess.
I'm not surprised actually,
since I know a variety of people who actually own that model and I must say I'll just my,
you know,
my disclaimer is,
I wasn't thinking all time since you opened.
So I was thinking more in recent years of what,
you know,
in the past five years or so.
(07:42):
But,
um,
it's not on my list,
I'd be curious to hear later on or see later on if people post their lists if that was on their list.
So the H D 35 as everybody knows,
or maybe they don't know,
the H stands for the Herring bone trim around the edge of the top.
Um Basically,
it is uh like the D 35 or the three piece back,
(08:05):
but it has the unique H D backs strip,
um,
which looks really cool with the three piece rosewood back and it has a scalloped bracing,
quarter inch scallop bracing because it's style 35 which gives you a quarter inch bracing.
But unlike the standard D 35 it's got bracing.
(08:26):
So quarter inch scallop,
bracing really supercharges the top.
I would say when people ask me what is really the most resonant uh Rich Echo Martin out there,
that's to my ear is in fact the H D 35.
So that made the top 10.
Very cool.
Very cool.
Now hearing that news,
I'm going to ask you a question and full disclosure,
(08:49):
I won't give you the answer this early.
But knowing that the H D 35 made the list,
I want to ask spoon and I want to ask the listeners out there.
Do you think that almost automatically means the D 35 must have also been here too?
Well,
I didn't even have uh the H D on my list,
let alone the D 35.
So I,
(09:10):
I guess I will say yes,
since we're now really going back almost uh almost 20 years,
uh based on your figures.
So I would,
I'm gonna guess that the D 35 is in there somewhere.
And I'll tell you the truth,
I'm gonna answer this part as a player.
Not necessarily a music store owner.
(09:30):
A lot of the things that happen here,
day to day are customers emailing me,
calling me messaging me and we talk about guitars all the time,
but I don't make a habit of going and looking at what did we do this week?
How good was our week sales wise.
And I most certainly don't go every weekend or every month and see what did we sell more of some of these instruments do surprise me as well.
(09:51):
And a lot of the forum activity that I see whether it's on Facebook or the U M G F or the A G fa lot of people that ask the question,
should they get ad 35 or an H D 35?
It's rare to me to,
uh,
to say that I see people recommending the H D more often.
And if I had to really guess as one of you listening,
I would think overall the D 35 might be a little bit more popular still,
(10:15):
but you'll have to wait a little longer for that answer because we're not gonna tell you just yet.
Number 10 was the H D 35 that's all you need to know right now.
All right.
I've marked that mark that down.
Yes.
All right.
Spoon pop quiz.
Do you think the next guitar has a rosa back inside or not.
Well,
now I have to flip my coin.
I am going to say yes,
(10:37):
it does because the one I put at number nine was the 41.
The ninth best selling Martin guitar.
Amari's music is the legendary triple oh 28.
Wow,
there's a big and a triple oh 28 classic short scale auditorium size body.
(11:02):
And it,
of course,
they made a great many more triple oh 28 uh in the 14 ft era,
then they made O MS,
which is almost the same guitar except it's got a long scale neck instead of the short scale neck,
so comfortable uh these days made with a high performance neck.
Of course,
as almost every guitar we're probably going to hear about in these lists which matches a modified low oval profile to the high performance footboard taper.
(11:30):
It gives you 11 and three quarter inch of the knot,
only 208 at the 12th threat like the old 1,
11 16th inch necks.
So a little more room out there at the uh heads stock but still very as you go up the neck,
very great for modern music league guitar players and such like,
and they're really fine guitars.
(11:51):
A lot of people are familiar with the Eric Clapton model over the years.
They,
today's triple oh 28 is almost the exact same guitar in terms of the build it's got the exact same bracing.
It just doesn't have the uh fancier trim of the Clapton.
And there may have been a time in the past where the Clapton might have got slightly higher wood,
(12:13):
but I don't remember if that's true back when the vintage series got slightly uh higher spruce uh than the standard series.
But uh great guitar and uh I think they were very smart to overhaul that instrument from the old one that had the stark white binding and non scallop bracing.
So,
(12:33):
so interesting.
Again,
not on my list.
So I'm,
I'm gonna blow the dust off that duns cap that I haven't had to wear in a long time.
Get it ready.
And I,
I apologize.
I forgot to tell you for everyone.
You get wrong.
You have to buy the instrument on my list.
So you have to put an order in for two guitars now.
But I have,
I have a good feeling you're gonna actually recover very soon and I don't know where you spent your birthday money yet,
(12:57):
but you can just send it right on to me.
So,
all right.
Spoon.
We got two rosewood guitars in the top 10.
I wouldn't be surprised if these two guitars making another appearance later.
They're so great.
I love the rosewood stuff.
I hope you guys listening,
can hear it in my voice.
I'm gonna be very disappointed if not every single guitar on this list has that classic premium,
(13:19):
uh,
what's the word better back in sides?
But we'll see.
Let's talk about the next guitar on the list.
Um,
I'll tell you the truth.
I'm a little bit surprised.
It's a,
it's a guitar that we saw a lot of,
but I didn't realize it was this popular spoon.
Do you care to take a guess again,
or what did you have at?
Number eight?
I had the triple 0 15 M,
(13:41):
oh,
the eighth best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the triple oh 15 S M.
Wow.
Oh,
look at that.
Well,
I'm really happy to hear that.
(14:02):
I,
I really love that model and it's,
I'm,
but I'm still shocked in this day and age that um that a 12 fret guitar made the list.
But then again,
this is going back to 2006 and my list was,
wasn't going back that far in my mind.
So,
so,
uh well,
bully for the American public for buying that one of the super cool 12 fret guitars and one of the few 12 fret guitars that's readily available out there by any maker these days.
(14:32):
So uh very cool,
very cool indeed,
solid mahogany back sides and top in the classic slope,
shoulder 12 fret,
what they used to call the standard body size,
which is where the s comes from and in the,
in the name and um scar bracing long scale guitar.
(14:54):
A lot of people don't remember that.
Uh 12 fret,
triple Os at Martin all the way back from their introduction in circa 1917 maybe.
Uh are long scale guitars.
So big voice.
Great bass response.
Beautiful.
Nowadays you get these beautiful vintage diamonds on the fret board and that uh yeah,
(15:16):
really cool vintage look to them.
And um and so I'm,
I'm tickled to death.
You know,
I was shocked when it was removed from the website and then I found out that that was actually just a clerical error and they didn't like,
get rid of it.
So I'm glad to see that it is back on the website and,
and has always been in production and available.
(15:36):
So,
uh Kudos to Martin for keeping this model afloat and to the American public for,
for,
uh,
for recognizing uh its value.
Um So that's really cool.
It's the doorbell.
Hold on a second.
Who is it?
Land shark?
I liked almost everything you said about that,
(15:57):
but one thing was terribly,
terribly wrong.
We've been in business since oh three,
not oh six,
but I'll give you a pass.
My apologies,
my apologies.
I guess I'm still trying to be younger the day after my birthday.
Either that or somebody told you I didn't really work very hard in the first three years,
so they didn't count.
(16:17):
And that was,
I was almost right since I picked the triple 0 15 M 14 pret version.
But what do you know about that?
Well,
surprise surprise,
surprise to quote Go Pyle.
And what do you know about that?
Everybody out there listening.
What do you think?
Do you expect that spoon's choice of the 14 fret,
triple 15 M will appear later on this list.
(16:40):
Let us know right now before you keep listening,
hit the pause button.
Tell us in the comment section and stick around for the answer.
We do hope you're having a good time here and I want to thank Jeannie again for the great idea.
Even though we had to make it a little bit different from the way she asked.
We had every intention on bringing you sales figures from Martin guitar directly to answer the question.
(17:00):
What are the 10 best selling Martin guitars from Martin guitar?
But we had to kind of channel it into Marie's music sales numbers and if we can get some better information for you from Martin down the road,
we'll certainly come back to this podcast episode on youtube and add it in the comments section.
So you don't have to wonder next up.
The seventh best selling Martin guitar ever at Mari's music is six places too low.
(17:24):
If you ask me,
it's the Martin O M 28.
Well,
do you know?
Well,
you know how much you love that model?
And I've always been a huge fan of it and I am impressed that it is that low.
I would have thought in O M.
Well,
I had it in number three.
(17:46):
So that gives you an idea of how I feel about it.
But there again,
maybe both of us are emotionally connected to that model.
And so,
uh so I uh I will stand corrected or in this case,
sit corrected.
So the arm 28 of course,
the classic orchestra model has the auditorium body size,
(18:08):
same body size as the triple 0 28.
but it has quarter inch bracing where the triple oh 28 has 5/16 inch bracing.
Both of them are scallop bracing,
however,
but that long scale neck of the O M with the quarter inch bracing and that uh working with that string tension gives you a an extra resonant body,
(18:33):
non dread knot body and they are little powerhouses.
You can,
as anybody who has seen um Mari playing in concert knows there's nothing you can do on a Dread Knot that you can't do on an O M 28 and you don't get quite the bass boom,
but plenty of power.
But also,
of course,
it's one of the most popular finger style instruments as well.
(18:54):
So I'm really curious to see the six above the of this uh classic model to see what uh supplants it so far down the list.
So there we have a classic Herring bone,
diamonds and squares,
uh looks basically exactly like uh O M 28 from 1931 and always a favorite.
(19:15):
Always a favorite.
And what I find very interesting here.
Spoon and I'm not just trying to,
you know,
blow up this model.
This doesn't include all the popular sales we had of the 28 V before the guitar was actually dropped in the vintage series and the 0 28 took over its place.
So if you consider all the sales,
we must have had of that model.
The O M 28 it's just even more popular than I would think people have thought it's not a popularity contest,
(19:40):
but I'm so proud of it.
Yeah.
So it's a very good point that uh that the Vinci series was retired.
And I guess we can say that with maybe some other,
we'll see other guitars that may show up on this list that the O M 28 V was certainly popular.
And maybe that would really,
if you combine the two of them together,
it would really boost it up the list.
So that's a very good point because it is basically the O M 28 V.
(20:03):
The O M 28 existed from 1990 and it was retired maybe right before the M 28 V came out.
So it was only around for maybe six years.
I don't remember exactly.
And that was a different guitar uh than the one we see today.
It had white binding.
It had uh white dots on the fret board,
(20:25):
black pick guard still had the O M quarter inch bracing,
but it had a much wider,
flat or low profile neck with the standard taper and stuff.
So,
so not the same model at all is the one we have today,
but the one we have today is the O M 28 V but with a modern neck rather than the,
than the V neck from the vintage series.
So I think that's a great asterisk.
(20:46):
So just like,
you know,
they do and,
and,
uh records and stuff.
I think this one gets an asterisk for being so far down the list.
So,
all right.
So you're saying the asterisk is that kind of like in sports?
Maybe you're saying that the 0 28 shouldn't have hit so many home runs because it was juice.
No,
quite the opposite.
(21:07):
I would say it's more like these are just regular season statistics that doesn't include the playoffs in the World Series.
Oops.
Well,
you and I can finish each other's sentences so often,
but not today.
I was just gonna say that let's take a break from the irresistible comedy and get back to the task at hand.
(21:29):
The sixth best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the triple 0 15 M.
You were so close.
Oh,
it's more popular than I thought it was.
How about that triple 0 15 M the 14 fret version.
So here is a wonderful bargain.
(21:52):
It is all solid wood,
uh mahogany back top and sides.
Not everybody loves the mahogany top sound,
but I certainly have always been a big fan of it.
Uh,
warmer mellower.
It really starts sounding pretty and prettier and prettier as it gets older as our friend.
(22:14):
Scooter can attest because he's got several fifteens that are now many years old.
And this is the,
maybe the last 14 for triple O in the catalog that's still a long scale triple O.
Starting in the late nineties.
they started making long scale triple Os because it became the indu industry standard.
So it's essentially,
it's essentially a O M 15.
(22:35):
Um because nowadays,
the O MS have the uh you know,
have a skinnier neck though in the 15 series,
you still get the one in 11 16th inch nut width.
Also one of the last places to get that nut width in uh the catalog,
but really uh really fine looking instrument with that thin satin finish.
(22:57):
So you can actually feel the wood vibrate in your body.
So,
so I'm not the least bit surprised it's on here.
It's E but it's even more popular than I realized.
So uh very cool triple 0 15 M for mahogany.
So it's to recap,
we've only been halfway through this list.
And so far we've told you the best selling Martin Guitars at Mari's music are the H D 35 the triple oh 28 triple 0 15 S M O M 28 triple 0 15 M.
(23:30):
I wanna ask our listeners and I wanna ask Spoon.
Are you surprised?
There aren't more dread knots yet?
I am surprised there's not more dread knots.
I am surprised.
Um uh,
well,
I'm,
I'm just surprised at the placement of the,
of the two mahogany guitars and the fact that they're both fifteens,
they're not eighteens.
So that's pretty cool.
(23:53):
How about that?
I mean,
all the guitars Martin has made over the years and all of the guitars that Martin's marketing department have pushed on us in one way or another when something new comes out every so many years,
Martin makes a really serious effort to get it out to stores to make sure that the buying public has an opportunity to grab it.
I'm a little bit surprised at how the 15 series has sort of started to eclipse this list.
(24:16):
We haven't seen an X series guitar yet,
which surprises me a little bit because they're so affordable and we haven't seen a road series guitar yet and the fact that we have no road series yet,
no X series yet and only one Dread Knight.
The fact that we already saw 2 15 series guitars makes me wonder if the 15 series guitar isn't one of the best values and the smartest buys.
(24:36):
How weird would it be?
And I'm just,
I'm just hypothetically how crazy would you think this is if I told you the double oh 15 and was also on this list that would be so weird.
Right.
No,
I don't think so.
I think now we're seeing a trend and,
and I've always enjoyed that model too and I know people who could have easily afforded much more expensive Martin's Fancy and Martin's larger Martins that,
(25:01):
uh,
chose the double oh 15 M because they,
they like the feel the size and sound.
So,
let's see.
So we're at the halfway point.
Any,
any hints for our listeners of what's ahead?
Well,
I don't want to go there yet,
but I,
I just have to keep this train rolling and I can't get off this thought.
I mean,
we haven't seen ad 15 M yet.
(25:23):
A lot of times I see people asking on forums or in my emails,
should I get a double oh 15 and M or a triple oh 15 M unless they tell me a really specific use case where they play.
So finger style only they never want to strum or,
you know,
I can get into the,
the nuts and bolts of that later.
But I really do think that most of the people that we talked to here at Mari's music and we're helping you find the right guitar the first time those customers to consider the double Os versus the triple Os.
(25:49):
Frankly,
in any series often land on the side of the triple O.
It would just,
I don't know what I would say.
I don't know how I would react if I was gonna tell you that the next guitar on this list was double oh 15 M.
Let me just,
let me just see what it says.
I'll just read it.
The fifth best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the double oh 15 M.
(26:16):
Wow.
How about that?
Well,
I think that's pretty amazing.
I had the triple oh 18 at this point I had the double oh 18 at 16 at number seven.
I had the D 10 E from the road series.
So I had one Dread Knot uh one double O and one triple oh,
but I had the eighteens,
not the fifteens.
So I think that's pretty amazing.
(26:37):
And I think what we're seeing here are two things because again,
we have all solid woods.
So we're seeing people who want all solid wood Martin guitars,
but they want,
they want an affordable all solid wood Martin guitar in the 15 series.
Definitely gives you that.
And we're also looking at mahogany and how lovely mahogany he sounds to just about everyone except ma and uh and,
(27:02):
but again,
he's always kidding about that,
but he prefers rosewood.
I love rosewood.
I play rosewood most of the time.
Uh You know,
but then I get out my mahogany guitar and I love that too.
So I'm gonna just say,
wow.
Uh double oh 15.
As I said,
it's a,
it's fun to play.
It's a very nice size uh for smaller people,
(27:23):
but even people who,
uh,
are larger in stature and big hands.
I think they go for it too.
Perhaps,
uh,
double Os in general because they already have a Jumbo or a Dread Knot and they want a smaller guitar and it's even more,
uh,
different than a triple O or an O M than their dreadnought.
But I think the public has spoken.
(27:44):
I will say one other thing about these fifteens now that we have three of them in the top 10 all time,
best selling Martins at Mari's music is people probably know somebody who owns one and were as convinced who liked it,
heard it liked it and said,
(28:05):
I'm gonna get one of those two.
Um,
that may be part of this.
That's a good point.
So,
yeah,
look forward to hearing uh or reading the comments below on the youtube version of this podcast to see uh if we have any 15 owners out there.
Um,
and hear,
uh what people's thoughts are on the 15 series since we're seeing it clearly being popular.
(28:28):
We have three fifteens and we have 2 20 eights and 1 35 so far.
Uh style 35 2,
style 20 eights and three style fifteens.
Really cool.
If you're listening to this live on youtube,
please let us know in the chat.
How surprised are you so far?
(28:49):
Is there a Martin guitar you thought for sure would have been in the bottom five of this list and deserves to be there.
Please let us know what you're thinking.
And if you found this program after the fact watching or listening to the replay,
uh,
use the comment section on youtube to tell us what we got wrong so far.
But how could you,
this isn't a popularity contest?
It's sales numbers.
We can't get this wrong.
It's just let me know in the comment section.
(29:10):
If you'd like Laurie's email address,
take it up with her.
Uh,
somebody will be wearing their crash helmet when they go home.
Um,
she's out of town.
I can talk like that for a couple of days.
All right,
next up,
we are getting so much closer to the top of this list.
Would you not be completely freaked out if I told you the next guitar was ad 15 M buckle up.
(29:36):
Be honest.
Get ready for the surprise of your life.
That can't be true,
can it?
Well,
I,
I don't know what to believe anymore,
but again,
I think we've already established now of why fifteens are so popular.
It's a combination of economics,
quality,
uh,
all solid wood guitars and also,
(29:58):
like I said,
a great many people buy a 15 because they already own a rosewood guitar or they already own,
uh,
a larger Martin and,
and a more expensive Martin.
So that may be part of it as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like my dad used to say,
never let facts get in the way of a good story.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the fourth best selling Martin guitar ever at Marty's music is the Martin triple oh 18,
(30:30):
yeah,
mahogany rejoice,
mahogany rejoice for people who don't know.
My longstanding uh Martin uh forum fantasy football team is in fact the Nazareth mahogany and um and I had that at number five,
so it's even more popular than I thought so.
(30:51):
Uh triple oh 18 being a big seller very popular.
It is uh essentially they didn't make a triple 0 18 V back then.
The closest thing you could get to that was the triple oh 18 Woody Guthrie model,
which was essentially the same bracing and neck as the Clapton model.
(31:12):
But in style 18,
style 18 and everybody might remember from those days if you're old enough to triple oh 18,
used to have non scallop 5 16 finch bracing,
black pick guard,
black binding,
uh white dot fingerboard.
And it was revamped to have vintage style 18 appointments with the three dots that are just uh that are slightly smaller as you go up the fingerboard tortoise shell,
(31:41):
faux tortoise shell binding,
pick guard and quarter inch scallop bracing which sets it apart from other triple Os.
It's one of the only triple Os and maybe the only triple O being built.
Now that is uh that has quarter inch bracing and it makes a very lively fun guitar to play wonderful for fingers picking patterns.
(32:03):
And um I'm not surprised at all because I know it's a big favorite for many,
many people.
So triple oh 18 from the Standard Series at number four,
most popular since 2003 at Mari's music.
You got it.
Now,
let me ask you a couple of personal questions.
We're gonna get yes or no answers and we can look back on this part of the podcast to see just how smart the birthday boy is today.
(32:29):
I'm all ears.
Yes or no.
The next three guitars are from the Standard series.
True.
Yes or no.
The next three guitars are Dread Knots.
True.
Yes or no.
The next three guitars have mahogany back inside false.
(32:53):
Are you ready for the next guitar on the list of the Martin guitar best sellers at Mari's music at number three,
the best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the Martin D 28.
(33:14):
So the Martin D 28 I had that as number four.
So I'm zeroing in,
in these,
in the top five here.
So uh I had the triple 0 18 and I had the D 28 D 28.
Of course,
is a ship of the line for the Martin Standard Series and Martin Guitars in general.
(33:34):
Uh The D 28 has changed a lot over the years.
They came out with the H D 28 in the 19 seventies to bring back scallop bracing and Herring Bone and the Standard E 28 retained the Nonscaly bracing and the black and white line ping that originated on Martin's old jazz arch top guitars in the 19 thirties and in World War Two,
(33:57):
when they could no longer get Herring Bone trim from Germany,
they uh converted the,
all their models to that black and white lines and,
and they've kept it all these years,
you know,
the classic 19 fifties,
uh D 20 eights um similar to the D 28 Rich Robinson,
the 1960 D 28 similar to the D 28 John Lennon,
(34:18):
uh the 1970 D 20 eights played by people like Dwight Yoakam and Michael Hedges.
And on up has remained a non scallop braced guitar which gives you greater focus,
particularly in the bass notes and uh,
records very well plays very well in a group.
Doesn't have quite that Wally Echoey you get from scarlet bracing,
(34:40):
but that's not a bad thing always.
And,
um,
and just a,
you know,
classic and I'm,
I,
I'm,
I'm pleased to see that.
It's still selling well at Morris music and has been since 2003.
Chris Martin insisted on keeping it non scallop braced,
it was moved to the forward shifted bracing in 2017 and uh which gives it even more base response,
(35:03):
but you still get that focus to those fundamental notes from the non scallop racing.
So,
uh,
no wonder it's so popular and it sells,
you know,
wildly overseas.
And now we see,
uh,
also in the United States of America.
So the Martin G 28 still a legendary classic dreadnought acoustic guitar.
(35:24):
Very cool.
And I'll tell you the truth,
I don't have this data in front of me as far as you know,
reading you real numbers,
but I do know for sure since 2017,
Martin making that change to give this forward,
shifted non scallop racing,
the sales of the D 28 at Mari's music did make a big jump.
So this guitar did certainly become more popular after the change.
(35:45):
And I don't know that it wouldn't have been on this list without that happening.
But when they made that decision and came out with the redesign,
reimagined D 28 it wasn't just here at Mari's Music,
the entire Martin dealer network,
you know,
saw a big spike in,
in the popularity for the D 28 I hope they keep it that way for a long time because I think it might sound cliche,
but people who aren't sure if they want ad 18 or an H D 28 the D 28 literally does seem to feel like it lands right in between.
(36:14):
It gives you a lot more base than ad 18 but still remains clear punchy and distinct,
especially in the mid range.
And then the H D 28 gives you that bass pushes you over the cliff with the bass.
So I think the D 28 if they would have given that scallop bracing,
it would have kind of been an H D 28 clone.
And if they would have kept the bracing the way they used to keep it after they gave the D 18 its face lift,
(36:37):
I think it would have fallen too far towards that mahogany guitar.
So,
I think it's great just the way it is.
Yeah,
I think it's a,
it's a brilliant assessment and it definitely is a unique sound within the Martin catalog.
It's uh the D 35 also got the shift in the um in the four shifted bracing and remains nonscaly,
(36:58):
but it's quarter inch bracing.
So you get a different sound than you get from the D 28.
I think the D 28 you call it punchy D 35 to me has more of a mid uh mid-range trough as they call it.
I think it has more precise,
thin can sound like a negative word but more precise trebles which then makes that D D 35 famous bulbous base um that you hear at the end kind of like if you look at a baseball bat,
(37:27):
it's almost like the D 35 is shaped like a baseball bat where you got that big round and at the bottom of the bass and thinner,
more precise troubles at the other end.
And the D 28 gives you,
I think a more uh more balanced fuller uh bass and treble balance and a punch of your mid range.
So it's a,
(37:47):
it's a great guitar and I'm not the least bit surprised to see it's at number three,
even though I said it was gonna be at number four.
Very good.
Very good.
Very good.
Ok.
Let's give our listeners and our viewers just a minute to collect their thoughts and answer this question in the chat.
And then there were two.
What do you think is coming up next on this list?
We'll give our listeners a couple of minutes to answer that question and I'll ask spoon to remind me top to bottom.
(38:13):
What did you have as your top 10?
My top 10 started with the D 15 M followed by the D 41 which apparently Pearly Martins did not make it on this list as far as we know yet.
Triple oh 15 M which uh I almost got right because it was the 12 ft version.
And then I had the D 10 E because I know that's a popular guitar from the road series,
(38:37):
relatively speaking,
but not on this list so far.
I had the double oh 18 at number six,
I had the triple oh 18 at number five,
I had the D 28 at number four.
I had the O M 28 at three which we know fell all the way to seven.
Um And my next two I have at number two,
(38:59):
the D 18 Standard series D 18 and number one H D 28.
Ok.
Guys,
you heard it here.
First spoon really knows this stuff.
I dare to say that if you got anything more correct on this list,
people would suspect that you're an employee here and since you're not,
I think it's great the way this is working out.
And yes,
and I know you have always enjoyed rubbing your hands together when I've been wrong.
(39:25):
Well,
those are both very,
very fun days for me.
All right,
guys,
we only have two more guitars to talk about.
Let's see if Spoon has the right guitars and if he has them in the right order,
the second best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is oh Spoon.
(39:48):
You know what the music means.
We're out of time.
Uh No,
you can't do this to us.
The Martin H D 28.
Wow.
The H D 28 is number two about it.
That's fascinating.
That's fascinating.
I knew it was gonna be high.
(40:09):
I picked it as number one.
I do know that it was number one for many years.
But that's going back to,
to when uh when young Maury was still in swaddling clothes.
But um but uh so and a major,
well,
maybe Manji but um um we have the H D 28 Herring Bone trim diamonds and square board marker.
(40:37):
It is basically the old H D 28 V without the V neck.
And instead it's got the modern high performance neck and so we got forward shifted scallop racing with the looks of the late 19 thirties 28.
And so no wonder that it's,
uh,
still sells so well,
(40:59):
whether it was the H D 28 V or the H D 28 just,
uh,
just in many years,
the quintessential rosewood acoustic guitar sound.
Yeah,
I'll tell you the truth.
I'm not totally surprised that the H D 28 is a better seller than the D 28.
(41:20):
But harkening back to the email that Laurie gave me last week,
she was clear to remind me and I maybe I should have said this earlier in the program.
Some of these guitars on this list are not far apart from each other.
They're all accurate.
But the fifth best selling might only be better than the sixth best selling by a small number.
So it's not that these are leaps and bounds.
You probably could have taken,
(41:40):
you know,
five and six and switched them up.
Eight and nine are probably pretty close.
None of these guitars are automatically just have great distances between them.
So when you say the H D 28 outs sold the D 28 here at Mari's music,
it might have been by a very small number.
I'm happy to say that scallop racing outs sold forward,
shifted non scallop racing.
But as I say it out loud,
(42:01):
it's so silly.
It's just my emotional attachment to the sounds I like.
And like you said earlier,
spoon,
the market has spoken.
This is stuff that is just changeable.
If anybody out there listening to this show is so upset that your favorite guitar didn't make the,
let's buy 19 of them from us next week.
And I'll redo this program and you can,
you can actually,
(42:21):
you have the power to make this list different.
All you have to do is manually,
you know,
make these sales numbers different.
And the way to do that is to buy them.
So I don't like to talk sales too much on this program,
but that's a great idea.
Uh Let me see where my checkbook is.
Oh,
yes.
It's in the trash torn into because.
(42:46):
All right.
So we're down to one.
We've looked at a lot of Great Martin guitars.
This is the part where I'm going to give you a true confession when Laurie told me what these guitars are.
I was extremely surprised so far to not see an X series,
to not see more Dread Knots and to not see a road series guitar yet.
So certainly if I'm being true to how I feel what this program is doing.
(43:06):
The best selling Martin guitar since we've ever been in a store has to be in the road series or the X series and it's got to be a Dread Knot.
Shall we see if I'm right?
I guess I can hold my breath no longer.
Come on.
Fake some enthusiasm.
The number one,
best selling Martin guitar at Mari's music is the Martin D A yay.
(43:37):
Well,
I had done one and two flipped.
So,
um,
I had the H D 28 but the D 18,
but again,
I'm old enough that I still think in terms of what I knew were popular back in the day.
But since the reimagined,
uh,
series came out in 2018 and they,
(44:01):
and prior to that,
the standard D 28 got its remake in 2017 and the D 18 got it started it all off.
It was actually 2012.
They went back that far uh when it got the makeover and got scallop bracing instead of non scallop racing and got forward shifted bracing instead of non Ford shifted bracing and got the faux tortoise shell binding and pick guard instead of black and basically open back tuners and the toner on the top.
(44:29):
So that it basically was the uh D 18 V from the Vinci series.
But again,
replaced with the modern neck and really uh revived the D 18 and,
and turned it into AAA best seller when it was not selling very well.
Uh amongst all those uh forward shifted scallop,
(44:50):
braced or non Ford,
shifted scallop brace guitars,
so wonderful guitar,
a very good price.
Mahogany Martins will always be uh at least a little less than their rosewood counterparts.
And it's uh still a very full robust sound.
You know,
they talk about Rosa being basi here.
(45:11):
That doesn't mean mahogany isn't bay,
um particularly the genuine mahogany,
South American mahogany and the uh C O uh mahogany from Africa.
Both of them have a great base response.
They don't have as complex uh harmonic overtones.
So the bass isn't as rich and complex in terms of that swelling undertone and all that stuff,
(45:34):
but uh still a big powerful guitar uh perfect for bluegrass flat picking and lead guitar playing.
And,
you know,
you can just look around amongst your friends and celebrities out there to see just how popular the mahogany Spruce D 18 is.
So the most popular best selling Mart guitar at ma's music since they were opened is the Standard Series D 18.
(46:03):
So that's very cool.
I only missed it by one.
So,
in fact,
just to gloat a little bit of the top five I have,
let's see,
that's the D 18.
So I have one,
I have two.
I have three of the top four.
(46:23):
I got.
Correct.
So,
but still shock the number five,
double oh 15 M shocking,
shocking to me that uh that it's that popular and it's gotten that high up in the sale.
So,
so again,
uh bully for the fifteens,
uh they,
the little David's coming out against the big uh the Big Dread Knots uh Goliaths.
(46:46):
So very,
very cool.
So I'm uh and when you looked at this,
Marie.
What were your thoughts when you actually saw this for the first time?
What were the big surprises for you?
Well,
I'll tell you the truth.
The biggest surprise,
my biggest takeaway here was we only see two series represented the standard series and the 15 series.
I'm so surprised that we didn't see a healthy dose of,
(47:07):
I mean,
you know,
in fairness,
the modern deluxe hasn't been around that long,
but as soon as it came on the scene,
they took off like wildfire.
As far as I thought,
I'm really surprised we didn't see an X series and I don't know,
maybe I just right or wrong.
I guess I thought we would see more inexpensive guitars make the list just because for everybody who saves up and buys ad 28 1 of the most popular guitars here,
(47:30):
I kind of get the impression we're selling a lot of G PC elevens or we're selling a lot of,
I mean,
at one time we had eight or 90 MC X one black guitars from the X series and we go through them,
you know,
in spurts.
So I,
I guess it's just,
I remember what I bring home from Martin.
I inspect every single thing that comes in.
I photograph them all.
(47:51):
I help Andrew bang our heads against the wall where we're gonna put all these guitars and they don't all seem to be standard series and fifteens.
So either I don't know where he puts things away after I photographed them or the 15 series just are never here and I don't recognize the turnover,
but I'm surprised it's only two series.
If Martin told us next month,
hey,
we're having trouble keeping up with demand.
(48:12):
We have to pair it down to two series.
What should we do?
I hope they would pick these two because I,
I can't believe we don't see any other series represented.
That's the biggest takeaway I have.
That's very,
it's an interesting point.
I do know that Martins are more expensive overseas.
So it's possible those series may sell more overseas,
but to be fair,
this is going back to 2003 at the time you guys went into business and a lot of the guitars you're talking about weren't around back then.
(48:39):
So,
so they may sell very well over the last five years or eight years.
So that may be maybe not another program,
but maybe you could ask Laurie to look into since the,
uh maybe just since the reimagined Standard Series and maybe put that in the comments at some other time.
And here are the top 10 from just from 2018 when the,
(49:03):
when the uh reimagined Standard Series uh came in and I would suspect where then we're going to see an encroachment of the road series.
That's just a guess.
But,
and maybe we should do something fun here and do a little bit of pay it forward if you guys would hit the Like button and promise that you're gonna hit the Like button.
I'll tell you something.
I wasn't gonna tell you and we could have made it a different episode.
(49:25):
We could have milked this and done another week.
If you hit the Like button for us,
I'm gonna tell you numbers 11 through 20 really quickly.
And if you didn't hit the Like button,
uh earmuff it for him and put your hands over your ears,
mute your stereo and then come back in like 20 seconds because you don't deserve to hear this.
But had we made this the top 20 number 11 and after it's all over spoon,
(49:48):
tell me what you think.
Number 11 would have been D junior 10 Sitka 12 would have been S C 13 E coa 13 would have been triple oh 10 E 14 0 M J M 15 0 M 28 Modern deluxe.
(50:10):
Here they come.
16 CEO seven.
How is that?
Not on the top 10,
17 D 15 M.
There she is 18 D 28 modern deluxe,
19 triple oh 28 E modern deluxe.
(50:30):
Here we go.
And the 20th best seller to date is the O M 21.
Interesting stuff.
Fascinating.
Fascinating.
Well,
just looking at it very quickly,
I would have thought the M 21 would have been higher.
Uh I was not expecting a junior to be in the top 20 and So a lot of what I just said about this going back to 22,003,
(50:55):
maybe one or two things would happen is that the list,
if you only went back to 2018,
maybe a lot of these in the next 10 down would be in the top 10.
But a lot of these guitars have not been around that much.
Uh Not that long.
The modern delux is particularly and look how well they're selling.
(51:15):
They've already made the top 20 going all the way back throughout your entire history of your business.
So,
and we have an S C 13 Eco A.
It has sold that well and they haven't been around for,
they've barely been around and they're already in the top 20 all time.
That's really amazing.
So,
I'm glad you shared that with us.
(51:35):
I think that's really fascinating and that the no mayor continues to sell and be popular.
So,
uh so you can see why the CEO seven and the mayor have remained in the catalog long after a CEO model and a artist signature model by all rights would have been retired a long time ago,
but they just sell too well.
(51:57):
Uh It was very good reason.
Oh,
yeah.
And it's funny,
I was at the Martin Factor a couple of days ago and I got,
I put a post up on Facebook and immediately our friend Peter Cree said,
oh,
I just missed you and I said,
you know,
what time were you there?
I said the day before,
but kidding aside,
he actually played everything in the lobby and everything in the Martin picking parlor.
And he said,
hands down the S C 13 E special was the best sounding guitar in there.
(52:21):
I mean,
there were some good guitars on the wall there.
So,
you know,
Peter knows stuff.
He's bought a lot of guitars from us and,
uh,
shout out to our friend Peter C C studios.
The S CS are here to stay and I,
I don't want to ever use the word guarantee,
but I almost guarantee if it's February of 2023 right now.
Let's revisit this list next year.
I would almost guarantee more than a couple of S C from the road series are gonna be in this list.
(52:45):
Maybe even including that crazy custom shop,
CS S C 2022 that you and I gushed over to a fault with Tim Thiel back in the Martin Museum a few months ago.
But this S C stuff is not a fad if you haven't,
uh you know,
given it,
it,
it's due,
you're missing out.
And if you want to really playable Martin guitar,
(53:05):
regardless of,
do you play high up in the neck or do you plug in the S C 13 E 13 E special?
Uh the 13 E special,
burst the S C 10 E,
get your hands on one of them if you can,
but you're gonna see that in the top 10 list here soon.
It's probably only a matter of time.
So I do hope you guys enjoyed this program,
Jeanie.
Thank you again for the idea.
Uh We hope,
(53:26):
uh,
we didn't stray too far from the original premise of asking Martin what the top 10 guitars are.
But again,
if we can get some information to you guys later,
we'll certainly add it to the show notes and spoon.
Once again.
Happy birthday.
Hope you had a great weekend.
Yeah,
it was very,
it was very nice.
Yes,
I spent it,
spent the night before with friends.
Uh I spent yesterday with family,
(53:48):
my sister,
uh she happened to have a,
a cabaret performance.
So I was actually at the cabaret performance being the videographer.
And so I had a quiet night and I carried over this morning to an indulgent pancake breakfast.
So making the most of a birthday weekend.
But thank you very much.
And this was been great fun and I look forward to the next from all of us at Maury's Music.
(54:11):
Thanks for listening.
Hear you later.
Pancake.
This has been a presentation of Mari's music.
Your trusted source for Martin and Blue Ridge Guitars.
Find us online at Mari's music dot com.
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