A Martin for a beginner?

Hi Nuno :D

The Martin looks like a fine guitar.
1200 US is the price for a medium range guitar.
I personally think those are the better option.
I don't care much for inexpensive musical pieces, nor do I much care for overadorned/overpriced models.

If the Martin makes the sound you're looking for and works well with your picking style....
And you plan on playing guitar for the rest of your life, in my opinion starting with a midrange acoustic is a good bet.
You'll both grow and mature together, and you'll get to appreciate the sweetening of the tone as the wood ages.

It'll be a dependable guitar that will be like your best friend. :wink:

Ken

One of my best friends is my Oscar-Schmidt Acoustic-Electric that was $299 Canadian. That's the guitar all of my acoustic work is done on. There are hidden jewels everywhere :wink:

Ken, please let me emphasize your sentence: "You'll both grow and mature together." Very beautiful and with a lot of "feeling". It transmits to me a special feeling because your are attributing some features to the guitar as it matures, it has life. Very nice.

Probably you are pointing the problem correctly and I must reformulate the original question because although currently I am a beginner, if I keep playing, I'll be able to appreciate its characteristics in the future. Maybe a kind of investment...

Thanks a lot! :D

PS. BTW the SGinCYQx's approach is the other possibility: a cheap guitar could be also a good guitar.

For the moderators. Sorry, really I don't understand what is the criteria for posting a new topic in these forums. Usually I try to think the origin and scope of my question and to compare them with other posts and the short description in the index page. Sometimes I also searched some rules in the FAQ zone or info in the sticky posts. For example, in this case, my goal was looking for opinions on ranges of guitars and experience of players and not opinions on particular guitars or brands. For this reason, I wrote the question in a guitar players forum. I'm sorry. :?

My two cents worth...

Beginners often acquire 'beginner guitars', and these really hamper more than help. It's a pretty rare guitar in the bottom of the price range that's a decent enough instrument to learn on. Better quality instruments are definately a good choice for the beginner - they sound better and they're easier to play. So if money's no object, get whatever you can afford.

However, there's a limit to what's right for a beginner. Beginners usually don't have the tone control to really bring out the sound of an expensive guitar; a beginner will sound a lot better on a $300 instrument than on a $75 instrument, but usually won't sound much better on the $1200 one than a $300 one.

Beginners also tend to fret a lot harder than they need to. Before your calluses are developed, that's almost unavoidable, but after they come in hard fretting can be a tough habit to break. As a result, beginners often wear out their first guitar in a few years. With full refrets running $150-300 depending on the binding, you can replace a lower-end instrument; with a higher end one, you'll end up without the guitar for a few days while the refret is done - refretting is the logical choice.

One more thought - there's something of a gap between a 'better quality' guitar and a 'more expensive' guitar. About 5% of the beginning students I see have a guitar that's unplayable, or close to it. Often those are low-end, but not always... I had a beginner this year show up with a spanking new Fender that had a warped neck. Another 10% show up with an awesome guitar - really fine Taylors, Martins, etc. The rest have guitars that are perfectly playable, but not stellar - and these run the gamut in price from $75-$500 or so; some students ended up with good quality inexpensive guitars, others got so-so examples of the big name brands.

I don't see a noticeable difference in progress between students with decent guitars versus great guitars... but either group tends to move ahead faster than those with guitars that are hard to play. But there IS one factor that seems to trump all the others: desire.

One of my students is a girl who has a very low-end guitar, barely outside the junk range. Her family is strapped for cash, and that's all they could afford. But she really works with what she's got. About a month ago I asked her if she's noticed her guitar sounds a lot better than it used to - she had. She asked me if that's because it's getting better with time, and I told her no... she is. I handed her my Martin for a few minutes, and she really made it sound good - much better than other students with similar experience who started out at the high end.

An opinion on the Martin D-15: I know some people who love this guitar and (ab)use it often in performance and practice. It sounds nice live, records well and is pretty tough as well.

the DX1 is the cheapest solid top model Martin has. I own one.

It's splendid. Really, it has excellent sound and won't destroy your bank account for around $400. I would say it's the closest thing to getting a Martin for a beginner.

i believe NoteBoat answered the question with much more knowledge and detail than i can offer, but here goes...one of the things i like about learning the guitar is rewarding myself after working hard. i had a cheap, horrible sounding Sigma acoustic lying around my place for years. about a year and a half ago i decided i was going to actually put in the effort and learn on that junky thing. i promised myself that if i actually made progress, i would eventually reward myself with a 'nicer' guitar.
just consider setting some goals for yourself, and if you reach them on a cheaper (yet playable) guitar, go out and spend the money on a nicer one. then set some new goals, and when you reach those, add something new to your collection. its really fun.

Thank you very much for all your kind answers! :D

GuitarHack, when I started to play again this summer (I played 20 years ago), I also set a goal. It was simple: if I played my old Ramírez every day during 3 months, then I would buy a new one. I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard which I've played almost every day since November.

Really I follow your same strategy in several hobbies or activities. For example, I'm a runner. When I achieve the goal, usually a time which improves my personal record in a race, I bought something that I want as a reward: a shirt, a watch... or my reward for the next year marathon: a GPS for runners. In fact, this new guitar is also a reward.

The Noteboat's answer made me think one more time about the question. It can be interpreted in several ways. Really, his opinion is very important because he is working with beginners all the day. One more time: Thank you Noteboat! :D

First, I read the advice if money's no object, get whatever you can afford. Really, this is the case 1000€ or $1200 is a considerable money but it is not a problem now. 1001€ is another thing! :mrgreen:

The rest of the post explains another point of view and it includes some very important aspects. For example, the refretting. I remember when I started with my LP, I modified the sound only applying more or less force to the string. It made me consider my habits learned with nylon strings. Another very interesting point: But there IS one factor that seems to trump all the others: desire. I like music and really I want to be able to produce music.

I was to the store this morning. I was playing around four guitars and hearing another six or eight, from 300€ to 3000€: Martins (D-16, D-28, DXM), Taylors, Yamahas, Washburns, Seagulls, Fenders, Takamines, Larrivées... and a very good Chinese brand which made authorized Martin's copies.

Really the sound of the D-15 is special, perhaps the mahogany or I don't know, but it sounds better than more expensive guitars to my ears and also for the salesman (a very kind man). I understand the people that Gnease knows. For me it is a special guitar, it is different to others... I think Frank Zappa said the guitar chooses the player.

I explained my situation to two salesmen. They saw as I play and both recommend the guitar as the best option. More or less in the Ken's line.

But... the guitar was sold yesterday... I ordered a new one this morning. It will arrive in 10 days.

Concluding, thank you very much for all your opinions and comments! They really help me! :D