Comments re: the past, present, and future of One Man’s Guitar

It is gratifying to receive such encouraging words from a reader

I thought I would share this, from its nook under a particular model’s review

“I am commenting on this nearly three year old review to remind you and your audience of the value of your archival reviews. As I mature as a guitarist, my needs and interests are evolving from my dread-only origins. I have only recently discovered the wonders of short scale on smaller bodied guitars which has led me to a beautiful but lonely custom shop 00-18 that has been gathering dust in my dealer’s warehouse for a couple of years. I have a feeling it will find a home soon. This review is certainly helpful.

The detail of these reviews is without equal. I was especially edified by your tangent into the effect of various spruces over mahogany. Timeless information! And, I always listen to the videos through headphones at high volume with my eyes closed. The sound you generate is incredible. Thanks for doing what you do.

Indy”

One Man’s Reply:

Well thank you, Indy, for your comments.

The 00-18 is indeed a very successful model, as is the 00-28.

Over the past year or so I was beset with various obstacles when it came to having the time and ability to maintain my writing pace. And I know some of the older reviews could use my own re-reviewing, in case any specs have changed on models still available for sale.

But right now I am trying to carve out the time to review the NEW Martins for 2019. I am already working on them, but I must devote more time to the writing that actually brings me fees.

I am mindful, however, of the generous donations this site brings in from time to time, which helps keep it afloat. And I am happy to honor the obligation I feel to keep the reviews coming.

And more are on the way!

Thanks again for your acknowledgement of the words and videos I put together to provide one man’s take on this worthy musical instruments.

Would that I had the time and proximity to do the same with many other brands and builders. Alas, every time a local NYC dealer has shown interest in allowing me access to their shop and stock to make such videos as appear at onemanz.com, their corporate overloads refuse to support the endeavor. But hope springs eternal!

~

And I shall add here that some of the issues preventing me from working at the pace I once did are medical in nature, relating to decades of self-taught guitar playing and frantic use of the computer mouse and keyboard.

But, I am pleased to report I have invested in Dragon Home dictation software, by Nuance. And I wish I had done so long ago. It really is a marvel. And while it’s taken time to get use to, in terms of the rhythms of writing and for the program to learn the specific jargon required for my purposes, it is remarkably easy to use.

In fact I have composed this entire post using Dragon, with hardly any need to correct the results.

I’ve tried other dictation software, and nothing comes close to Dragon thus far; certainly not the gibberish-blithering idiot inhabiting Microsoft Office 2010!

Ms. Cortana understands one perfectly when in the default search field on the Windows task bar, if only to respond with items for sale on the Internet while ignoring the things one might actually be searching for on their own computer.

But the moment one is in a Word document or Excel spreadsheet, she suffers from egregious and permanent brain damage with her aphasia and ignorance of the English language so complete as to trigger obscenity-spewing Tourette syndrome in the most genteel of users.

But thanks to Dragon, I am able to compose and send emails, “write” for hours on end, and accomplish most web browser-oriented tasks without the use of my hands, sometimes with one arm of the other resting in a sling.

I should like to think my readers will understand that preserving my ability to play guitars, when necessary and sometimes purely for pleasure, outweighs my desire or need to write about guitars. So I’m happy to have found a way to do both whilst continuing to persevere with therapies to combat and overcome my ongoing obstacles.

And to that end, my first guitar review for 2019 will be the Martin D-28 Modern Deluxe, coming to One Man’s Guitar soon!