November 25, 2024

Latest Acoustic Guitar Reviews and News

Review

K Wingert Guitar Review – Model F Custom

one manby one man0

The first thing that comes to mind when seeing this K Wingert guitar is, “That’s a big guitar!” The first thing that comes to mind when I hear this K Wingert guitar is, “That’s a big guitar!”

But as big and bold as it sounds, its voice remains refined and lovely from the first note to the fading final moments of the resonant sustain.

The second thing that comes to mind is how this K Wingert guitar stands apart from instruments I am used to seeing and playing, and how its uniqueness makes it a good example for anyone contemplating a custom order from an independent, small-shop luthier.

“With quality tonewoods matched by the artistry used to create it, this custom Wingert Model F has a full-bodied voice rich and satisfying as steaming hot cocoa made with half and half, while allowing for clear notes that come right through all that indulgent rosewood/alpine spruce tone.”

Read the Full K Wingert Guitar Review

K Wingert guitar Model F Custom - guitar review at onemanz.com

Acoustic Guitars / Review

Randall Kramer Guitars Debuts at Woodstock Invitational – exclusive preview

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Randall Kramer guitars debuts this weekend, at the Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase – our exclusive up close and personal preview

Sparky Kramer was visiting one of his customers in New York City last night, on his way to the big guitar show. So, I stopped by for a chat with the California wood charmer, and a look at these new and delightful musical instruments, made with gorgeous woods and super smart design features.

“The guitar sounded huge for such a small size. It invited one to play with the absolutely lightest touch they could, and be rewarded with such lovely tone and marvelous projection. But it had no issue with being attacked, and effortlessly turned into a blues machine.”

Read the Full Article on Randall Kramer Guitars

Guitar interior by Randall Kramer from sound port

Acoustic Guitars / General Music News

Martinfest 12 – Annual gathering of Martin guitar lovers

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The Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum has thousands of members world wide. The small percentage who make the trek to Nazareth, PA to meet in person at their annual get-together have formed an extended family beyond what normally comes from meeting people from the internet.

“It is the rare sort of bond normally reserved for old army buddies, or the lifelong friendships formed during one’s college years. They sometimes find it hard to explain to their spouses or family and friends back home, so they will bring them along and let them see for themselves…

While other guitar brands have their loyal fans, none seem to evoke as much reverence and affection from their admirers as Martin, and this has led people from greatly diverse backgrounds to find they share a similar love of music that transcends their many differences…

Republicans room with Democrats, liberals stay up till dawn with the conservatives they looked so forward to seeing after a year apart; even Yankees fans find themselves warmly embraced by fans of the Tigers, Oriels and Red Sox. From the Oscar winner to the homemaker, the CPA to the MBA, all and all, they have found common ground in this most unpretentious celebration rooted in the love of music and Martin guitars…

As one member put it, “Music is a unifying force that reaches across many boundaries and brings people together in very deep and lasting ways.” Martinfest is living proof of that.”

Read the full Article on Martinfest 12

Martinfest lounge singalong

Acoustic Guitars / Review

Martin D-45S Authentic 1936 Review

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Visit the Mountaintop of Acoustic Guitars in Our D-45S Authentic 1936 Review

An instrument as impressive as its hefty price tag

… a sound bigger than Texas and just about as audacious. I have played examples of them all, from the D-100 to the Celtic Knot, to the Stephen Stills. There just hasn’t been a modern-day pearly Martin with a sound this enormous. The D-45S Authentic 1936 provides a sumptuous feast when playing even the basic cowboy chords. Add in some harmonic drone strings, or Jazz chords, and you also get to have Christmas pudding while sitting before the tree in all its trimmings.

Not many readers will ever get to see one of these, let alone actually afford to buy one. But we present this review for educational purposes, and to offer the opportunity that some might be inspired to knuckle down and put their nose to the grindstone, and become the kind of self-made man who actually can afford to buy one. We feel we owe it, to society. You can thank me when you invite me over to play your D-45SA 1936.

Read the full D-45S Authentic Review

D-45S Authentic 1936 Review

Acoustic Guitars / Review

Our Martin D-18 Authentic 1939 Review

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The Classic Mahogany Dreadnought Explored:
Our D-18 Authentic 1939 Review

The time machine Martin closest of all to the priceless pre-war instrument sought after by so many.

The light build on this mahogany/Adirondack is reinforced by rear-shifted braces, with the main X brace placed a bit farther back than on modern Martins. This helps add to the openness of the voice, and reduces the rumble in the bass, so the bottom notes retain great definition while the highs have all the cutting power a Bluegrass flatpicker could hope for.

Whether you are listening to Brownie McGhee singing the Blues, or Kris Kristofferson singing about Bobby McGee singing the Blues, you are hearing a D-18 laying down the rhythm. The folk music of Simon and Garfunkel, Donovan, and Gordon Lightfoot featured the D-18, as did the Rock n Roll of Elvis Presley, Jerry Garcia, and Kurt Cobain. And when it came to Mountain Music, Old Time, and Bluegrass, the D-18 has reigned supreme, especially among the hot-handed pickers.

And no D-18 yet is as like to taking a time machine to the 1930s and buying one, days after the glue has dried.

Read the full D-18 Authentic 1939

Martin D-18 Authentic 1939 review
photo: R. Dennie

 

Acoustic Guitars / Review

Martin D-28 Authentic 1941 Review

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We get to the heart of the heart of Martin’s Authentic Series with our D-28 Authentic 1941 Review

As our D-28 Authentic 1941 review shows, “this isn’t just a good vintage D-28 reissue; it’s a great guitar.”

Tone, dynamics and playability matter most to me when judging a guitar. This guitar gets top marks in all three areas. When it comes to tone, it had me at the first strum, because of its ringing purity, impressive depth, effortless volume, and its expansive, open, room filling presence.

If I didn’t already have a 1966 D-28 that was converted to pre-war specs, I would have bought one of these guitars the day I played the prototype at the Martin factory.

The Martin D-28 is the most copied guitar in history. Martin alone has no fewer than 10 different versions of the D-28 available in their current catalog, with varying prices and levels of vintage appointments.

Many luthiers, from small workshops to major manufacturers have come out with their own take on the D-28, and many have tried to put in the specs they think matter most when trying to capture some of that legendary vibe, sound and feel that made pre-war Martins so famous. Well, this is Martin’s own attempt to make a D-28 as close to how they made them back in the day, as realistically possible. And they have done a pretty amazing job, especially considering the relatively low price tag.

Yes, Brazilian rosewood would have been very nice to have for the back and sides. But it simply would have put these guitars out of sight. The D-28 1941 Authentic is not a collectable museum piece to be set in a closet to protect the investment required to own one. It is an exquisite, yet practical musical instrument that can and shall be played, recorded and enjoyed.

Read the Full D-28 Authentic 1941 Review Here

D-28 Authentic 1941 review

Uncategorized

International readership on the rise

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International readership increasing at One Man’s Guitar

Welcome to our friends from abroad

I am happy to report that One Man’s guitar is now getting more visitors via search engines than links posted on guitar forums. Many of them are on overseas networks. While we are most popular with Americans, international readership will hopefully continue to increase as more people learn about the site.

I have received email over the years from many people over seas and from every continent but Antarctica, seeking my advice on guitars, or asking me if I could go play a guitar in a local shop that someone was thinking of buying. It is gratifying that so many  new people from all over America and the rest of the world are discovering the new website and are hopefully finding worth their while.

And just as it is greatly appreciated when someone posts a link to one of our reviews, articles or videos on guitar forums like the Unofficial Guitar Forum, the Acoustic Guitar Forum, Acusticamente, etc. it is very nice to see so many visits from people who found us by searching on Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Just today we have hits from the following Google entities:

Australia

Canada

France

Germany

the Maldives (!)

New Zealand

Japan

and the UK

And we had visits from many others, like India, Russia and Hong Kong.

Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions when you visit our pages. And don’t forget to “like” our Youtube videos, if you in fact like them!

Cheers!

And that is one man’s word on…

International readership at One Man’s guitar

Acoustic Guitars / NAMM 2013 / Review

Martin Grand J12-16GTE from Summer NAMM gets our exclusive reivew

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Martin Month continues at One Man’s Guitar with our review of the Martin Grand J12-16GTE

A Grand Jumbo 12-string with a Gloss Top and on-board Electronic amplification.

Made from solid mahogany and Sitka spruce, using the largest ever made by Martin. At this price point, the new Grand J12-16GTE offers more tone per dollar than any other 12-string currently available from Martin.

“There are all the bright and clear chimes one could desire coming off the trebles and harmony strings. And there is a nice definition in the bass, without all the smoke clouds that can gather under the low end of a rosewood guitar with a large bottom end.”

Read the Full Grand J12-16GTE Review

Martin Grand J-12GTE

 

Acoustic Guitars / NAMM 2013 / Review

CEO-7 – Martin’s slope shoulder 00 for the ages

one manby one man0

The CEO-7 is Martin’s successful take on the prewar Gibson L-00, which remains more Martin than anything else. It is a slope-shoulder 00 for the ages.

“When it came down to it, the whole time I was playing the guitar I kept feeling like the CEO-7 is the Golden Era Series reissue of a pre-war Martin that never existed. One might say it seems like it came from an alternate universe where Martin had been copying Gibson designs from the 1930s, rather than the other way around. But just as Gibson’s square-shoulder dreadnoughts like the Dove, Hummingbird and Gospel sound little like a Martin D-18, the CEO-7 may have a certain trebley ring thing that reminds me of an L-00, but it also has a resonance and sustain unlike any Gibson I ever heard.”

Read the Full Review of the CEO-7

Martin CEO-7

Acoustic Guitars / NAMM 2013

Gibson 1934 Original Jumbo – Summer NAMM

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Gibson 1934 Original Jumbo recreates the historic first Jumbo

Gibson adds to the growing number of “as close as we can make em to how they made em back then” guitars with a replica of their first round-shoulder Jumbo model, which debuted in 1934. And now it has been resurrected as the 1934 Original Jumbo, which debuted at Summer NAMM.

The model is based on a rare first-year Jumbo, serial number 507A, residing in the impressive collection of Gary Burnette of Bee 3 Vintage Guitars, in Asheville, North Carolina.

The advertising copy of the day said the original Jumbo model had “a heavy, booming tone…a bass that will amaze you and a clear, brilliant treble in perfect balance.” So, what about the 2013 version?

Burnette has yet to see an example of the new replica, but he did tell One Man’s Guitar that Gibson had shown great enthusiasm and care in their efforts to create an instrument as close to the genuine article as possible.

The Gibson press release said they were successful in reproducing the sweet mids and “deep inviting sound” heard from the vantage namesake of this new model. We look forward to a test drive sometime in the future.

Specs include mahogany back and sides with dark toner; an Adirondack spruce top, sanded thinner than modern Gibsons, rosewood for the fingerboard and straight bridge, a large V neck and period-correct string spacing, long saddle, and a dark sunburst with a small center pool of autumnal color, from harvest gold to twilight orange, to burnt umber fading into charcoal, glowing like a warm spotlight, centered between the bridge and sound hole and barely reaching across the traditional, tiger-stripe pick guard.

The edition is limited to 100 instruments. Call your dealer immediately, if you want one.

But it is our hope this may lead to a general release Jumbo that benefits from the modern trend to make guitars the old fashioned way.

 

Gibson 1934 Original Jumbo