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Was it a good deal?
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Author:  Shawn Hines [ Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:55 am ]
Post subject:  Was it a good deal?

There was a guy on my local craigslist that had about 30 complete guitar kits that he had bought at some time from Martin as 2nds. I triple checked and all of the "2nds" that I bought had either no visible issues or easily fixable issues. I build ukuleles and this is my first guitar so I really don't know what is out there to get an idea if I got an ok deal or not.

All solid woods of course

- Sitka Spruce top (got it black and uncut since I want to cut the soundhole and do the rosette myself)
- 000 cutaway body, (rosewood) with sides already formed and blocked with kerfed lining installed.
- A three piece back I think it is korina on each side with a rosewood middle. Im not a big fan of three piece
backs and dont know if they are desirable on guitars but the colors are complimentary and it looks interesting.
- Mahogany 14 fret neck with rosewood headplate installed and rosewood fretboard slotted and drilled for dots
- All spruce bracing
$225

was it an ok deal? or should i go back and kick his head in?

He gave me some tuners but they dont look to be Martin quality and I am not going to use them.

I will still need to get tuners, truss rod, bridge material and frets.

Author:  George L [ Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Was it a good deal?

Yes, that's an okay deal. Don't kick anyone's head in.

Author:  Shawn Hines [ Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Was it a good deal?

I looked at it again and it appears that the back is actually ovangkol/rosewood/ovangkol and is from the Martin OMC16ogte model. I wish I had the matching Ovangkol sides now.

I think I am going to do it a little different though, either do a McPherson style soundhole or no soundhole and a large side port.

Author:  wbergman [ Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Was it a good deal?

It is interesting that on the Martin factory tour, my guide said that all defective wood parts are incinerated. I bought a kit with Martin parts a few years back, also. I wonder what the true story is regarding Martin parts sold in kits.

Author:  Shawn Hines [ Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Was it a good deal?

This guy had nothing but seconds. He had enough to make about 30 sets. Nothing major though. The back that I bought had a hairline crack in it that was super easy to fix and the fretboard had a small mark on one of the fret slots.

Author:  JohnAbercrombie [ Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Was it a good deal?

wbergman wrote:
It is interesting that on the Martin factory tour, my guide said that all defective wood parts are incinerated. I bought a kit with Martin parts a few years back, also. I wonder what the true story is regarding Martin parts sold in kits.


I'm interested in this, too.
I bought a bunch of '2nd' 'Martin' fingerboards a few years ago from an eBay seller. Most of them seem pretty good to me. They definitely weren't incinerated!

Cheers
John

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