If this has been covered before, my apologies. I've done a search in the forum for references to plastic guitars and plastic Martins and several combinations with no luck.

Have you seen the new Martin lines of plastic guitars? I was in my favorite music store the other day and saw two of the ugliest instruments I've ever seen. They were full-sized jumbo styles (large, but with a narrow waist, as opposed to a dreadnaught style) and their faces were painted — one with a Hawaiian scene and the other with a cowboy motif. The artwork was garishly colored and about sophisticated enough to have been done by a 10-year-old. They were asking $1,295 Cdn!

I know Martin came out with Backpackers and, more recently, Little Martins. The latter, as far as I can tell, have nary a splinter of wood in them unless you count what appears to be a laminated, then machined neck. They come in faux woodgrains, black and there's FeLiX model. Check this

Now I've never been a big fan of Martins, but that's because of the style of music I play, not because they were bad guitars. For bluegrass the D-series can't be beat and some of the smaller models are pretty good for other types as well. But this makes me wonder where the company is going. Are they after what used to be Ovation's market niche?

Any thoughts on this?

david