I have owned three Martins. The first was a steel-string, a 00-18, bought in 1953. I switched to classic guitar in 1954 and bought a 00-28-G, the top of the Martin nylon-string classic line. It was an excellent classic. A couple of years later, I bought a 00-18-G classic (mahogany back and sides rather than Brazilian rosewood, considerably less expensive than the 00-28-G) to pack around to parties and such. All three of these guitars were very fine instruments.

I have long since moved on to even better guitars. Two of the guitars I now own were made outside of the United States. One is a flamenco guitar made in Madrid by Arcangel Fernandez, and the other is a Japanese-made classic that I got for around $350.00 in 1977. It was hand-made by a Japanese luthier who apprenticed under Arcangel Fernandez, imported by José Oribé, and sold under his label. It looks exactly like the concert José Ramirez that Segovia played and when I played a recital for the Seattle Classic Guitar Society using this guitar, partly because of its appearance and partly because of its full, rich sound, these knowledgeable folk assumed that it was a Ramirez. Remarkable when you consider that I got it for about 1/20th of what a Ramirez would have cost me.

Merely because I'm oriented toward classic guitars doesn't mean I don't know anything about steel-string guitars. Remember, when someone is playing a steel-string guitar, I'm in front of it, where I can hear what it really sounds like. Most Martin guitars are still quite good. Some are exceptionally good. But their overall quality is not as good as it was thirty or forty years ago. Two instruments of the same model can vary widely, and this didn't use to be the case.

American luthiers turn out some crap. American luthiers also turn out some of the finest instruments in the world. Japanese luthiers turn out some crap. Japanese luthiers also turn out some of the finest instruments in the world. I've heard steel-string Yamahas and Takamines that can hold their own with any guitars around. And like GUEST, Diogenes, I see as many Taylors on Austin City Limits as Martins and Gibsons combined. Also, I see a lot of guitars that I can't identify, but I can see that they're neither Martins nor Gibsons.

Sorry Marty. Them's the facts. And it has nothing to do with being a "GOOD AMERICAN." (Whatever the hell that is!!)

Don Firth