Nazareth Music Center

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We left the Martin Guitar factory with catalogs and information in hand, including the fact that there was a Martin dealer one mile away. We went across the street to a pizza place, and decided that we'd stop at the dealer after we grabbed a quick lunch. I was trying not to get my hopes up too high - but it suddenly did seem possible, that if all went well, I might actually be coming home with a Martin guitar that very day.

The GPS got us to the Nazareth Music Center with no difficulty. We asked if we could see some guitars, and they asked if we wanted to see Martins. We said we very much did, and they laughingly called their store, "part 2 of the Martin tour." I'm fairly certain we're not the first people to finish the factory tour and head directly for the nearest dealer. They had a whole room dedicated to Martins, with anything you could ask for in stock (there's a picture of the room on their Martin page).

The HD-28 I ended up coming home with.

The first thing they asked me to do was put on a shop apron - which makes sense, they don't want belt buckles or anything like that scratching the guitars. I asked to play a 000-28, which is what I thought I wanted - and they put one in my lap. But then they said I needed to also try...I forget the terminology, but a 000-28 with a different kind of internal bracing (maybe it was called a 000-28H?) The "H" is apparently an upgrade - and it did sound a little better to both of our ears.

Then I asked for a D-28 (the same guitar in a full-sized dreadnaught body.) It sounded fantastic, and a noticeably bigger sound. After playing each guitar, I looked over at Darling Wife, and she was smiling and nodding as if to say it sounded great. Then they put another one in my lap - the HD-28 (the "H" being the same upgrade as the 000-28H over the 000-28.) I played a chord and thought "wow!" Then I looked over at DW and she was nodding her head vigorously. It was *clearly* the best and biggest-sounding guitar.

One happy birthday boy!

I played them all again, one after the other, trying my best to compare. It was really a no-lose decision - they all sounded fantastic, and I would have been thrilled with any of them. But the HD-28 just sounded the best. So I said it was the one. They wiped it off, put it in the case, and sent me home with it.

There's a line from the end of my favorite movie, where Ralphie, after getting his Red Ryder b.b. gun, calls it, "the best present I had ever received - or would ever receive." That's pretty much how I feel. I'm still almost in shock to have such a beautiful instrument right here at my fingertips. My Darling Wife out-did herself, and I could not be more grateful. This is truly a lifetime guitar - it is not an exaggeration to say that I will never need to upgrade again in my life.

It's also not an exaggeration to say that it was a day I'll never forget. The factory and museum tour alone would have made it a memorable day - but actually picking out a Martin and coming home with it? That was completely unexpected, and made it an all-time day to remember. No, the birthday Martin wasn't really a surprise - but with Meadowood Music closed for the day, it never occurred to me as a possibility that it might happen the same day.

Thank you, Lori, from the bottom of my heart.

Martin Factory Tour

I recently had a round-number birthday, and Darling Wife suggested we go to the Martin Guitar factory and museum in Nazareth, PA for the day. She was working the actual day of my birthday, so I took a personal day on the day before, and off we went.

This is something we've talked about for a while. Martin is famous as a maker of high-end acoustic guitars, and they make them right here in Pennsylvania. It's not that far away (1.5 hours), and everyone I know who's been on the tour highly recommends it.

There has been talk of a birthday Martin, but that's not happening today. We've looked at Martin dealers, and the one we'll go to is Meadowood Music, up near Reading - and they're closed on Mondays.

We arrived around 11:30am after an easy drive up the Northeast Extension, and were assigned to the 12:30 tour. That gave us time to look through the museum - which was fascinating. Martin has been making guitars since the 1830's, and the museum was a history of the guitar in addition to the history of the company. Things got especially interesting when you got to the 50's and 60's up to today, as just about anyone you've ever heard of has played a Martin, and there were instruments from Elvis, Bob Dylan, Lennon and McCartney, Johnny Cash, Crosby Stills & Nash, Eric Clapton, etc., etc.

Our tour group was called at 12:25, and the tour lasted about an hour. You actually walk through the factory and workshops as they're making guitars. It was so interesting to see blocks of wood coming in, and the various stages as building and assembling guitars. There's machinery that does a lot of the precision cutting - but there's also a lot of it that's done by hand.

When the tour is over, they direct you to the gift shop (of course I now have a Martin Guitar t-shirt), and the Picking Room - a roomful of high end Martins that you can play (but not buy, you have to buy from a dealer.)

I played everything that had up on the wall. The D-18 sounded fantastic, with an especially strong treble sound. The 000-28 had a very satisfying fatter sound, and I kinda liked the smaller body "000" size instead of the full-size dreadnaught (the "D" in D-18 or D-28.) The twelve-string D-2812 had an *amazing* sound - I don't think I ever fully appreciated the big ringing sound of a good 12-string guitar.

So I had some ideas on what I'd potentially be interested if and when we finally found a time to get up to Meadowood. But it was past 2pm and we were hungry, so we got ready to go. It had been a *hugely* fun day. We grabbed some catalogs and information, including a list of area dealers. The nearest one was one mile away....

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