Bonding with the Backup

As mentioned yesterday, I have two babies in the infirmary. (Thankfully, they're ready to be discharged, and I'll bring them home tomorrow.) With no Martin and no mandolin in the house, that means my backup (the recently-acquired Recording King RO-310) has gotten a *lot* of playing time in the past week. I can honestly say that I'm happier than ever with it.

There are some significant differences between it and the Martin. First, it's a smaller-bodied guitar. It's "000" sized, where the HD-28 is a bigger "dreadnaught" style. (A chart of Martin body sizes is here.) That means a different sound, and it's also a difference in feel when you're standing up and playing it.

For the past week, I've been playing exclusively standing up. I started out just to test if I could actually do it - and found out that I not only could, but that I prefer it. I'm aware that my sitting posture holding a guitar isn't great, and standing up with it makes that issue disappear. I also really like being able to walk around while practicing, instead of being rooted to one spot. When I get the Martin back tomorrow, it will have a strap button, so I'll be able to stand with it. But I know the bigger-bodied dreadnaught will feel different, and I'm very curious to see if I'll like it.

Another difference between the guitars is the tone woods. The HD-28 has rosewood back and sides, and I simply *adore* how it sounds. The backup has mahogany back and sides, like the Martin 18 series (D-18, 000-18). It's a good sound too, just different...maybe drier. It's supposedly the tone wood of choice for fingerpicking.

A surprisingly big difference is the nut width. The HD-28 is 1 11/16 inches wide, and the Recording King is 1 3/4. Those are the two most common nut widths. I recently saw a thread on the Acoustic Guitar Forum, asking if you could really tell the difference that 1/16 of an inch makes. My answer is that you definitely can. I noticed right away when I got the RK that it took me a little time to adjust to one guitar after playing the other. My fingers would land just a little bit "off". I wouldn't call it a problem - but I absolutely do notice the difference, and I do have to adjust from one to the other.

So after a week of intensively playing the backup, I'm curious what it will feel like to sit down with the HD-28. And to stand up with it. Stay tuned for a full report.