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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Martin Super Dreadnought.

DavidRDavidR Frets: 595
edited December 2022 in Acoustics
In this months Guitarist, a piece about this new offering from Martin which they're terribly excited about. Martin's Custom Shop bloke suggesting that the Super Dreadnought is a step on from......a Dreadnought. Apparently, the Dreadnought battleship was superseded by an even larger warship called the superdreadnought so, hey, why not!?

Call me Mr Cynical, but why isn't it just a Gibson round-shoulder? OK, its a very different body shape to Martin's own J40 but the Super Dreadnought now on offer is not a million miles from a Gibson J-45 is it?

Custom Shop Super D | Guitars | Martin Guitar

Gibson | J-45 50s Faded Faded Sunburst

Except.....oh yes......almost exactly twice the price.

I'm sure, like most top end Martins, it's very nice. Will it catch on? Time will tell.

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Comments

  • SRichSRich Frets: 751
    edited December 2022
    Surely the J-45 is slope shouldered Mahogany / Rosewood and very different from the Martin…….wouldn’t necessarily compare the two……..pricing is through the roof on both of course.

    "There's things I want, there's things I think I want 
    There's things I've had, there's things I wanna have" 
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  • bertiebertie Frets: 12145
    both, boring.  
    just because you don't, doesn't mean you can't
     just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
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  • TanninTannin Frets: 4394
    DavidR said:
    Martin's Custom Shop bloke suggesting that the Super Dreadnought is a step on from......a Dreadnought. Apparently, the Dreadnought battleship was superseded by an even larger warship called the superdreadnought so, hey, why not!?



    No it wasn't.  Not unless they have been smoking dope and reading EE Smith space operas from the 1930s.

    But no matter. Why not have a bigger dreadnought? It's not something I'd be interested in myself - and certainly not at Martin prices! - but it seems like a valid option for them as fancies it. I think there is a valid place for really big guitars, but I'd pick an oversize jumbo over an oversize dreadnought every time. Is that a tonal preference?  Or simply aesthetic? Not sure. Bit of both maybe.

    (What am I saying? I own an oversize jumbo, albeit a baritone, and have a second one on order.)

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  • MSedgMSedg Frets: 88
    I think they’ve been reading wikipedia- 
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought#Super-dreadnoughts

    Personally it’s not something I’d be massively excited about - finding most dreads uncomfortably large as it is - but I can see the benefit for bluegrass players who want everything to be as loud as possible (or at least “banjo loud”). I’m not convinced Martin are the people to buy from if you want a massively loud guitar though. Having played a fair few of the Modern Deluxes with features Martin said would make them louder (carbon fibre bridgeplates, Liquid Metal pins) I’ve found them to actually seem pretty quiet, at least from a players position.

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  • KilgoreKilgore Frets: 8107
    A bigger dreadnought is something my aging body doesn't need unless it comes with complimentary physiotherapy sessions.
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  • RickLucasRickLucas Frets: 353
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAPpOb5RAmk&t=389s
    Dreads are the Telecaster of acoustics. No need to mess with perfection.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    DavidR said:

    Call me Mr Cynical, but why isn't it just a Gibson round-shoulder? OK, its a very different body shape to Martin's own J40 but the Super Dreadnought now on offer is not a million miles from a Gibson J-45 is it?
    Only if you mean the 1970s 'square shoulder' J-45, which is almost universally derided as an overbuilt clunker. (I'm sure there are a few nice ones, or at least nice-ish, just in case anyone here has one they love! :) ) Otherwise no, not remotely similar. The classic slope-shoulder J-45 is slightly smaller than a Martin Dreadnought, and a noticeably different shape (not just at the shoulders).

    I love big, powerful-sounding acoustics - which is why I have a Gibson Dove - but I honestly can't see the point in this.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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