Martin satins

Tannin · May 2023

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I made a prediction that the pandemic pricing surge would ease off. And it has ... sort of.

Martin Standard Series instruments have gone from about $3800 AUD (£2,027) to $5419 (£2,891 - OM-28, D-35, 00-28) and $5069 (£2,704 - D-28).

That's a huge increase, well out of kilter with movements in most other makes. Everything has gone up but Taylor, Furch, Maton, Cole Clark, Yamahe and Takamine have all kept their increases to around about half the Martin increases, in some cases less.

And it looks as if Martin have finally hit the customer resistance barrier because they have now introduced a new line in satin-finished Standard Series guitars. These are (so they say) identical to the traditional Standard Series models except for being finished in satin rather than gloss. Martin purists see this as a downgrade. Can't say I care either way myself - no-one in his right mind buys a Martin for its finish anyway - pretty much everyone except Gibson does that better after all.

Anyway, it amounts to a price drop by stealth: A satin D-28 is $4399 (£2,347), a satin D-18 is $4369.(£2,331). In other words, you can now once again buy a Standard Series Martin for around about the same price relative to all the other major brands as you paid in 2019. But it uses the cheaper satin finish.

How do we feel about that?

tomajoha · May 2023

Is it a price drop though? Your getting a guitar that is cheaper to produce due to the finish hence the relatively lower price? IHowever, I see your point though that you can arguably 'access' those models for cheaper

Tannin · May 2023

Well, it's not "cheaper", it's the same price as always (after inflation - compare with Taylor, Furch, Maton, etc), Martin have just lowered the spec. Meanwhile, other makers have not. And the normal gloss-finish Standard Series Martins are stratospherically dearer.

tomajoha · May 2023

is the satin still a nitro or is it poly?

thomasross20 · May 2023

Yeah I think not a real price drop. I got a brand new OM-05 Larrivee gloss for just over £2k recently and that's one of the higher end models!

Tannin · May 2023

I think it's nitro @tomajoha but I'd need to check that. According to Martin, the polishing of high-gloss finishes eats up a lot of labour hours. ($400 USD worth? Not a chance!) In general, I think it is more common when mixing finish styles to use poly for gloss ones and nitro for satin. I know Maton do that, and a couple of years ago they produced their 75th Anniversary model which has a high-gloss top but satin back and sides, which apparently took a bit of work to develop.

My read is that Martin are using the satin finish (which probably saves them less than $50 USD - wages in the USA are quite a lot lower than in Australia or the UK remember) as a smokescreen to cover a price drop.

As for my feelings, I don't mind paying for quality but paying overs for greed (e.g., the £2700 D-28) gets right up my nose. So I went from quite likely to buy a Martin in 2020 or so for around £2000 (I like HD-28, OM-28, D-18) to not-a-chance in 2022 when they started asking £700 extra for the same guitar while other guitars of equal quality and value went up by far less.

Now? Well I've pretty much mapped out my guitar buying for the next few years so there is no room to add a Martin into that program, but if for some reason I buy an extra one, a more-reasonably-priced (i.e., satin finish) Martin is a possibility. All else aside, they'd probably look better.

thomasross20 · May 2023

Yeah the hike up from £2k for standard model hurt

Mellish · May 2023

With me it's the warranty.

1 year. Ok, the retailer will chuck in another 2 (GG in my case), but Martin owners in the US get lifetime warranty. I've always seen this as unfair, and I'm a Martin fan and owned several models over the years.

thomasross20 · May 2023

I was unaware of that!!

BigPaulie · May 2023

Guitarguitar are taking pre-orders for the D28 Satin at £2999. The standard reimagined D28 is £3449.

If I'm paying £2999 for a guitar I want it to be full gloss. £3449 is ridiculous money for a standard factory-built D28.

I wouldn't buy either of them new.

Roundwound · May 2023

It’s not a price drop as it’s not like for like. It’s an additional price tier for those that want the model name and can live with (? even prefer) the satin finish. Gibson have done the same with their faded series, covering electric and acoustic models.

A bit surprised by the comment on finish quality actually. I’ve had a few Martins and all were finished to a very high standard.

Tannin · May 2023

^ Pity about the binding falling off. They are notorious for it.

That aside, compare any Martin to an equivalent Yamaha, Maton, Taylor, Cole Clark, Otherbrandofyourchoice. The Martin will be the least well-finished guitar by quite a margin.

Roundwound · May 2023

Tannin said:

^ Pity about the binding falling off. They are notorious for it.

That aside, compare any Martin to an equivalent Yamaha, Maton, Taylor, Cole Clark, Otherbrandofyourchoice. The Martin will be the least well-finished guitar by quite a margin.

Fair enough. All I can say is that I’ve had 3 Martins and all were flawless. Not a huge sample right enough. No obvious downgrade Vs the Yamaha and Maton I’ve had.

A Gibson acoustic was definitely inferior in that regard though.

Tannin · May 2023

I didn't mention Gibson for a reason!

Mellish · May 2023

My Martin OM28 Re-imagined has a flawless finish. It came to me perfect in that way

OK, seriously, the finish IS good, the action is low, intonation is perfect, plenty of bass and sparkling highs. Happy chappy.

Tannin · May 2023

^ Yes, but a very low trim level. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, but they could try a lot harder at those prices.

Mellish · May 2023

^ mate, I don't envisage an issue with the finish down the road...

But yes, of course you're right, spending that much money, you expect a little extra care. I'm with you all the way there.

Jez6345789 · June 2023

I think the price drop is probably a small amount of saving on finishing. As just completed the factory tour last month and everything on the standard lines is automated buffing may be a little less time on the machine or no time lol but probably an excuse to relax the higher margins that came out of Covid etc.

there certainly was cost pressures during Covid but I also think the smart business used the huge demand to move margins. There were also plenty using all the Covid and post Covid era to mange up margins.

I can’t say that is the case with Martin but it was done in a lot of quarters.

As much as I am a fan of Martin guitars I think their continued reliance on old style local distribution outside of the US makes them over priced as it’s not a very cost effective way. All the big names have their own EU distribution and service centres Prs Taylor etc. setting up their own Martin warehouse would allow them to give the US style lifetime or something more than one year warranty.

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