I tune mine ADGC. I usually use a light gauge long scale string, but RocketMusic seems to have stopped carrying Alembic strings and I'm on my last set.

Barney Kessel (1923)
Jim Seals (1941)
Ziggy Marley (1968)

Peter

Interesting article on the 16s - but I'm not sure Joey O knows enough Martin history to be speaking in public; if memory serves they built the first dreads for Charles H. Ditson & Co., a music publisher & instrument seller.  They carried the Ditson name.  I have never in all my born days heard of Martin making something for Gibson.
And here's some fun trivia: (Greg can skip this part, as I'm sure he knows it; probably David, too) they had arms races back then, too, but the weapon platforms involved weren't ICBMs, they were battleships.  And when Martin was designing their big honkin' guitar, the British had just launched a behemoth - a battleship so much bigger than any other that it need fear nothing.  Or, in other words, dread naught.  They put it right in the name:  H.M.S. Dreadnaught.
And Martin said "Aha!  There's what we'll call it!"
Much like Epiphone, in 1935, named their newest, biggest archtop the Emperor in honor of the Silver Jubilee of George V.

Peter

This is a good Saturday morning geek-out. Skip forward to [12:00] if you just want to hear what one sounds like. 

Well... clearly, it goes to 11. 😎😆

Yes, those TI Jazz Flats should still be fairly fresh Gary. I had just put them on there. They are famous for longevity. 

I had an alternate set of those for my older Series bass, but I really enjoyed the TI Jazz Rounds on that bass. One thing to remember; I had to make a small intonation adjustment whenever I would switch them. Eventually I just left the Rounds on it, but when I sold it, I sent the alternate set of Flats along too. Can't remember if I gave instructions on the intonation adjustment or not. I wanna' say it was just the D and E needed a tweak. 

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on October 13, 2026, 03:19:41 AM... [from earlier]
Mickey says he just goes where they point him. Answer the questions, give them a guitar, make sure it's in tune and a quiet corner to play it. He said he like to give them at least one similar guitar to compare it to, just puts it in a stand close by. John said he trys to figure out what guitar people want by what music they are playing. Basically, he's profiling customers for sales purposes. Jack has Mondays off, and that's who I really want to ask. That kid outsells everybody. Kinda' quiet, just has a gift for matching people up with guitars. Good player himself too. He's the youngest of the sales crew too, and perceptive about a good many things, so I'm curious what he thinks the attitudes are of the guitar-buying public. 

Thus far all I've gotten from my little social experiment is; they've got something for everyone.

I had a few minutes to plug Jack for his thoughts yesterday while dropping off this week's repairs and picking up a couple jobs.

Fret Mill Music is Martin and Taylor dealer, has been for decades, and used to be a Gibson dealer too. (another great story for another day) So Jack goes on to tell me, about the new Martin 16 Series... overall, a pretty good value. It's a bunch of different models that are a lot of guitar at those price points, if you want those appointments. I agree, full stop. Not necessarily something I want, but I can see them selling. Jack pointed me to the Guitar Player hyped article announcement. https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitars/acoustic-guitars/martin-shakes-up-its-16-series-with-five-new-guitars-were-going-to-get-weird-with-it-brother The store's Martin rep was going to send them a handful of the new 16's before they hit the market, so they could pick off the menu.

"So we talked about them" he said. That Cherry Cola (the red) wasn't gonna' sell. Neither was the Blue Denim. Jack chose the 1935 Burst on a DSS and a 00L and they also got one in a Black Smoke and a GPC in Natural. They're definitely getting attention.

Jack had also taken note of the trend, especially the unnatural colors, but he sees it as just that, rather than a bite at trying to emulate an older Gibson thing. He hadn't really thought about it that way until I said something. For my part, they're nice guitars. I kinda' get it after reading the article. What they say there at the end, is a conclusion I'd already reached; you'd never want to see these finishes on a legacy model like D-28 or D-18, so logically it made sense to roll out the sassy stuff on a 16 Series. I dread the day one comes in with a top center-seam separation... there ain't no earthly way to touch that up. On the other hand, that finish might have more appeal once it had some wear and tear. There's always a Martin Penguin, if the Gibson Dove or Hummingbird doesn't do it for ya'. 🤪



I did enjoy getting Jack's perspective... he's a sharp one. Here's the latest FB commercial post where the sales guys poke a little fun with each other. It's Jack's ad.
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1660198592442057&id=1730565185739697

Just seen this of fb, I presume Gemini is some kind of AI.
Could you imagine this call....Ring...ring... Ahem, Mica do you remember that alembic you restored from flood damage a few years ago....... well.....

Thanks for listening everyone! Thought I'd share this Rick Beato interview with Chuck Rainey:


Definitely worth watching, especially if you are a fan of his playing with Steely Dan - he addresses it in several sections. 

I'm performing tomorrow with a singer-songwriter and had a rehearsal today - while listening to part of this interview, I realized that Chuck Rainey is definitely part of my musical DNA - I definitely have musical habits that are very informed by r'n'b bass playing like that found on Aja via Mr. Rainey. 

Quote from: David Houck on October 16, 2026, 06:32:40 PM

Quote from: cozmik_cowboy on October 16, 2026, 05:37:32 PM... She's in the hospital recovering from another spine surgery, so a lot of windshield time to listen......).

I hope the recovery is going well.

Frankly, could be better (it was a 2-day surgery; 1st day was Sept 8; She's still in.  And still can't walk.
Aetna, in their all-powerful wisdom, have deemed that She needs a higher level of care than She could get at the (quite excellent) subacute place She was last year, so they won't approve a transfer - but thy also say She isn't progressing fast enough at the acute place, so She has to leave Tuesday......
Capitalist bastards; come the Revolution, we'll have them against the wall! (As me old Pap - who was a union man back Revolution was a possibility - used to say.  And I love to quote.)
She cannot climb a single step; hey, Bill - you've been here a few times:  How well do you think our house will work for someone who can't make it up one step, eh?

Peter (who will pass on his almost daily trip to the horsepistol - another from Pap - so a friend can come over & help wire an outdoor outlet to power the chairlift we're putting on the front steps)

Quote from: cozmik_cowboy on October 16, 2026, 05:37:32 PM... She's in the hospital recovering from another spine surgery, so a lot of windshield time to listen......).

I hope the recovery is going well.