If you have really only been making videos for 9 months these are great. youre funny but informative while having an arsenal of memes to include. i came for the guitars but im liking your style of content in general. keep it up.
I feel like the school curriculum should educate young players to just go buy a Yamaha as a first guitar, no other brand comes close to their quality for the cost.
I picked up a Yamaha classical for $15 at a thrift store. Best deal I've gotten on a guitar ever and I don't even play classical. There wasn't even anything wrong with it, just needed new strings and a wipe down.
Very much agreed. The Barbican Music shop in central London (where I would meet Brian May regularly) has Yamaha guitars presented in a way that suggests you would be taking a risk to choose anything else. In fact, you have to work hard to find anything else. The shop is attached to the Guildhall School of Music, and to the Barbican concert venues, so they deal with the world’s top musicians (and complete beginners) all day everyday. Yamahas are everything you can need, and more. If you want an even better guitar, buy an even better Yamaha.
I bought my Daughter the version of the Martin without the pick-up. It needed a significant set-up to make it playable, especially for a beginner. I didn't want her to have to fight with the guitar. My luthier had to put pressure on the back of the neck in order to get the stings to be a comfortable playing height. After the set-up, it became an awesome little guitar. The Daughter loves it.
Being a happy retired, career long Teamster Union member and Shop Stewart, I'd prefer to stick with guitars etc, from free countries where workers are free to organize for better wages and working conditions.. ✌️
I’ve got a Baby Taylor in a gig bag somewhere, I haven’t seen it for at least three years. After watching this video I think that I’ll go and find it and see if the headstock is still attached.
Three points from a retired professional guitar repairman: 1) The back and sides of the Martin are high-pressure laminate, which is a generic term for a product sold under the brand name *Formica.* It's sold under other names too. It's a popular surface for counter tops and kitchen table tops. My Formica kitchen table is white with gold speckles. There's no reason the guitar couldn't be made of that pattern. At least it wouldn't be pretending to be wood. I feel Martin should be embarrassed and ashamed to put their name on a musical instrument made of this substance. 2) The finger joint on the Taylor peghead is and example of bending over backward to save on material at the expense of quality. I have had a few of these Taylor instruments thru my shop with failed joints. BUT IN ALL CASES, Taylor sent me a brand spankin' new neck and paid me to install it for the owner of the guitar. 3) Regardless of the structural quality of the joint discussed on point number two, I feel it is an aesthetic abomination.
Honestly, I would recommend any yamaha guitar for a first guitar. I also have an all koa wood 000 custome build from overseas that blows my mind in build quality and tone, for a fraction of the cost of a taylor or martin, if it had either name on it, it would be triple the cost.
@@Notaluthier Man, I have a 1991 Custom Les Paul that the previous owner tried to destroy in any possible way. Fretboard, crooked neck, paint, pickups, chrome on the tuners, a real mess. I wish you could bring it back to life and make a video out of it. I would trust you blindly after what I saw on the channel. It's not a rare guitar but black beauties are iconic instruments, I really wish someone would give it some love and make it play again, like it deserves. I wish I had the skills to do it but my hands are made of mud
I remember a roomate in college that dropped a hit of green windowpane acid into a green shag carpet (circa 1974) and was lamenting its loss until I found it. In fact he was so loaded he lost it twice and I found it both times.
Some interesting techniques for necks I've had in the past with this "rubbery" problem. In most cases the fix to the problem would be for me to detach the fingerboard extension, unbolt the neck, Loosen the tension on the truss rod (remove if possible to inspect). Clamp the neck and pull tension on the headstock until the neck is as flat as possible (even a bit of back-bow). Tighten your truss rod to "just" tight, slowly release the clamp. Adjust from there. Sometimes resetting the truss rod tension to once the neck is "in-shape" CAN help in some cases. Then you can proceed as you did, cut saddle, strings, adjust neck to need. Mind you this works alot of the time, it doesn't work ALL the time. For professional players, this typically also would necessitate at very-least a fret level and crown. If the frets have alot of height, you can actually mitigate the small amount of relief present once you reset the truss-rod by leveling it out of the frets. The goal is to get the tops of those frets perfect BEFORE tension, and having the small amount of added tension available once it's strung up.
Great video man, keep up the good work! I think that the H. S. joint failure on the Taylor was most likely due to glue starvation, rather than the use of a finger-joint. Finger joints (properly glued up) are quite strong owing to the increased surface area of the joint. Anyway, keep pressing on man and before you know it you'll likely have a Million subs and you'll be a big-time TH-cam star!
Thank you for not brushing aside the labor issues with budget guitars. Too many of the TH-camrs who shill for these brands sweep it under the rug and even hide comments that mention it. It's never sat right with me that musicians in circles that aestheticize being anti-establishment will fall right in line with global exploitation when they see a shiny new toy for a cheap price. The issue of offshoring has become hard to avoid. My primary workhorse, a Schecter, wasn't made by Cor-Tek, but Schecter has moved operations from Korea to Indonesia in recent years, presumably for similar reasons. The quality is superb; I would've happily paid a couple hundred more for the assurance that it was made by someone with weekends and a union, but the only non-import brands have set their sights exclusively on the high end of the market that isn't realistic for most buyers.
Love your content and was shocked to hear about Cort Guitars, I have one that I bought (late 90's ?) whilst working in a small family owned music shop in the UK, not sure I can even bring myself to play it again without thinking of the burning employee.........Ps. Buggy should have His own channel, Top Doggo...!!!!!!
Love your videos. I dont know anything about guitars, but the calm pace and peace with the simple here and now comforts the mind. Like Marty T, it's therapy:)
i must admit, I tried a Taylor GS mini that was almost brand new and I was really impressed. don't know how it will last for years to come, but the build feel and tone was high
I was not expecting to like the Taylor better... I usually prefer the ways the midrange responds to touch on a Martin. Neat. Also, I'm totally digging the experiments and jokes in your film style.
I actually did a neck fix like this when I was in college on a cheapie guitar I bought from a flea market. I want to say it was a Martin Backpacker X or maybe it was another brand. But I remember gluing it together and tying it off just like you did. Once it dried it played perfectly. I ended up making a 100 bucks off of it after I fixed it.
Regarding these travel guitars. I’ve owned both, as well as the Martin “Backpacker” and travel guitars by Ovation, Cordoba, and the Baby Taylor wins by a long shot. I say first year because the earlier versions had a curved piece of wood inside and in front of the sound hole that gave it even better sustain and tone. I actually started my quest for the perfect “travel guitar,” about 25 years ago, with a first production year Baby Taylor. And after selling it to buy and sell all those other brands and models, I went back to buying another 1st year Baby Taylor. It’s a really well made and great playing / sounding instrument.
Dealing with some badly upbowed brazilian electrics in the old days, we used to not only release string tension but to force (torture?) the neck back while turning the truss rod. Always seemed to help to a good extent, luckily. Lubricating the trussrod nut can't be bad, too.
I've had my Baby Taylor for over 15 years. Other than that the solid top split during a particularly dry winter early on, and that the finish turned a bit gummy where it absorbed sweat it's perfect. Still plays fantastic and sounds great. It's my couch noodler.
The industry builds student models with the expectation of lasting 2-3 years. Crap wood is cheap but can be stabilized but environmental changes tend to undo that stabilization because the loose wood grain. It’s rare but occasionally you can get a pretty good one.
I own both of these guitars. The Martin first, then the Taylor. Both came fine and play fine. I moved on to Breedlove as my fingers matured. But they both continue to perform with no issues
Absolutely agree with response downstream. You can get a Martin Junior Dreadnought at around the same price and much better instrument. But that to is still too much. Totally agree with name brand production over pricing. You could pick up a very nice guitar at a pawn shop for the money or a yard sale as mentioned. Junk for the price. Excellent review.
i find myself modifing factory guitars, and never ever happy with stock tone in electric guitars.. but when the right mods for the right guitar are done, you cannot beat it, always like night and day..
70s Ovation Balladeers are so slept on. You can pick up a beautiful one with its case for $400ish, and those things are bulletproof. Great for a beginner
if there was anything i could change about learning guitar as a kid, itd be that i started on a nylon string or electric with extremely low tension. a high action, steel string acoustic is pretty much guaranteed to teach terrible habits that take years to unlearn
I bought a baby Taylor years ago so I could throw it in the boot/trunk for trips away or just use it as something to noodle around on. Gotta be honest I’ve enjoyed it - it’s not the finest guitar ever but it’s been a cool travel buddy. Reckon there are definitely better beginner guitars out there though. Love the videos dude - they relax me. The joint on that neck UNrelaxed me.
You could use a shop vac on the sound hole to draw glue into the splits/cracks. Simply cut a piece of plexiglass big enough to cover the sound hole and drill a hole for the vacuum hose.
Wow, good idea...unless the pressure gets greater than the box can take. Keep your ears peeled for crackling noises. Ted Woodford uses a suctioncup to pump glue into those cracks! 😊
@@ErickvdK You should put felt bumpers on the plexiglass plate to prevent scarring the guitar and preventing a total vacuum. All you want is a little negative pressure to draw the glue into the body rather than smearing it into the wound.
@@blodpudding Not micarta at all, but some kind of plastic indeed. By the way, I have a SIGMA guitar with micarta fretboard+bridge, and it smells like resin ass, the stench never fully went away. Such a bummer.
Great video Levon! Thanks again! After going back and forth between the Martin and Taylor as a travel/outside guitar, I wound up with a Gretsch Jim Dandy Dreadnought. It was half the price, plays twice as good, and actually sounds ways better than it has business sounding!
Great video. Couple of comments on the guitars themselves - the manufacturers put a lot of effort into producing guitars that look superficially okay, to bear their company logos and command comparatively high prices. Under that superficiality are poor quality materials and construction techniques. I mean - a plastic Martin, and a bits and pieces Taylor! It looks like the factory end results would demand too much attention for a beginner to play comfortably. There’s just got to be better value out there.
The back and sides of the Martin are a high pressure laminate, so essentially a formica type material and certainly not wood at all. Its an OK guitar though, I have one.
Levon, keep it up, love the vids. May I suggest a high pass filter on the audio for next time? Listening with headphones was a little rough with the low end thumps
Yeah apologies! I think I need to get a shock mount mic stand as well, or hang them. Much of it is coming through the floor. I’m not happy with my setup, but trying to make do.
@@Notaluthier, Upgrading to better equipment can be a good thing, as long as you remember that the essence of rock and roll is learning to make do with what you have at hand, creating something worthy, more than the sum of its parts, with minimal resources other than human ingenuity. (It probably won't surprise you that the videos I've posted, mostly about usefull tools, accessories and techniques for soldering and repairing electronics, are filmed completely live via smartphone, warts and all,, with no edits, minimal rehearsal and no script! I specifically barred monetizing them, so there won't be any preceding or pop-up commercials, and no "Shorts", which also means that TH-cam will not promote them.....)
I knew it , Allen..like the Lynchian saddle reduction. Ps ain’t that Martin body just plain ol Formica?. PPS back is the new forward of I got Martin mixed up with Taylor. Probably
Nice comparison :). I think, the neck joint is not worst than a piece of rubber for a neck, it could make it unplayable for a beginner and he/she will not judge the instrument, but its own skills. Reminds me the first time I played on a real amp instead of the one sold with my Ibanez... I said something like : "so, in fact, I play that right ?!?"
So before watching this video I took your advice and ate all of the mushrooms. I was really enjoying your video until 4 hours later when I realized I was looking at the thumbnail..... Damn you Not a Luthier!!!!!1111
For less than $200.00 the Gretsch Jim Dandy is a descent beginner guitar to start with to see if you're gonna stick with it and save up the money for a better guitar in the future.
Agree. I have one and it's a great little blues guitar. Even got my brother one for Christmas a couple of years ago and he loves it. Great camping guitar.
Yeah, I could be a little off, but the camera angle made it look insane! The low e, conveniently, did need slight expansion though, as I was using a 46 file for a 47 gauge string.
@@Notaluthier Yes I know you were also filming that kept you probably distracted. It did not appear to move much just an observation. Happened to me several times. Also it's not true that super cheap guitars usually are built with slave labor. The rain why manufacturers like Harley Benton have such low prices is because the average pay in Indonesia is was lower. You have to look at the living costs to know if they pay well and from what I've heard they don't use slave labor. They are able to sell at such low prices because they have no middle man. They buy directly from the factory. This alone saves massive amounts of money. It's really a myth that a cheap guitar must involve forms of exploitation.
Undersaddle elements are indeed horrendous! I always pull it out, at least when I'm not performing for an audience. They steal 10-15% of the tone, no kidding.
I bought my grandson a Mitchell travel size guitar from Guitar Center for about $125. Has a solid top and far better than what you are struggling with. If those are new, they should be returned for warranty work or replacement. I have a Martin 12-string with the laminate neck and HPL back/sides that sounds great with none of the issues you are dealing with.
🤔 Why would Taylor attach the neck like that, with screws/bolts showing on of all places the fretboard, when they actually had it right, with the GS Mini? Isn't Life strange?
The Taylor costs so much I would just buy a full size.😆 Don't know about the Martin... When I bought last acoustic , I dropped a grand on a P.R.S. Worth it. Looks great and sounds great.
And another lovely video has brightened my day. I'm going to make a point of commenting on all of them for the sake of the algo, until you no longer need that. So nothing really to say, just thanx, algo, blah-blah, cheers. ❤
Speaking of satisfaction from small shops, we purchased a couple of double basses from a little bass store in San Clemente, CA. They import quality basses from Czechoslovakia, give them a professional setup, and sell them here in the U.S. at an affordable price. (Pre-owned pro basses scattered on the floor around the shop elicited drool every time we visited!)
You should check out the Yamaha FG Junior. IMHO, Its nicer and you can pick one up cheap, like, $70-$125, also comes with gigbag. I bought one for my grandson, almost kept it for myself. They sound good and play good. And are nicer in appearance.
Yamaha FG's and FS's sound crazy good for like $300 CAD or so for the base model. They vary somewhat, but every now and then i pick up a super-light one and i seriously think they're some of the best guitars under $1500, maybe even $2K. LAG guitars are really good too but i've only ever seen them at the folklore centre
As for the difference between these two guitars, as far as dynamic tonal range and sustain the two are inversely related, so it is always a compromise between the two . The more solidly the guitar is built the more the sustain and the more delicately the guitar is built the better the tonal range(by delicate , I mean thinner top and bottom and carved thinned down braces and lighter finish).
I'd love to know what are some overseas "Amazon" guitar brands that are genuine? Good treatment of workers and such? I also agree with most people here...Yamaha does not mess around with quality even on their >$200 guitars. My Yamaha FG700S is unbelievable.
Is that Taylor new or used? If new why accept a neck joint like that?? My Taylor Big Baby has not been a stable guitar, the action moves around a lot. The body joint is great when you have to re-shim as i have. I don't play it now.
Wouldn't a gs mini be a better comparison to the Martin than the baby Taylor? I have one. The Koa plus model. But the baseline mini with a spruce top is around 500 us. And I have played it as well as the Martin. Taylor gs is better imo. Baby Taylor is not a good overall guitar. Again my opinion.
If they used a lightweight set of tuning machines on this Taylor, that break might have never happened. Tuners like these weigh 250-280 grams, while the open ones with/or plastic buttons weigh 100-150 grams less. Also, the balance of the tiny body vs very heavy headstock must be awful.
That's not back-bow obviously, and it's a mistake to address the action with the saddle as it is. If the truss rod can't achieve the correct neck relief, it's faulty, and the guitar should be returned.
my 90€ thomann inhouse brand guitar somehow didnt have any of those issues. edit: i dropped the fucker flat on the ground and all that happened is cosmetic damage to the back of the neck.
I had an older version of the baby Taylor and it did not have that horrible headstock joint on it. But it didn’t sound very good. Definitely not like a mini or full size Taylor.
I bought a Baby Taylor the year they came out. I would not have bought it if it looked like the one you have. Absolutely no way would I have given $50.00 for that guitar you have.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by the really good budget market for electrics right now, but those prices just seem obscene for what you get. Like that seems like outright robbery.
I was busking with a guy who told me his baby taylor was a good guitar because it "sounds good plugged in." A pickup on a 2x4 sounds good plugged in, but it's not a guitar.
Would you buy either of these?
Nope. The premium you pay for the name on the headstock makes them a terrible value.
It really depends on the price. I have no need for a small guitar. If I found it at at flee marked for under $50 I would consider
I would buy a Seagull instead. I like birds.
Nope, they're not budget either.
@@mikethebloodthirsty yeah, they both cost more than I would have (did) guess
If you have really only been making videos for 9 months these are great. youre funny but informative while having an arsenal of memes to include. i came for the guitars but im liking your style of content in general. keep it up.
Thank you! Yes! 9 months! Learning as I go!
I feel like the school curriculum should educate young players to just go buy a Yamaha as a first guitar, no other brand comes close to their quality for the cost.
Yamahas are so reliable, they're a victim of their own success! I personally got a Recording King Dirty 30s for a travel guitar and it is wonderful!
@@shambolicguruRecording king rules them all when it comes to price vs quality. Came out of box in tune and a perfect setup!
I picked up a Yamaha classical for $15 at a thrift store. Best deal I've gotten on a guitar ever and I don't even play classical. There wasn't even anything wrong with it, just needed new strings and a wipe down.
Very much agreed. The Barbican Music shop in central London (where I would meet Brian May regularly) has Yamaha guitars presented in a way that suggests you would be taking a risk to choose anything else. In fact, you have to work hard to find anything else. The shop is attached to the Guildhall School of Music, and to the Barbican concert venues, so they deal with the world’s top musicians (and complete beginners) all day everyday.
Yamahas are everything you can need, and more. If you want an even better guitar, buy an even better Yamaha.
I completely agree!
Classic reefer trick: the disappearing act of whatever the fuck I was holding just a second ago.
I used the same trick to try and find it.
I bought my Daughter the version of the Martin without the pick-up. It needed a significant set-up to make it playable, especially for a beginner. I didn't want her to have to fight with the guitar. My luthier had to put pressure on the back of the neck in order to get the stings to be a comfortable playing height. After the set-up, it became an awesome little guitar. The Daughter loves it.
It’s funny how beginner guitars have horrible string height. I mean it’s a beginner with soft fingers. They need a better setup. So sad Martin doesn’t
Well.. you kinda asked for it... It's so clear that is a money grab and a poor attempt at costumer fidelization
Thanks!
Thanks to you 🙏🏼
The choice of music always adds so much to your videos. Sometimes I’m certain something bad is about to happen and then nothing.
Being a happy retired, career long Teamster Union member and Shop Stewart, I'd prefer to stick with guitars etc, from free countries where workers are free to organize for better wages and working conditions.. ✌️
Do you know any guitar manufacturers from countries like that?
I’ve got a Baby Taylor in a gig bag somewhere, I haven’t seen it for at least three years. After watching this video I think that I’ll go and find it and see if the headstock is still attached.
Great to meet you today! Love what I've seen so far and look forward to seeing you and Mr. Buggy soon.
Three points from a retired professional guitar repairman:
1) The back and sides of the Martin are high-pressure laminate, which is a generic term for a product sold under the brand name *Formica.* It's sold under other names too. It's a popular surface for counter tops and kitchen table tops. My Formica kitchen table is white with gold speckles. There's no reason the guitar couldn't be made of that pattern. At least it wouldn't be pretending to be wood. I feel Martin should be embarrassed and ashamed to put their name on a musical instrument made of this substance.
2) The finger joint on the Taylor peghead is and example of bending over backward to save on material at the expense of quality. I have had a few of these Taylor instruments thru my shop with failed joints. BUT IN ALL CASES, Taylor sent me a brand spankin' new neck and paid me to install it for the owner of the guitar.
3) Regardless of the structural quality of the joint discussed on point number two, I feel it is an aesthetic abomination.
Honestly, I would recommend any yamaha guitar for a first guitar. I also have an all koa wood 000 custome build from overseas that blows my mind in build quality and tone, for a fraction of the cost of a taylor or martin, if it had either name on it, it would be triple the cost.
In this video, the silliness really has exceeded every threshold of acceptability.
Bravo!
This Channel will become a must watch in few months! Because this is amazing quality. Glad to support.
Much appreciated!
@@Notaluthier Man, I have a 1991 Custom Les Paul that the previous owner tried to destroy in any possible way.
Fretboard, crooked neck, paint, pickups, chrome on the tuners, a real mess. I wish you could bring it back to life and make a video out of it. I would trust you blindly after what I saw on the channel. It's not a rare guitar but black beauties are iconic instruments, I really wish someone would give it some love and make it play again, like it deserves.
I wish I had the skills to do it but my hands are made of mud
I remember a roomate in college that dropped a hit of green windowpane acid into a green shag carpet (circa 1974) and was lamenting its loss until I found it. In fact he was so loaded he lost it twice and I found it both times.
A spiritial ode to a worn-out hex key: " I must be tossed, because now I'm round/I made dross, so I was freed....."
Some interesting techniques for necks I've had in the past with this "rubbery" problem. In most cases the fix to the problem would be for me to detach the fingerboard extension, unbolt the neck, Loosen the tension on the truss rod (remove if possible to inspect). Clamp the neck and pull tension on the headstock until the neck is as flat as possible (even a bit of back-bow). Tighten your truss rod to "just" tight, slowly release the clamp. Adjust from there. Sometimes resetting the truss rod tension to once the neck is "in-shape" CAN help in some cases. Then you can proceed as you did, cut saddle, strings, adjust neck to need. Mind you this works alot of the time, it doesn't work ALL the time. For professional players, this typically also would necessitate at very-least a fret level and crown. If the frets have alot of height, you can actually mitigate the small amount of relief present once you reset the truss-rod by leveling it out of the frets. The goal is to get the tops of those frets perfect BEFORE tension, and having the small amount of added tension available once it's strung up.
The missing hex key is the story of my life. Also, I own a baby Taylor. It’s fun to play. I mostly let my smaller students play it.
Dental floss works well to move glue down into seams.
Are those drywall screws holding the neck on?
Great video man, keep up the good work! I think that the H. S. joint failure on the Taylor was most likely due to glue starvation, rather than the use of a finger-joint. Finger joints (properly glued up) are quite strong owing to the increased surface area of the joint. Anyway, keep pressing on man and before you know it you'll likely have a Million subs and you'll be a big-time TH-cam star!
Thank you for not brushing aside the labor issues with budget guitars. Too many of the TH-camrs who shill for these brands sweep it under the rug and even hide comments that mention it. It's never sat right with me that musicians in circles that aestheticize being anti-establishment will fall right in line with global exploitation when they see a shiny new toy for a cheap price.
The issue of offshoring has become hard to avoid. My primary workhorse, a Schecter, wasn't made by Cor-Tek, but Schecter has moved operations from Korea to Indonesia in recent years, presumably for similar reasons. The quality is superb; I would've happily paid a couple hundred more for the assurance that it was made by someone with weekends and a union, but the only non-import brands have set their sights exclusively on the high end of the market that isn't realistic for most buyers.
Love your content and was shocked to hear about Cort Guitars, I have one that I bought (late 90's ?) whilst working in a small family owned music shop in the UK, not sure I can even bring myself to play it again without thinking of the burning employee.........Ps. Buggy should have His own channel, Top Doggo...!!!!!!
Love your videos. I dont know anything about guitars, but the calm pace and peace with the simple here and now comforts the mind. Like Marty T, it's therapy:)
Thank you!
That finger jointed headstock is so gross! Your guitar playing, on the other hand, is one of my favourite things about this channel. Love your work!
That is so nice of you! Thanks!
i must admit, I tried a Taylor GS mini that was almost brand new and I was really impressed. don't know how it will last for years to come, but the build feel and tone was high
any concern that the joint on the taylor would have old glue in it that might prevent your glue from really bonding with the wood?
From the looks of it, it didn’t have enough glue! But anything is possible. Quick fix 4 sure
In that case, reach for epoxy. 😊
I was not expecting to like the Taylor better... I usually prefer the ways the midrange responds to touch on a Martin. Neat. Also, I'm totally digging the experiments and jokes in your film style.
I actually did a neck fix like this when I was in college on a cheapie guitar I bought from a flea market. I want to say it was a Martin Backpacker X or maybe it was another brand. But I remember gluing it together and tying it off just like you did. Once it dried it played perfectly. I ended up making a 100 bucks off of it after I fixed it.
I'm sorry but, at 22:00 : it feels like cleaning what ? "lemon oil" ? (could make sense, but I'm not sure at all ^^)
Linoleum
@@Notaluthier First time in my life I ear/read this word (we just said "lino" here). I will sleep less stupid this night x)
And thanks for reply :)
as always highly entertaining but more importantly informative
I really enjoy your content..... long may it continue
Hope so!
Regarding these travel guitars. I’ve owned both, as well as the Martin “Backpacker” and travel guitars by Ovation, Cordoba, and the Baby Taylor wins by a long shot. I say first year because the earlier versions had a curved piece of wood inside and in front of the sound hole that gave it even better sustain and tone.
I actually started my quest for the perfect “travel guitar,” about 25 years ago, with a first production year Baby Taylor. And after selling it to buy and sell all those other brands and models, I went back to buying another 1st year Baby Taylor. It’s a really well made and great playing / sounding instrument.
Dealing with some badly upbowed brazilian electrics in the old days, we used to not only release string tension but to force (torture?) the neck back while turning the truss rod.
Always seemed to help to a good extent, luckily.
Lubricating the trussrod nut can't be bad, too.
I've had my Baby Taylor for over 15 years. Other than that the solid top split during a particularly dry winter early on, and that the finish turned a bit gummy where it absorbed sweat it's perfect.
Still plays fantastic and sounds great. It's my couch noodler.
Glad to hear it’s held up!
The industry builds student models with the expectation of lasting 2-3 years. Crap wood is cheap but can be stabilized but environmental changes tend to undo that stabilization because the loose wood grain. It’s rare but occasionally you can get a pretty good one.
I’ve had my little Martin since 2017 and it’s still perfect. Literally the most comfortable acoustic I’ve ever played! Mine is clearly a good one 😂
I own both of these guitars. The Martin first, then the Taylor. Both came fine and play fine. I moved on to Breedlove as my fingers matured. But they both continue to perform with no issues
Absolutely agree with response downstream. You can get a Martin Junior Dreadnought at around the same price and much better instrument. But that to is still too much. Totally agree with name brand production over pricing. You could pick up a very nice guitar at a pawn shop for the money or a yard sale as mentioned. Junk for the price. Excellent review.
You love us, and you know it!
i find myself modifing factory guitars, and never ever happy with stock tone in electric guitars.. but when the right mods for the right guitar are done, you cannot beat it, always like night and day..
70s Ovation Balladeers are so slept on. You can pick up a beautiful one with its case for $400ish, and those things are bulletproof. Great for a beginner
if there was anything i could change about learning guitar as a kid, itd be that i started on a nylon string or electric with extremely low tension. a high action, steel string acoustic is pretty much guaranteed to teach terrible habits that take years to unlearn
I bought a baby Taylor years ago so I could throw it in the boot/trunk for trips away or just use it as something to noodle around on. Gotta be honest I’ve enjoyed it - it’s not the finest guitar ever but it’s been a cool travel buddy.
Reckon there are definitely better beginner guitars out there though.
Love the videos dude - they relax me.
The joint on that neck UNrelaxed me.
You could use a shop vac on the sound hole to draw glue into the splits/cracks. Simply cut a piece of plexiglass big enough to cover the sound hole and drill a hole for the vacuum hose.
Interesting!
Wow, good idea...unless the pressure gets greater than the box can take. Keep your ears peeled for crackling noises. Ted Woodford uses a suctioncup to pump glue into those cracks! 😊
@@ErickvdK You should put felt bumpers on the plexiglass plate to prevent scarring the guitar and preventing a total vacuum. All you want is a little negative pressure to draw the glue into the body rather than smearing it into the wound.
That is the only Martin with that ply neck I’ve found that bowed so far forward for what it’s worth…
Those Martins have freaky back and sides right? I've seen they disintegrate like paper. It appears to be micarta?
Yeah, at least in theory they would be more stable than solid wood.
@@blodpudding Not micarta at all, but some kind of plastic indeed.
By the way, I have a SIGMA guitar with micarta fretboard+bridge, and it smells like resin ass, the stench never fully went away.
Such a bummer.
Great video Levon! Thanks again!
After going back and forth between the Martin and Taylor as a travel/outside guitar, I wound up with a Gretsch Jim Dandy Dreadnought. It was half the price, plays twice as good, and actually sounds ways better than it has business sounding!
Sounds find AND dandy
A dreadnought is also probably at least 1/3 larger than what one expects in a "travel" guitar, therefore it's a bit of an unfair sonic comparison.
Great video. Couple of comments on the guitars themselves - the manufacturers put a lot of effort into producing guitars that look superficially okay, to bear their company logos and command comparatively high prices. Under that superficiality are poor quality materials and construction techniques. I mean - a plastic Martin, and a bits and pieces Taylor! It looks like the factory end results would demand too much attention for a beginner to play comfortably. There’s just got to be better value out there.
One of the theories I heard of these short truss rods that are very hard to reach is that it's just another way to cut corners.
The back and sides of the Martin are a high pressure laminate, so essentially a formica type material and certainly not wood at all. Its an OK guitar though, I have one.
yeah I like mine.
Levon, keep it up, love the vids. May I suggest a high pass filter on the audio for next time? Listening with headphones was a little rough with the low end thumps
Yeah apologies! I think I need to get a shock mount mic stand as well, or hang them. Much of it is coming through the floor. I’m not happy with my setup, but trying to make do.
@@Notaluthier, Upgrading to better equipment can be a good thing, as long as you remember that the essence of rock and roll is learning to make do with what you have at hand, creating something worthy, more than the sum of its parts, with minimal resources other than human ingenuity. (It probably won't surprise you that the videos I've posted, mostly about usefull tools, accessories and techniques for soldering and repairing electronics, are filmed completely live via smartphone, warts and all,, with no edits, minimal rehearsal and no script! I specifically barred monetizing them, so there won't be any preceding or pop-up commercials, and no "Shorts", which also means that TH-cam will not promote them.....)
Those laminated Martin necks seem like a good idea for humidity and stiffness for a neck but they still bend a lot, I don’t know why.
Buggy is enjoying the summer which is great to see. Oh yeah nice vid by the way
🐕
What a revolutionary way to make a scarf joint. Who knew😵💫
I presume a vertical joint would have been better at resisting string tension than this horizontal joint.
I'm pretty sure that's no scarf joint. Try finger joint...😊
@@ErickvdK that's the joke, it should be a scarf joint.
I’ve always thought those taylors with that headstock joint are insane..I’ve seen ones coming apart but not broken like like that.
I knew it , Allen..like the Lynchian saddle reduction. Ps ain’t that Martin body just plain ol Formica?. PPS back is the new forward of I got Martin mixed up with Taylor. Probably
Nice comparison :). I think, the neck joint is not worst than a piece of rubber for a neck, it could make it unplayable for a beginner and he/she will not judge the instrument, but its own skills. Reminds me the first time I played on a real amp instead of the one sold with my Ibanez... I said something like : "so, in fact, I play that right ?!?"
Did you get these guitars dumpster diving?? I don't know anybody gutsy enough to sell either of those.
Both in for repair/setups
So before watching this video I took your advice and ate all of the mushrooms. I was really enjoying your video until 4 hours later when I realized I was looking at the thumbnail..... Damn you Not a Luthier!!!!!1111
Better the thumbnail than the toenail!
I got my first guitar when I was 10. I never realized that the 2 inch string height wasn't exactly correct. That slowed me down a bit.
It’s pretty much universal!
For less than $200.00 the Gretsch Jim Dandy
is a descent beginner guitar to start with to see if you're gonna stick with it and save up the money for a better guitar in the future.
Agree. I have one and it's a great little blues guitar. Even got my brother one for Christmas a couple of years ago and he loves it. Great camping guitar.
19:35 Careful to keep the file really vertical otherwise you will change the position of the string.
Yeah, I could be a little off, but the camera angle made it look insane! The low e, conveniently, did need slight expansion though, as I was using a 46 file for a 47 gauge string.
@@Notaluthier Yes I know you were also filming that kept you probably distracted. It did not appear to move much just an observation. Happened to me several times.
Also it's not true that super cheap guitars usually are built with slave labor. The rain why manufacturers like Harley Benton have such low prices is because the average pay in Indonesia is was lower. You have to look at the living costs to know if they pay well and from what I've heard they don't use slave labor. They are able to sell at such low prices because they have no middle man. They buy directly from the factory. This alone saves massive amounts of money. It's really a myth that a cheap guitar must involve forms of exploitation.
Undersaddle elements are indeed horrendous!
I always pull it out, at least when I'm not performing for an audience.
They steal 10-15% of the tone, no kidding.
I bought my grandson a Mitchell travel size guitar from Guitar Center for about $125. Has a solid top and far better than what you are struggling with. If those are new, they should be returned for warranty work or replacement. I have a Martin 12-string with the laminate neck and HPL back/sides that sounds great with none of the issues you are dealing with.
If we don't find the hex key..........we're gonna lose the shop.😔😔
Thanks for great content. What kind of dog do you have. I know it’s off-topic, but I want a dog like that.
Chiweenie! 🐕
🤔
Why would Taylor attach the neck like that, with screws/bolts showing on of all places the fretboard, when they actually had it right, with the GS Mini?
Isn't Life strange?
I'm assuming it was like 5 cents cheaper. How? Good question.
They say there's the first time for everything and today is indeed the first time I ever saw visible screws in a fretboard.
The Taylor costs so much I would just buy a full size.😆
Don't know about the Martin...
When I bought last acoustic , I dropped a grand on a P.R.S.
Worth it.
Looks great and sounds great.
And another lovely video has brightened my day. I'm going to make a point of commenting on all of them for the sake of the algo, until you no longer need that. So nothing really to say, just thanx, algo, blah-blah, cheers. ❤
Much appreciated!
Alright, you retained me with humour. Sud'd
Martin, ..the vintage handmade ones, ..✌️🦝🔥🌌
Speaking of satisfaction from small shops, we purchased a couple of double basses from a little bass store in San Clemente, CA. They import quality basses from Czechoslovakia, give them a professional setup, and sell them here in the U.S. at an affordable price. (Pre-owned pro basses scattered on the floor around the shop elicited drool every time we visited!)
Thanks for sharing! Love to hear it
That headstock joint is diabolical.. No other word for it really....
I tried all of these and a bunch more before ending up with an Eastman. Which is all solid wood and more traditionally constructed
You should check out the Yamaha FG Junior. IMHO, Its nicer and you can pick one up cheap, like, $70-$125, also comes with gigbag. I bought one for my grandson, almost kept it for myself. They sound good and play good. And are nicer in appearance.
Don't Cort make like half of all guitars or some crazy number like that?
Also, I absolutely would not even give either of those guitars a second look, both necks are awful. NEVER cheap out on the neck
Yamaha FG's and FS's sound crazy good for like $300 CAD or so for the base model. They vary somewhat, but every now and then i pick up a super-light one and i seriously think they're some of the best guitars under $1500, maybe even $2K. LAG guitars are really good too but i've only ever seen them at the folklore centre
Yes! I’ve enjoyed all the yammys that have come through, particularly the red label ones I’ve seen.
As for the difference between these two guitars, as far as dynamic tonal range and sustain the two are inversely related, so it is always a compromise between the two . The more solidly the guitar is built the more the sustain and the more delicately the guitar is built the better the tonal range(by delicate , I mean thinner top and bottom and carved thinned down braces and lighter finish).
Indeed. The line is right between these guitars. The lightness of the taylor with the rigidity of the Martin.
A soft paste wax like Johnson butcher's wax would work better for lubricating those screw threads a little bit.
Recreationally I'm always setting something down and losing it
Oh, I do it professionally
you can use an air compressor to blow the glue into the crack with an air chuck
Interesting idea…sounds possibly messy
I'd love to know what are some overseas "Amazon" guitar brands that are genuine? Good treatment of workers and such? I also agree with most people here...Yamaha does not mess around with quality even on their >$200 guitars. My Yamaha FG700S is unbelievable.
Yeah, I don’t think there’s any way to pay very little for a guitar without there being moral compromise except if you buy used.
It never occurred to me to play B7 the way you do!
Hahahha, self taught AF. The joys of just putting your hands on the strings and hoping for a chord to come out!
@Notaluthier I rather like yours! A little extra bass!
I think I saw the key in the window ledge.
Good job man
Is that Taylor new or used? If new why accept a neck joint like that?? My Taylor Big Baby has not been a stable guitar, the action moves around a lot. The body joint is great when you have to re-shim as i have. I don't play it now.
These are both used, from clients.
I swear you can make anything with a neck sound sweet 🍯 🧡 🙏🏻
Watch out nearly every animal! 😊😊
Wouldn't a gs mini be a better comparison to the Martin than the baby Taylor? I have one. The Koa plus model. But the baseline mini with a spruce top is around 500 us. And I have played it as well as the Martin. Taylor gs is better imo. Baby Taylor is not a good overall guitar. Again my opinion.
I keep getting distracted by what looks like a stripped Harmony H44 in the rack behind you. Is that indeed what it is?
Bingo
If they used a lightweight set of tuning machines on this Taylor, that break might have never happened.
Tuners like these weigh 250-280 grams, while the open ones with/or plastic buttons weigh 100-150 grams less.
Also, the balance of the tiny body vs very heavy headstock must be awful.
I love my baby taylor. It is a ebony fretboard. Taylor uses responsible sourced woods and the ebony has run off and character
That's not back-bow obviously, and it's a mistake to address the action with the saddle as it is. If the truss rod can't achieve the correct neck relief, it's faulty, and the guitar should be returned.
Heard it's a bit of a common thing with those type of Martin necks...
my 90€ thomann inhouse brand guitar somehow didnt have any of those issues.
edit: i dropped the fucker flat on the ground and all that happened is cosmetic damage to the back of the neck.
I had an older version of the baby Taylor and it did not have that horrible headstock joint on it. But it didn’t sound very good. Definitely not like a mini or full size Taylor.
Many small guitars sound a little nasal and it takes some time to get used to that sound
I bought a Baby Taylor the year they came out. I would not have bought it if it looked like the one you have. Absolutely no way would I have given $50.00 for that guitar you have.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by the really good budget market for electrics right now, but those prices just seem obscene for what you get. Like that seems like outright robbery.
You r right 😊
I was busking with a guy who told me his baby taylor was a good guitar because it "sounds good plugged in." A pickup on a 2x4 sounds good plugged in, but it's not a guitar.
These are really what Taylor and Martin are doing? What a darn shame. Ive never seen such a slobbering job of a guitar.
Guitar repair video AND a chiropractic lesson? Nice.