Winter NAMM 2019 Roundup: Martin
MIN covered C.F. Martin’s ‘Modern Deluxe’ series before the show opened but that turned out to be the tip of a sizeable iceberg. For the consumer it may be exciting to be offered so many new models but for retailers surely it poses a host of problems? Not, it must be said, that Martin was the worst offender at this year’s show, though the company’s new models press release ran to over five pages of text alone!
Beyond the Modern Deluxe models, and as we’ve remarked before, this seemed to be the year of the slope shouldered Dreadnought with even the venerable Nazareth firm offering several examples of the breed, along with a launch which included an updated Junior Series and Road Series.
Catering for those who don’t want a traditional Martin-sized Dreadnought was the Dreadnought Junior Series. The updated Junior models sport a thinner, 000 body depth with softer back edges to provide maximum comfort while playing. The Road series has been updated, most notably with the addition of Fishman’s MX-T electronics. Meanwhile the solid mahogany StreetMaster is now available in a slope-shoulder model with Golden Age relic nickel tuners, an old-style script logo, and scalloped bracing.
The DSS-17 Black Smoke is also a slope shoulder model with a satin black smoke finish offset with mother-of-pearl fingerboard inlay, antique white binding, and ivoroid pickguard. The DSS-17 Whiskey Sunset Dreadnought slope-shoulder model is also new.
Add to these anniversary models to mark the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, a special edition series celebrating the work of a tattoo artist, Custom Signature Editions (including the head-turning 00 14-fret slope-shoulder acoustic with a curly mango top and gloss mango sunset burst finish, paired with figured curly mango back and sides) and the Authentic Series plus a host of luxury limited edition models and readers will get some idea of the number of Martin introductions.
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Source: musicinstrumentnews.co.uk
