New Martin T2K or T2M???

geffr999

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I will not be able to try either of these but I"m going to order one soon.

It comes down to Koa or Mahogany.

The koa is a little more but not much. It appears the vintage Martin Koa's seem to be worth more but that's not a big consideration.

thoughts? reviews between both?
 
I am a Koa wood fan. Koa tends to be a bit more brighter than Mahogany.
 
I am with Bart....for me it is always Koa wood. (pluse, Koa wood smells good!!)
 
I do like vintage, but there is just so much to finding the right one that hasn't been beat, or ready to crack, or repaired etc.

I'm thinking the Mahogany "seems" more martin if that makes sense.
But KOA is just nice. the difference is less than $100.
 
I suggest you consider the quality of the woods they use. Is their Koa a good quality Koa? Same should be considered with the mahogany. IMO, a vintage Martin Tenor, in good shape, is leap years ahead of any new Martin out there.
 
I suggest you consider the quality of the woods they use. Is their Koa a good quality Koa? Same should be considered with the mahogany. IMO, a vintage Martin Tenor, in good shape, is leap years ahead of any new Martin out there.

I have no idea how I would answer/evaluate that question. I have seen a few reviews for the new martin tenors and they have been really good (USA made tenors)

Vintage is such a hard game, cost is high and you have no idea if it's a good vintage or bad or repaired.

How much different are they building the higher end martin's VS. vintage martins. How much is age of wood falling into this?

And an honest question, has anyone played the new USA tenors? I have found VERY few reviews and only really youtube clips.

thanks again for opinions.
 
I have no idea how I would answer/evaluate that question. I have seen a few reviews for the new martin tenors and they have been really good (USA made tenors)

Vintage is such a hard game, cost is high and you have no idea if it's a good vintage or bad or repaired.

How much different are they building the higher end martin's VS. vintage martins. How much is age of wood falling into this?

And an honest question, has anyone played the new USA tenors? I have found VERY few reviews and only really youtube clips.


I agree geff, buying a vintage is a hard game. I just pulled the plug on a vintage Martin Baritone, no cracks yahoo, and am sweatin' bullets right now wondering if I did the right thing lol. The positve about a new one is you get to put the soul into it from the start.
 
I have no idea how I would answer/evaluate that question. I have seen a few reviews for the new martin tenors and they have been really good (USA made tenors)

Vintage is such a hard game, cost is high and you have no idea if it's a good vintage or bad or repaired.

How much different are they building the higher end martin's VS. vintage martins. How much is age of wood falling into this?

And an honest question, has anyone played the new USA tenors? I have found VERY few reviews and only really youtube clips.


I agree geff, buying a vintage is a hard game. I just pulled the plug on a vintage Martin Baritone, no cracks yahoo, and am sweatin' bullets right now wondering if I did the right thing lol. The positve about a new one is you get to put the soul into it from the start.

You did the right thing.
 
For what it's worth, while at NAMM this year I played the T2K and the T1K. The one's I played I really thought the 1K sounded better, and was a lot cheaper. However, from what I've seen the 1K's can be hit or miss on how they look, where the 2k's have all looked good.
 
if the koa isn't that much more $$ than mahogany, it can't be very good koa. my 2c. good luck.
 
if the koa isn't that much more $$ than mahogany, it can't be very good koa. my 2c. good luck.

The KOA would work out to be $100 more than the mahogany.

BUT, when you are as big as Martin, you might get some better deals on wood.

decisions decisions...
 
In my experience, the Mexico-made T1K sounds considerably better than the Nazareth-made T2K. (Just my experience as I have played both.)


Scooter
 
In my experience, the Mexico-made T1K sounds considerably better than the Nazareth-made T2K. (Just my experience as I have played both.)


Scooter

I think I"m leaning more towards the 2M mahogany. Have you tried one of those? Normally I would never buy without trying, but I'm not able to. Did you notice any quality difference? neck? glue? etc?

I guess you never know, even expensive ones can be duds.
 
I guess I got lucky and Martin goofed up on my T1K. They definitely used "good koa" on my T1K. Hopefully, no employee at Martin got in trouble because of the mix up.
 
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