New Martin ukes

[badhabits]

Intentional aging or "relic'ing" is a thing with (new) electric guitars now... hopefully it won't make its way to ukes

[jer]

They're on Musicians Friend/Guitar Center sites (same company) right now...but not in stock. It's more of a pre-order...but you can see prices. They slightly dropped the prices on the koa models and the S1. Not my first choice for buying, since they don't even open the boxes before they ship an instrument to you usually.
I would think MIM (usually the seller I prefer) will be getting these new ones, since she's a Martin dealer now. I would guess Elderly Instruments will have them too...and maybe some more of the good dealers in the uke world.

Edit: I just noticed they're on Sweetwater too..These will be prices high enough they should get the setup there. Also same slight reduction in price on the koas from Mexico and S1...

[EDW]

according to the site, it's "ultra-thin finish creates a beautifully weathered appearance". I'm not interested in the finish as much as I am in the mahogany wood. The finish doesn't look bad, but I would prefer a normal finish for mahogany instead of a faux aged look.

I always think that it is odd to make a faux old instrument. I think better choices are to buy an old instrument or buy a nice one and play the heck out of it until it looks like that!

[ripock]

I always think that it is odd to make a faux old instrument. I think better choices are to buy an old instrument or buy a nice one and play the heck out of it until it looks like that!

I remember the last time I went to a mall, back in the 90's. I was thinking of buying some denim pants. I went to the Levi's store and all they had were these items with rips and torn pockets and were purportedly carbon copies of an old pair of jeans that were found in a warehouse in San Francisco. I just left and never returned to a mall after that.

So I'm not a fan of distressed merchandise. Also, what's the point of a new Martin? I thought the goal was to get an old one with mojo and history. It is like all these young guys driving their 2020 Mustangs. If you're not driving a '63 mustang, why drive one at all?

[Mike $]

I always think that it is odd to make a faux old instrument. I think better choices are to buy an old instrument or buy a nice one and play the heck out of it until it looks like that!

Yes, I think most of us agree. Unfortunately a used mahogany Martin tenor is usually $1000 or more, but I am sure the sound is much better. I am looking forward to reviews and previews.

It looks like the prices charged by Martin for the two new ukes are the same asking prices from Sweetwater and at least one Reverb seller.

[rafter]

Going against the majority here, I like the distressed look of Martin’s Streetmasters. I like the vintage look without the vintage cost and potential issues of an older instrument. I guess it’s like having your cake and eating it too: a vintage instrument that’s new. But I know that’s not everybody’s cup of tea. Still, looking at Martin’s aged series (where they literally “age” guitars by wearing down new ones) there seems to be some demand for the torn jeans version of guitars, and at serious prices.

What annoys me about the Streetmaster ukulele are the plastic Graph Tech ratio tuners which defeat the purpose of making the ukulele look vintage. Why not just put in some decent friction tuners or even Pegheds? I was seriously contemplating picking up a T1 Streetmaster, thin neck width and all, until I saw the plastic tuners. If they’d just stuck on some Grovers like on their S1. And maybe gotten rid of their headstock sticker too.

The 0XK concert appeals to me also, but I find the choice to use koa wallpaper a bit odd. If you’re going for a purely aesthetic, artificial distressed look on one of your ukulele models, why not do it on the ukulele that is literally wallpapered? Martin’s current line up only has two other concerts, both koa. Why make your HPL koa as well? For the sake of variety, their 0X concert should have been offered in a mahogany pattern, distressed or plain.

Otherwise, I think Martin has been missing an opportunity to make their HPL ukes with more interesting, non-wood graphics. Hire a graphic designer and come up with a few interesting designs. They already pushed the envelope using HPL, why dress it up like wood?

For Mr. Chris Martin IV, who surely peruses these UU threads: 1) Regular friction tuners on the T1 Streetmaster. 2) Maybe multiple graphic options for the new HPL concert, with one plain (or distressed) mahogany option, since a third concert in koa is superfluous. The other designs could be something more visually interesting.

[Blank Williams]

I don’t mind the graphtech tuners at all and I could even look past the distressed finish if it sounds good, but what really bothers me for some reason is the ugly pinkish looking sipo they use for the fretboard. I’d much rather have walnut or even richlite honestly. I know it’s mostly just appearance, but it just makes it look kinda cheap to me. And I agree that oxk concert would have been better with a different pattern. My vote would be for a nice dark mahogany look for that one. Ah well.

[Dohle]

I like the look of those Graphtech ratio tuners because they have a nice matte finish that makes them look more vintage to me than tuners with metal posts. But obviously that's personal preference. Aside from that, I can't really be excited for these new Martin ukes. As long as the build quality is so detached from those excellent Martin ukes in the past, I will keep looking somewhere else. The competition is so much better at similar price points.

[MJB]

FWIW Fender has made new "relic" guitars/basses for many years now. Some of these even have rusty hardware which I would never find acceptable on a new instrument.

I have a KALA Concert with GraphTech tuners that work just fine IMO.

I just got a Martin IZ Tenor so we'll see how I get along with PegHed tuners.

There are so many good choices available to us now, buy what you want and play it.

I prefer the look of nice dark fretboards, the new ukes with light brown Sipo look cheap to me.

[BigJackBrass]

Intentional aging or "relic'ing" is a thing with (new) electric guitars now... hopefully it won't make its way to ukes

Ohana have been selling their aged finish series like the SK-38 for at least ten years now. Very popular and solid sellers too.