Bob Kovacs is an engineer and singer/guitarist. He can be reached at pvreditor@yahoo.com.
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As a guitar player, you know when a guitar is just right. Although I’ve played a lot of good guitars over the years, the Martin 000C-16RGTE cutaway auditorium guitar ranks up there with the some of the best electric/acoustics I have ever played.
Features
Priced at $1,879 retail, the 000C-16RGTE is auditorium-sized, which means means that the body is a smaller than a standard dreadnought; the thickness is reduced by about an inch and the width is slightly smaller. This smaller size, however, means it is more comfortable to play when performing.
The instrument has a slim, comfortable neck made of mahogany with a width of 1-11/16 inches at the nut. The glossy-finished top is solid spruce with herringbone trim around the sound hole and bright white binding around the perimeter of the top and neck. The guitar’s sides and two-piece back are solid rosewood with a satin finish.
The neck's scale length is 25.4 inches and the low frets are on a fingerboard of striped ebony (According to Martin, the review unit's fret board was made from ebony, but the current versions have black Micarta fingerboards). The smooth-feeling tuners are the sealed Grover-style, probably Gotoh. The review model had Martin phosphor bronze, light gauge SP strings.
The 16 series, like various other non-vintage Martin models, is designed with a "mortise" neck joint, which is a hybrid of glue-in and bolt-on. Traditional hand fit, "dovetail" neck joints are 100 percent glued in.
To protect the guitar, the Martin 000C-16RGTE comes with a a nicely padded TKL case.
An important ingredient of the Martin 000C-16RGTE is the Fishman Prefix Stereo Blender electronics package that is installed on the upper front curve of the guitar. This electronics package has both a bridge piezo microphone and an internal electret microphone, the latter mounted on the electronics assembly.
This setup gives you the best of both worlds for acoustic playing: a stage setup that sounds good with low susceptibility to feedback and a built-in electret mic for recording and quieter PA systems. The Prefix Stereo Blender has controls that permit you to contour the sound and blend the two pickups. According to Fishman (www.fishman.com), the two mics can be split and fed from the guitar simultaneously, although I did not use this feature.) The Prefix Stereo Blender is a "flip-top" design that gives you fast access to the 9V battery.
The Audition
The feel of the 000C-16RGTE is everything that a premium guitar should be. There were no rough edges anywhere, and the action and balance of the instrument felt just right in my hands. A cutaway guitar begs to be played at the higher frets and the 000C-16RGTE had perfect intonation and excellent playability as far up the neck as I cared to go.
Although the "auditorium" body is smaller than a dreadnought, I played the 000C-16RGTE at a performance in a spacious common room with vaulted ceilings and plush furniture. The unamplified sound of the guitar had no trouble filling the room and working with my vocals.
While a dreadnought has a bit more bass when played without amplification, I really didn’t notice a big difference when plugged in. It still has the Martin bass and midrange. Acoustically, the 000C-16RGTE is a Martin that Taylor players should take note of. Its crisp, but balanced, sound is ideal for strumming, flat picking and finger picking. The tone, from E to E, is well defined with no muddy spots or unusual resonances.
I made some recordings via the preamp output jack and found that I preferred to adjust the mic blend at about 70 percent electret mic and 30 percent bridge mic. This gave a clean, delicate sound to treble notes while retaining some of the punch that the bridge pickup is known for. The Fishman electronics has a wide range of control that permits adjustment for virtually all applications.
As with most internal electret pickups in guitars, unwanted physical handling noise, such as buttons clicking on the back of the guitar and fingers squeaking on the strings, could be heard through the amplifier speaker.
Summary
The Martin 000C-16RGTE is a beautiful-sounding guitar. It has a treble crispness that puts it in Taylor territory — without losing its Martin bass character. Throw in its ease of play, build quality and versatility as an acoustic or electric-acoustic, and you have one nice guitar that costs less money than you might think.
For more information, contact Martin at 610-759-2837 or visit the company web site at www.martinguitar.com
Microphones Need sound amplified or recorded? Shure microphones are the recognized leader for both stage and studio. Wireless Microphone Systems available online.
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