Ngày Bạn Mua Guitar Martin Là Ngày Cây Đàn Tệ Nhất

Martin's president, Chris Martin, once said, "The day you buy a Martin guitar is the day it sounds the worst!"

Sounds really "soulless", doesn't it? Let Martin explain!

What Martin wants to say is this: The older your guitar, the better it sounds.

Why is that? Why is the sound of an aged Martin better than a brand new one?

One of the main reasons is that tonewood (the wood that makes up the guitar) will gradually lose moisture. And because of that, they become lighter, more resonant. This variation depends on environmental conditions, but it usually takes more than 40 years for martins to achieve their best natural sound.

Martin's R&D engineers wondered: What if you accelerated the aging of a guitar?

Through a variety of methods, most commonly torrefaction, other manufacturers have been able to get a guitar similar to the one they've been using for a while. But that wasn't enough for Martin to 'age' a guitar, Martin wanted to create exactly these vintage instruments.

And after years of research and experimentation, Martin engineers have successfully found the Vintage Tone System (VTS) process.

Process Vintage Tone System (VTS)

The process is to age the tonewood, commonly known as torrefaction, which involves baking the wood in a vacuum sealed oven. The Vikings are known for pioneering this technique when they hung wooden slabs over an open fire to dry them before using them to build boats.

With a long and persistent effort, Martin's research and development department has delved into the science of torrefaction. High-tech, deep scanning was performed by a series of pre-war Martin machines, plus studying a Ditson Dreadnought from 1919, to examine the cellular structure of the wood of these instruments in detail. .

In order to accurately recreate the look and style of pre-World War II Martin trees, Martin had to delve deeper into the aged wood. They study the weather patterns on vintage Martin guitars, from lacquer cracks to wear at certain points from players' hands and friction from clothing. All must be thoroughly tested to satisfy discerning eyes and ears.

Fortunately, Martin is the only guitar maker in the world with access to their collection of finely crafted instruments dating back over 185 years. So the team meticulously explored every surface and angle of the 1937 D-28 tree from the museum, documenting the effects of wear and tear with all the senses.

RESULT

Martin is now able to treat wood and guitars with a proprietary VTS process, making them look, feel, sound and smell exactly like decades of natural aging.

Today, most guitars are made with a combination of technology and craftsmanship, but Martin's longstanding Authentic series guitars are cut, shaved, sanded, finished and assembled by hand. 100%. Martin's exclusive Vintage Tone System (VTS) process closely reproduces the condition and tonal characteristics of a Golden Era Martin guitar with astonishing accuracy.

Is Aged Guitar Martin worth the money?

Paul Riario from Guitar World visited the Martin factory to compare a brand new 1939 D-18 Authentic with a hundred-year-old D-18 in the museum. And Paulo's response gave the most correct answer. “The sound… is right there, the feeling is there. Even the color, the rust… I mean everything about it is amazing.”

As Paul pointed out, a Depression-Era D-28 will cost upwards of $100,000 or more. Meanwhile, the price of the D-28 Authentic 1937 Aged is much lower.

Paul goes on to say: “Considering the time it took to make this guitar… what you get is a truly one-of-a-kind instrument and no two are alike. So for me it's worth it."

See more:

Martin Authentic Series - Masterpieces tinged with time

Latest Martin Guitar Models 2022

Genuine Martin Guitar