Name: Dan Date: 02-24-08 Review: Martin M-38 Rating you give the Martin M-38: 4 - Highly recommend it
Like about the Martin M38: GREAT sound! Owned from new in 1977....
Dislikes: that said, the guitar had warping problems with the top from affixing the pick guard before the finish, the finger board cracks depending on the weather, and the binding cracked as well. THE GUITAR SOUNDS GREAT
Name: Jennifer Windsor Date: September 17, 2007 Review: 1977 M-38 Rating you give the Martin M-38: 3 - Good product give it a try
Like about the Martin M38: I really liked this guitar when I first bought it. It had terrific projection and the mid-range to upper register tonalities offered good volume and depth. The guitar lent itself well to both fingerpicking and flatpicking styles.
Dislike about the Martin M-38: I never really cared for that white border trim around the headstock and the later M-38 models with the ebony bridges look better. The salesman who sold me this guitar emphasized that medium gauge strings could also be used freely on this instrument but lo and behold, with its scalloped braces and lighter design, the guitar's neck angle shifted steadily over the next three years and at end of the 4th year of ownership, a neck reset was required as I had minimal saddle heigth remaining along with rising string action. Twelve years later and having switched to light-gauge Phosphor Bronze string sets, the guitar required another neck reset. That's two neck resets in roughly 15-16 years. After getting back, I left it in the closet for the following 15 years and after pulling it out this spring, I noticed that the action had risen again. An acquaintance attributes this to the lousy worksmanship and design of the 1970 era Martins although i haven't figured why the neck set keep changing by itself after being repaired by factory authorized service areas.
Additional Comments: My husband Jason contributed a Martin guitar review earlier and suggested that I include one pertaining to my older M-38. I purchased this guitar back in 1977 when they first came out. The saleman raved about David Bromberg using this particular model and having been a great admirer and fan of his, I opted for one.
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