Martin Guitar LX Black Little Martin - Includes Martin Padded Gig Bag

I compared reviews, facts, features, and prices between many of the most commonly advertised 3/4 size and "travel" acoustic guitars. After many trips to my local retailer, and after countless videos and written reviews I purchased the Little Martin Black model.I am (now) thoroughly happy with my decision and with the guitar. There was a learning curve associated with the purchase of a guitar this small, and I want to share that as part of my review. So, overall the guitar gets a 4-5 out of 5 stars, and since there is no half-star, I just rated it as a five.But here are some things you should consider, and know.First and most obviously this is a small guitar, it is even smaller than your "triple-naught" or "000" dreadnaught. That means that even if set up perfectly and played by a maestro, it still will not sound like its larger siblings. I know that should be obvious, but it needs to be a fact you understand when you first start playing it.Having said that, once the guitar is properly set up, you will not be disappointed with the sound. It is every bit as good and worthy as any other 3/4 size acoustic. And when you consider that the guitar is made entirely from HPL and other man-made materials, the fact that it sounds as good as it does is sort of amazing!And, let's mention that this guitar is made to travel, and more importantly, this guitar is made to travel in varying weather conditions. The reason this guitar is constructed from all man-made materials (except for internal bracing) should be the main reason for buying it.Unfortunately, most reviews omit this important fact; HPL and the other construction materials are used PRIMARILY to allow this guitar to be climate-immune, or nearly so. This guitar will travel as well as the carbon fiber models that cost 3-4 times as much. Of course that last statement assumes equivalent cases, handling, etc.So for a street price of $350 you get a compact, durable, weather-resistant, great-sounding travel-sized guitar made from HPL, versus a $1,200-1500 similar model made from carbon fiber. I am excluding ALL wood models from this comparative statement because NONE of them can claim the same weather and climate resistance because no all-wood guitar is climate-resistant like an HPL guitar.So, next, let's talk about the real-world expectations and the things I had to do to help the guitar get to the point that allowed me to rate it 4 or 5 stars.First, the guitar is beautifully constructed, and in Mexico at that. The fret ends are as good as any guitar I have ever owned, especially considering that the neck does not have binding. But the fret ends are as smooth as any neck that does.Next, the machine heads are not the smoothest I have ever had, but they are completely up to their task, and sufficient.Because the body is a lot smaller than a full-size guitar, it sounds smaller, as mentioned above.But when I first started playing the unit, I noticed that a couple of strings had a minor, yet noticeable string buzz. And that kind of buzz that seems to mute the general sound overall, to the point that the overall sound was a bit muted and also dull. I was not experienced with this sort of thing, where a fret-noise was generally affecting and muting to some extent the whole sound. But once I figured out that might be the problem, I proceeded to correct it.I made a minor truss-rod adjustment to relieve the fret-buzz I was receiving from a couple of strings, and voila! The whole instrument came "alive"; and once I fine-tuned my adjustment the instrument sounded excellent; so much so that it began to sound "inspiring" and THAT is what I look for in a guitar, especially an acoustic guitar. I want (need?) my acoustic guitars to sound inspiring.Once that adjustment was made, I began to realize that due to the size of the 3/4 form factor, everything seemed to me to be more sensitive when it came to adjustments, including tuning. I had to tune a bit more slowly and adjust more slowly and precisely. Once I slowed down, listened, and was more deliberate in my tuning and adjustment, the guitar responded by coming alive with the tone, volume, and inspiring sounds that I expected.Almost (maybe "all") new guitars need some minor set-up upon arrival, Sometimes that is to correct how they arrived, and sometimes it is to accommodate the player's preferences. Now that my minor truss rod adjustment is finished, I was able to discern that I have one fret that might need an extremely minor amount of touch-up, and that is something I can do myself, and once that minor adjustment is done, this Little Martin will be everything I could have hoped for... and more!But in any case, now my Little Martin now sounds "like a Martin" (I have owned 3) and maybe is the best option for anyone wanting a small travel guitar that is mostly immune to changes in humidity and temperature.And (once set up to your liking) should inspire you to play more often and in more places.I would recommend this Little Martin guitar series, and once it is set up to your personal tastes, it might become your most cherished traveling partner.I am not affiliated with Amazon nor C. F. Martin, and I wrote this review to help others who are considering a Little Martin guitar. Buy it because you want climate tolerance, a small compact size, and an affordable price tag. Once set up to your liking, you should have a guitar with that great sound that you'd expect from a Martin guitar.

This guitar sounds much better than some of my full sized adult guitars that were $700+.My poor son barely gets to play it because I'm too busy using it !

sehr angenehm zu spielen, regt zu immer neuen Ideen an

欲しかったギターが安く購入できました。ハードオフの中古より安い。気に入ってます。

音がとってもよいです！