What's happened to my Martin then

[zhivago]

I try and keep my room where my guitars live at between 40% and 50% humidity.

I also have a hygrometer next to the guitars...the reading on the dehumidifier and the hygrometer is never the same...the dehumidifier is always feeling "optimistic" and always claims there is less moisture than what's actually in the air.

Do you have a hygrometer to give you an accurate reading? They don't cost all that much, so it may be worth getting one, if you do decide to keep the guitar.

[welshywelsh]

Yep it's the hygrometer reading 53%. That's the lowest it'll go with the dehumidifier running constantly.

The room is around 75% if I don't run the dehumidifier.

[welshywelsh]

Action now at 2.5mm....

Has been kept in the case with the dehumidifier packs and played a bunch so is this just it settling? Even if I put it in the bathroom for a week I wouldn't expect it to change so quickly.

Am I just an acoustic n00b?

[Larry Mal]

So, if it stays at the 2.5mm for a couple weeks, then maybe it's stable, and you can then get another saddle and lower the action by .5mm there? You'd need to lower the saddle by 1mm from where you have it now.

If the guitar is stable then it can be adjusted that amount I'd think.

[seenoevil II]

If the problem was (ostensibly) the neck relief the first time, maybe it's the neck relief again. Maybe in the ruckus of shipment (especially if they slacked the strings like they should for shipment), the truss rod nut worked itself loose by a fraction of a turn.

I don't know your level of knowledge or comfort in assessing or adjusting neck relief, but if your game, give the neck a sighting or check it by putting a capo on the first, fretting the 14th and feeling the action at the 6th or 7th fret.

I'm not too bullish on this theory as hight humidity should mean less neck relief and even potentially a back bow. Also, I'm not sure I'd trade wonky neck geometry for a truss rod nut that won't stay put.

If this is going to be an ongoing issue for you, and it means terraforming your house, I'd be thinking about rehoming this guy. Especially, because it was a life milestone gift to yourself. You want to be able to comfortably bond with such an instrument. Maybe find a buyer in Arizona or something (jk).

Maybe find one for sale in person, maybe even better if it's a little used and thus acclimated to Great Britain.

These things are all made of tree wood. So, each one is unique. However, Martin increasingly refused to treat them as if they were all unique for the sake of efficiency. Unfortunately, that means there's gonna be a few turkeys in every batch.

On the other hand, you can double down and decide to live with it. You would need to find 2mm at the bridge. You could absolutely deck the saddle, but then I'd recommend putting in some string ramps (in fact, the break angle doesn't look stellar as it is, so I'd recommend that anyway). Or, even more drastic is shaving the bridge down by a millimeter or two to preserve saddle height. Finally, you can really commit and just go for the neck reset. Perhaps even overset it slightly to ward off future drift.

I'm sorry this hasn't gone smoothly for you. It really sucks when these things we buy to reward and show affection to ourselves turn into little ordeals. It's the ultimate first world problem, but you have to admit it's a little heartbreaking.

[Larry Mal]

Or get something like this and you can just make sure your neck is straight.

Martin's truss rod wrench is a little different.

[DesmondWafers]

This really doesn't sound like a truss rod issue to me.

Humidity makes acoustic guitar action higher, and 75% humidity is very, very high for an acoustic guitar built in a factory where it's probably kept at 45-ish. This sounds like the guitar readjusting to that high humidity. I would just get a second saddles, otherwise you're really going to have to go all in on dehumidification.

[welshywelsh]

I've contacted the shop and have asked to return it for a refund.

Action 0.75mm higher in a week, having been stored in the case at 50% humidity, so I really think the humidity is a red herring/excuse from the shop.

Sought another opinion from my daughter's guitar teacher, gave him the guitar with no context and he said the same as the tech and you guys, saddle very low, neck is straight, no bowing of the top. He really struggled to play it which was the biggest eye opener for me.

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, you've made the right choice. I'd say the guitar is a lemon, and I was never convinced by the whole truss rod thing.

Larrivee makes a very nice 00 style guitar, this will be rosewood, which can add a fullness to a guitar of that size.

I own one of these Gibson L-00 models that joins at the 12th fret, and again is made of rosewood. I also own an L-00 with the more normal 14th fret join and mahogany, the difference is pretty striking.

Just a couple of thoughts. I think that Martin is to blame here- I am pretty sure there are plenty of guitars in Wales that can be maintained in a playable condition, that Martin just isn't one of them.

[Larry Mal]

I was also always intrigued by these L-00 Studios in walnut.

I have a J-15, which is a J-45 but in walnut, and the sound is fantastic.

[welshywelsh]

Thanks Larry, I'll do some digging on those links tonight. I don't know if the shop will agree to a refund or push for a third guitar. We shall see....

Yeah, Wales isn't exactly Florida when it comes to humidity and I've not encountered anyone else who has experienced these issues, to this level and especially so quickly.

[i love sharin foo]

I was also always intrigued by these L-00 Studios in walnut.

I have a J-15, which is a J-45 but in walnut, and the sound is fantastic.

I’m still really happy with my walnut L-00. I did remove the electronics and add a normal endpin. Factory action was really high, so I worked the saddle a bit. It plays very well now.

[Larry Mal]

Thanks Larry, I'll do some digging on those links tonight. I don't know if the shop will agree to a refund or push for a third guitar. We shall see....

Yeah, Wales isn't exactly Florida when it comes to humidity and I've not encountered anyone else who has experienced these issues, to this level and especially so quickly.

I would imagine if you showed that you shipped the guitar all the way to Pennsylvania and back and the problem remains you have a defected guitar, hopefully there's some kind of "lemon law" that would apply here and guide the shop's hand to do the right thing.

The problem is you don't have anywhere to adjust. Here's my L-00 12 fret like I mentioned:





But if you had the amount of saddle I have there you would have no problem. I think we can think at this point that your guitar simply wants to do a certain thing in the environment you have there, and normally you would just let it happen then adjust the saddle. We would think it would be more or less stable then.

However you can't do anything, there's nowhere for you to go. The neck has been put on at too shallow an angle, and that's all there is to it. I'm pretty disappointed that Martin didn't acknowledge that and said it just needed a truss rod adjustment.

[Larry Mal]

I’m still really happy with my walnut L-00. I did remove the electronics and add a normal endpin. Factory action was really high, so I worked the saddle a bit. It plays very well now.

I bet, I imagine that's a great guitar. Maybe I'll buy one someday. I always take the electronics out too, because I just hate the undersadddle pickup killing the sound.

But my walnut J-15 has more than my mahogany J-45, louder, more high end, really just an all around winner. The J-45 certainly sounds good, and it does certain things very, very well. But I am absolutely sold on the concept that walnut is a fantastic tone wood and probably really shines in the L-00 form factor which can really benefit from a wood that brings out the high end more than mahogany does.

[welshywelsh]

The guitar went back to Martin UK rather than Nazareth. Not sure what is on offer over here but I was informed they were the ones that checked it over and re-set it up.

That said, I have my doubts it even went there. When I contacted the shop for an update after a week, Martin had collected it that day. After a few weeks of no updates, when I contacted the shop, it had arrived back from Martin that day as well....