Martin D-18 Authentic vs Golden Era

Here’s a pretty cool video that features a shootout between a Martin D-18 Authentic vs the Golden Era.

The guy (don’t know his name) on the video does a good job of making the comparisons as fair as possible… and  definitely with the way he splices between guitars- you do hear the difference.

Now here’s my 2 cents for whatever it’s worth…

I look at this as judging 2 individual instruments, not an “Authentic” vs Golden Era…

Guitars especially acoustics, vary from guitar to guitar within the same model.
Now I know a lot of you reading this will know that but some of you may not. So for me personally, I don’t care about the model so much… if the sound is what I like and it plays well, that’s what I will care about.

When choosing a guitar I’ve always felt that I had to have it in my hands and be able to compare it to others, rather than order it site unseen. But one of the downfalls with playing a guitar in a shop is the illusion of sound that exists in a guitar store.

How many of you had this happen… you bring the guitar home and then it’s buyers remorse… just doesn’t sound as good as it did in the shop. Truth is, lots of acoustic instruments hanging on the walls will make the guitar you’re trying out seem louder than it really is.

Ultimately I can’t always tell really until I bring the guitar into a studio setting or use it with other musicians to know how it really sounds or reacts.

Just as an aside to the video microphone placement…  I have yet to find two guitars that want the same microphone positioning in exactly the same place. For example, my Herringbone wants the stereo paired mics spread further way from each other(due to big bass) whereas my D18 wants the stereo pair a lot closer together.

One other thing I want to point out… There was a record that David Grisman and Tony Rice recorded called Tone Poems… I want to say it was recorded about 20 years ago?  It was where David and Tony played various vintage instruments from song to song. Now I’m not saying I couldn’t hear the difference but honestly folks, it sounded great because it was David and Tony, not the instruments. In other words, give Tony a 300$ guitar and he’s gonna make it sound better than this guy with his $7,000 Authentic…