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Original Post By:
RedHotBlue
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Date: 8/7/2008 11:07:11 AM |
| Ever dream of discovering a dead mint Martin soprano style 3, virtually unplayed for 35 years w/original case? Check out ebay item # 140255877673. I'm afraid this one's way out of my league! |
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Posted By:
Ukes
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Date: 8/7/2008 6:38:03 PM |
| Just checked it out. Wow!
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Posted By:
poster one
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Date: 8/7/2008 7:48:16 PM
(Updated: 8/7/2008 7:48:55 PM)
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| You can tell it was the last incarnation of the style 3 by the dots in the fretboard. The new ones will be built like the older ones with the stripe down the middle. And a parend at the end of the top. This is a stunning example of a style 3 and should go for a hefty price. My guess is that a collector wil pay $3000-$4000 for it. It is really unique, being that it is virtually unplayed.
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Posted By:
Diesel
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Date: 8/7/2008 8:02:55 PM |
| Not this collector. I bought a stone mint 0 some years back, still had the hang-tag. Beautiful. It sat in thee olde musick closet until I sold it to a player in Japan. Problem with it was that it was so minty new. Play it, it wouldn't be no more so. Lesson learned: If you want to collect and play, don't buy the Messiah. If you want something to put in a glass case, go for it.
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Posted By:
mLKauai
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Date: 8/7/2008 8:12:04 PM |
I have had the same experience, in a Martin bari; mint as I have ever seen... I went through what many of us UAS afflicted may have; kept getting cleaner and "mint-ier" Martins.
This one was so clean, no strum marks etc, I could bear to play it; after all, we can get other less clean ones to play....
gosh... it was fun tho!
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Posted By:
poster one
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Date: 8/8/2008 1:07:57 AM |
| I've had two experiences with coming across "dead mint" Martin ukes. A style 1 and a tenor. It was no choice, I had to sell them. I'm pretty rough on ukes and just couldn't play them.
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Posted By:
ToeBone
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Date: 8/8/2008 1:47:52 AM |
| I think the only mint uke I ever had was my own special order Glyph. All my others are "distressed" in one way or another - but they are all beautiful players that I have no reservation about clacking and scratching with my acrylic nails. I don't even mind if my dog licks 'em and I occasionally stick them to my sweaty naked belly when I play. Ok, maybe more than you want to know.
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Posted By:
hoaryhead
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Date: 8/8/2008 2:22:39 AM
(Updated: 8/8/2008 2:24:09 AM)
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This uke "feels" to me like one of the newfangled 2007-08 3s--in finish, and with the fretboard shape especially. But there's no denying that the old 3s of both the striped and non-striped ilk almost uniformly sounded great, and I'm guessing that this 70s version isn't any different. I played a pretty beat up 50s (no stripe) 3M a week ago, and even though the very old strings (probably nearly as old as the uke), you could tell the sound was a home run. Just big and rich.
One of the things that really turned me on to that Martin sound is Jim Beloff's first DVD. Although I bought it *after* I had already learned from his second one (which turned me on to KoAloha), I loved it because the soprano he plays sounds so damn good. It's a no-stripe 3M. Ian Whitcomb then plays another Martin 3M, and then Travis Harrelson plays a striped 3M with an extra hole in the top. Each of those ukes sounds tops--fat and big. To top it off, Poncie Ponce plays a Martin tenor!
Sometimes I watch it just to see the Martins. Am I strangely obsessed?
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Posted By:
jbirsner
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Date: 8/8/2008 11:01:48 AM |
| Lovely ukulele but there are other ways to go. I also would be afraid to take it out for a decent strum. I recently bought a fairly distressed "3" for not much more than the Kiwaya KTS 7 touted as a near-clone. Took it to Mike Atkins who beautifully repaired the cracks, cleaned it up and brought it back to near-restored status. And, yes, it does have that bigger sound as if it were half-way in size to a concert. Mike's prices are incredibly reasonable--even factoring in postage. What he's done for a number of my other foundlings incl a "2" (that might have been used for a cricket bat...) is just terrific. I'm sure others would do as well for the less-pristine instument.
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Posted By:
poster one
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Date: 8/8/2008 12:54:12 PM |
| I hadn't seen a late style 3 for sale in a long while and wouldn't you know it, look at eBay #360077734123. It's listed as a style 2. Anyone with a rudementary knowledge of lutherie could make this a real winner.
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Posted By:
DougD
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Date: 8/8/2008 1:05:17 PM |
| I don't think 1972 was exactly the "Golden Age" for Martin instruments, although this one certainly looks nice. But also, it must have Martin strings on it, and you couldn't change them without compromising the originality!
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Posted By:
RedHotBlue
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Date: 8/17/2008 4:37:58 PM |
| And the gavel comes down at $3,175.00!!! YOWZA!
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Posted By:
ToeBone
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Date: 8/17/2008 6:55:53 PM |
Dang, forgot all about that one. I was planning to bid $3,176.
Guess I'll just have to do with what I got.
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