True Cost of Owning a Martin

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longboardsurfing	True Cost of Owning a Martin	Lead	[-]
(06/24/09 4:33 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None You are finally ready to step up and buy the Martin of your dreams. After searching and playing different guitars you have decided on the model you desire. In the process you have played as many of this model that you can find. Finally one of them really speaks to you, given that even among the same model there is a variance in tone due to the unique characteristics of wood. You plan on owning the guitar for at least 10 years. If the guitar costs $2,000 here is the breakdown on cost (based on 10 year ownership): $200 per year, or $.548 per day. Quite a bargain considering it's hard to even buy a cup or coffee for 50 cents these days. Here's the question. You know you can buy the same guitar online for 5% less but can't play it or see it other than perhaps a picture, which do you buy? From a money standpoint, the guitar now costs $1,900 (a $100 dollar saving). Over 10 years the cost is now $190 per year, or $.521 per day (a saving of 2.7 pennies a day). For your 2.7 cents a day, which do you choose?
HD28 Player		#1	[-]
(06/24/09 4:47 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	for 3 cents/day, I think you already know the answer. note: the "true cost" is probably a whole lot less....if you consider at the end of 10 yrs, you could probably sell it for $1500 or so.
kydave		#2	[-]
(06/24/09 6:11 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Lease it! Buy it at a decent price used for a decent Standard or better model, play it for your 10 years and sell it for at least what you paid. Kentucky Dave's Martins: 00-28H (2006 Custom); SP000-16R (1999 Special Edition); 0000-28H (1999); D-28 (1971) myspace.davetrabue and beargrasscreek Piraticus 13:7 , , <> ^^^
fattdad		#3	[-]
(06/24/09 7:49 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Would somebody please give me a hundred bucks? It's only 2.7 cents per day. I have a hard time with ammortizing in my mind the cost of purchases. Saving online has the risk of return shipping (for the case of defect or whatever). I've bought two Martins online for cost - love them both. Got a good price, but never thought in terms of cents per day. f-d ¡papa gordo ain't no madre flaca! '20 A3, '29 L-1, '73 FG-180, '84 1N, '84 A5-1, '98 914-C, '06 000-15S, 000-28NB
Rod Neep		#4	[-]
(06/24/09 7:55 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	longboardsurfing wrote: $.548 per day. Quite a bargain considering it's hard to even buy a cup or coffee for 50 cents these days. Great... I'll take 10 Erm.... hang on a moment.... Rod
MassWineGuy		#5	[-]
(06/24/09 8:34 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Obviously, you buy the one that speaks to you, damn the torpedoes.
No457 Snowy		#6	[-]
(06/25/09 3:40 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Don't forget to take into account that the long term "true cost" of stepping up to that first Martin is that it's so hard to stop at just one. Snowy.
jscio		#7	[-]
(06/25/09 6:52 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	It gets better as you keep it over the years. My D35-S was $495 new ($525 including tax and case). Add in misc repairs and upgrades over the years and that takes me to $955.00. I've had it for about 39 years. That's 6.7 cents per day. Not a bad investment, I'd say.
JayBee1404		#8	[-]
(06/25/09 7:25 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	fattdad wrote: Got a good price, but never thought in terms of cents per day. Me neither - I always justify my guitar-expenditure in terms of packets of fags (that's cigarettes to you American guys!). If I smoked (I never have!) and I used a moderate 20 a day, that's 7 x £5 = £35 a week, x 52 = £1,820 per year. A D-28 new currently costs around £1,800 in a UK shop. So a guitar that will be my best-friend for life costs the same as one year's supply of coffin nails. Isn't the guitar a fantastic deal! And it won't kill me either! John OM-28 Marquis (2007) Lowden O-25 (2002) Fylde 'Touchstone' Mandolin (2009) Sully's straps Hiscox PRO-ll Cases Oasis In-Case Hygrometers & Humidifiers Jim Dunlop 'Calico' Thumb-picks Nails by Amethyst Nails and Beauty, Gainsborough, UK.
Chef Bill in Florida		#9	[-]
(06/25/09 7:44 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	For me, there are many considerations in addition to the price, not the least of which is who are you buying online from? That was the point I was trying to make a few weeks ago when, on a similar topic, a few fellow-members took issue with my statement, "Nobody minds paying top dollar for quality and service." It probably would have better for me to say, "Nobody minds paying a fair price for quality and service," but the point is the same. Over the long run, the extra few dollars are really only pennies, and for me that is money well-spent to purchase an instrument that I know I'll like and will be backed up by a reputable seller - online or "on ground" - if there are issues down the road. My wife is a conservatory-trained violist, and she often wonders how guitar players easily make high-ticket purchases online without playing the instrument in question, but I think she is becoming more familiar with the realities of buying and selling guitars. More than a few on this forum have written that they've had good and bad experiences online - luckily, mine have been good so far. I recently purchased a very nice instrument at a great price from a fellow member through Buy & Sell. Prior to that, I had purchased online only three times - Martins from Jon Garon and Musician's Friend, and my Sheraton through eBay. The forum member was first-class all the way, and the transaction could not have gone smoother, but having very little experience purchasing guitars from non-dealers there was some serious nail-biting going on in my house until the brown truck finally arrived. My father was a very well-respected corporate attorney, who was involved in purchases and sales of many very large companies. Although he was a very tough negotiator, he often said, "The worst enemy of a good deal is a 'perfect' deal," when warning about the pitfalls of parties trying to squeeze the last dollar out of a transaction. Chef Bill in Florida 000X1 - "Bonnie"; DX1 - "Clyde"; D12X1 - "Bogie"; Epiphone Sheraton II - "Bacall"; 000-15S - "Arnold"
fpeay		#10	[-]
(06/25/09 7:57 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Be careful not to be overly optimistic as it could easily turn out more like this: Martin - $2,000.00 2nd Martin - $3,000.00 3rd Martin - $5,000.00 Divorce - $175,000.00 Total cost of ownership - $185,000.00 If this whole process takes 5 years, it results in an annual cost of $37,000.00. Note that there is no salvage value to account for in this projection. Frank HD-28, DC-16GTE, ES-335 Last Edited By: fpeay 06/25/09 8:01 AM. Edited 1 times.
fatboy92		#11	[-]
(06/25/09 10:05 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Okay, I was told to ask this....since I shared the math with my wife. She wants to know about the cost of gas to jams, cost of beers drank while playing, cost of have friends over and feeding while jamming, cost of the camper to have a safe place to store my guitar/mandolin and her bass while at bluegrass festival, cost of tickets for bluegrass festival so after the show I can jam til the late night hours = owning a Martin guitar PRICELESS and three is even better!!! Dalton
MudslideTim		#12	[-]
(06/25/09 12:57 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Sometimes its easier to ask for forgiveness then permission, besides that is too much math for a guy like me to ponder. Have fun and enjoy the music. Cheers, MST
SixxStringer		#13	[-]
(06/25/09 1:23 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	5% differential on a 2K guitar--no brainer...go for what moves you. Oftentimes it is more like a 20% difference (i.e. GC vs. Maury) and if the retail is 3 or 4k--then the money becomes a real factor, IMO. Richard My Video of "Hiscox Drop Test" Hiscox Lite-Flite Cases (U.S. Dealer)
chondroland		#14	[-]
(06/25/09 5:40 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I rarely ever shop on price alone, preferring to give my business to someone who understands the importance of customer service. Good customer service isn't free (IMHO) and if you appreciate, or demand, good customer service - as I do - then I think it's only fair to expect to pay for it. Saving $100.00 on a $2,000.00 guitar is not enough of a savings for me, to not go to the supplier that has provided me with all those answers to my many mind-numbing questions, and who's time I have taken up over the last several weeks or months, as s/he hands me one guitar after another to try out, etc. There would have to be a significant price difference (more than 20%) for me to ignore the provider of good customer service in favor of purchasing the lesser-priced instrument. And often times, even if the store with the customer-service can't match exactly the price reduction of the other store, I believe you will benefit in other areas by purchasing the higher-priced instrument from the store that routinely believes in, and provides, good customer service. The only exception would be that if two stores had the same model instrument, and neither store had decent customer service, I'd buy the least expensive instrument. Stu
D41SpecialCustom		#15	[-]
(07/03/09 1:58 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Our Martins may have cost a bit, but the pleasure of playing and listening to them is priceless. My Martin was custom so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. It is a true gem http://s697.photobucket.com/albums/vv340/MartinD-41/
RevGeo.stefangrossmans...		#16	[-]
(07/03/09 10:53 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I just can't imagine dropping a couple of grand on a guitar that I haven't played. I know lots of folks who have bought guitars on line or had a shop order one for them and are very happy with their purchases. I have purchased cheap guitars on line and some have been very good, some very bad and some in between. I bought the cheapies to sell in my little shop. If I am seriously looking for a high-end (to me that's anything over $1,000) guitar I want to play it first. I'll spend the cash to drive to the place where the guitar is and try it out. Maybe the search is part of the cost of owning the guitar. But one thing I do know for sure, and that is if I find that guitar (and I've found two and still have them) and I can afford it and I buy it, the cost means little to me. It's just money. But a special guitar doesn't come around that often. Rev George And each wished he could pick a guitar, because it is a gracious thing. John Steinbeck
teherie		#17	[-]
(07/03/09 4:38 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	$600+ $200 + $500 + $20 + $1,040 + $2,040 = $4,400 Total for three new Martins (D-35, OM-35, Backpacker), Two new Larrivees (12 string cutaway, parlor) and a Oahu (Square Neck). All cash deals so no finance charges and I couldn't be more pleased with my decisions. Now that I have been a forum reader for a year or too, next time around though, I think I will follow Kydave's advice and lease instead. There are simply too many good deals for used guitars out there to always buy new.
rusty post.stefangrossmans...	cost	#18	[-]
(07/03/09 7:32 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	before my martin... friday after work, blow money at the pub, feel like poop next day. now... straight home to play my baby, losing touch with some people. no-brainer.
jscio		#19	[-]
(07/03/09 9:26 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Buy a Martin. Take it to the pub. Play all night. (Been there, done that, have the commemorative tee shirt.) Feel like poop the next day. ..................but you had one hell of a good time and you'll have a better reason for doing it again, and again, and again, and again..... By the time you retire, you and the guitar you chose will have a history together. Not much wrong with that at all that I can think of.
WaveRay		#20	[-]
(07/04/09 6:27 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	During up front puchasing of a guitar there's only a little math I use if the right guitar comes along, "do I have the cash?" I kind of figure it like this on the backside. If I need money and if I sell a guitar, I will spend the money because I needed to then I will have neither the guitar nor the money. Luckily, so far, there's has always been another way. I've had to look for it a few times but it was always there. Vacuum cleaners are also pennies a day. Ray Page 63 in the introduction thread 05 HD-28V 03 Taylor 455ce 12er (dealer custom rosewood) 05 M3M 71 D-18 00X1 2/3 of my hair

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