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Being a bit pedantic….”OM” implies 14 frets on a square-shouldered body, long scale, 1-3/4” nut, and wide-ish string spacing at the bridge. The whole purpose of the original Martin OMs was greater reach and a slightly different body shape to appeal to jazz ensemble players who needed to easily get to higher notes than typical 12-fret bodies facilitated.
A short-scale OM is really a 14-fret 000, if we’re using consistent nomenclature.
A ‘12-fret OM anything’ is kind of an oxymoron. 12-fret instruments have a rounder upper bout that joins the body at the 12th fret, which is….a 12-fret 000, a very different beast than an OM (though no less wonderful), as OMs are characterized by 14-fret necks.
A 14-fret OM Grand implies one of two things: putting a 12-fret neck on a 14-fret square-shouldered body, which (IMO) reduces reach on the neck to no good purpose and doesn’t really move the bridge to a much better place, or a redesign of the body to extend the upper bout to become a true 12-fret 0000. Here’s more or less what the latter would look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiNiLZA-fZM.
It’s a huge guitar. A 12-fret dread has similar body volume….
</pedantic> that tag never really closes
A great loss. Seeing him play “Guinevere” at the 2016 Fretboard Summit reminded me of his raw talent….
Tadol’s correct.
Do some measurements of neck relief, nut action, and 12th fret action on different sets of strings. You might be surprised at how similar the measurements are between different string sets.
The SC low tension strings do indeed feel softer under the fingers than others, or at any rate more pliable on a given string than comparable sets, at least for me
Switching string sets to other brands with similar tension has (in my experience) resulted in a stiffer feel despite actual measured relief and action height not changing appreciably after the string change.
I suspect the delta in feel is due to differences in core/wrap wire sizing between SCGCs and others. For example, SCGC LTs feel softer at ~156 lbs of tension than D’Addario NB 12s with ~147 lbs of tension….and the NBs have bigger core wraps.
Hank, waiting for the new employment to take effect – not spending the money ‘til my ducks are in a row. Then it’ll be time. And hopefully the shop can take the old one in for some needed TLC.
I suspect that a mothership meetup won’t be possible until March at least – damage from the flooding has blocked routes 9, 92, 84, and 152 through the hills, 17 is a parking lot, and 156 to 1 isn’t in great shape either. 1 has some huge slides.
Going to be a bit of a challenge to get to SC on a reasonable timeframe until Caltrans gets the roads fixed.
Thanks! Yeah, I’m slouching towards retirement.
Going to get as close a copy as possible of the 1991 OM for my 60th, I think, with the current improvements – domed top, angled saddle, different bridge shape, etc.
Also, acousticmusic.com periodically orders a custom F/FS – F headstock, spruce top, mahogany back and sides. Really special instruments, worth checkin out, Here’s an older one. https://acousticmusic.org/product/santa-cruz-custom-f-2/
I just checked them out – they sound kinda fun.
Been taking mine out lately, too, and doing my pretend-joe-pass-played-acoustic thing.
$4200 and it plays up to maybe the fifth fret; after that, all slide. Needs a full-stick neck reset (as is common with old Nationals). Don’t think it had a truss rod. Neck bow wasn’t awful but it might need a plane and refret after a reset to get it up to snuff.
Owner wouldn’t budge on the price – “I know what I have and I can wait for a buyer.”
