MARTIN INCEPTION MAPLE
Art and innovation combine with Martin’s newest acoustic guitar, created with sustainable woods, ‘skeletonised bracing’ and tone channels cut into the top and back. Intrigued? So were we…
MARTIN INCEPTION MAPLE £4,150
CONTACT: Westside Distribution PHONE: 0141 212 0087 WEB: www.martinguitar.com
What You Need To Know
1. This doesn’t sound like Martin’s traditional fare… That’s because it was never intended to be. With ecological concerns to the fore and a fearless attitude towards bucking convention, Martin has poured a great deal of R&D into delivering what it considers to be a next evolutionary step in acoustic design.
2. So, what the heck is a ‘skeletonised brace’? This is where Martin has added strength to the guitar’s top with what is essentially taller bracing, but reduced mass by carving hexagonal shapes into the braces so the ‘skeletal’ part supports the top.
3. ‘Sonic channels’ sounds gimmicky. What’s the deal? The theory is channels – or grooves – at key points under the guitar’s spruce soundboard and in the maple/walnut back, allow more flexibility and enhance vibration, with better tone at targeted frequencies and superior resonance from the guitar.
If you go back to our interview in issue 509’s Blueprint with Fred Greene, Martin’s vice president of product development, you’ll read that the design of the new Inception guitar was born out of the desire to encourage guitarists away from traditional (and, in many cases, endangered) timbers, while also proving that maple is a contender for superior tone.
Traditionalists will always swerve to avoid this kind of thinking, of course, and cling to the idea that tropical mahogany and various species of rosewood are the only timbers that can deliver the cherished sounds we’ve all heard for years on established recordings.
But the fact is we have to call time on this kind of thinking and find alternative means to achieve a great sound without unnecessary risk to the planet’s resources.
So, is Martin’s new initiative a way to make maple-bodied instruments impersonate rosewood or mahogany? Well, maybe a little. But it’s more about proving that alternative woods have their own characteristic soundprints, too; and many will deliver the goods, even if internet forums still wail to the contrary. After all, Gibson has successfully proved that maple is a contender on its J-200 and so why not?
Fred also told us that Martin’s R&D team took on the idea that if you’re going to change the recipe, you may have to mess with the other ing
