I’m pretty excited because I just received a Martin Backpacker acoustic guitar in the mail, a gift from my lovely wife! While the Martin Backpacker is a fairly popular acoustic guitar for traveling, I’ve personally wanted one specifically for camping trips and the beach. And possibly even taking along on the plane for work trips. Basically, for anywhere I’m not comfortable taking my Larrivee D-60.
I’ve only had a few minutes to spend with it, but here’s my initial observations:
1. It came well packed and was already in it’s fitted, black, nylon case. This gave a sense of a well-made instrument (it’s like the old Southwest Airlines adage: If the tray tables are dirty, then the customer will wonder what kind of condition the engines are in…).
2. It arrived with the strings on but slightly loose. I took a few minutes to tune them up. So far, they’re taking several tunings to hold.
3. Also arrived with the strap already on. It’s a decent quality, Martin-branded strap. More of those ‘wow-they-thought-of-everything’ warm fuzzies.
4. You have to wear they strap regardless of sitting or standing. This is really what keeps the guitar in an adequate playing position. Otherwise, it’s impossible to play sitting down.
5. Tone is surprisingly good! See video:
I believe my wife ordered this on Amazon for about $189.99.
Leave a Reply