I’m deciding between these two Martin Guitars and, to me, the major difference is the more expensive one has fretboard inlays, while the other doesn’t even have marks on the the side of the neck as far as I can tell.
For a beginner guitarist, is it worth an extra $400 for fretboard inlays to help me stay oriented? I’m considering buying the cheaper one and putting small marks on the side with a Sharpie pen, but I’d rather not, especially if I will outgrow the need for marks as I get better.
How long can I expect to rely on these marks until it just becomes natural?
The major selling point for me is the smaller size of these guitars. I always feel awkward when playing a full sized guitar. I’m 6 feet tall with an average build, but can not get comfortable with a full size. The OOM fits me perfectly - I loved it the first time I picked it up.
The price difference is not due to fretboard inlays, but the back & sides material - (laminated) mahogany vs. “HPL”.
I’d STRONGLY suspect they both have dot markers on the sides, even if not on the fretboard.
Classical guitarists traditionally get by without either, so they may not be strictly “necessary” - but I’d venture a guess most steel string guitarists find them very helpful, especially beginners - and a competent luthier can install fretboard and/or side markers on any guitar, in any case, for a lot less than $400.
Almost all guitars have side inlay dots, also called fret position dots.
I know the 000x1 has them, 99% sure the other does as well.
I’ve seen a ton of guitars in the hands of my students, and I can recall maybe one or two that didn’t have them. For those students, I’ve recommended using White-Out to mark the positions. It will not harm the finish, and in fact will wear away on its own as you play over time. Reapply as needed.
They seem like cheating, since you aren’t supposed to look at your hands, so the side-inlay dots are more likely to fool your teacher into thinking you are not looking at your fingering, but are soulfully making love to your instrument.
Wow, that was fast. Thanks for the answers and suggestions - it was just what I was looking for.
Picker, thaks for the tip about the white out. I was considering stickers, but this is much better.
Zombywoof, thanks for the point out on the different materials. I didn’t know the 000X1 was HPL until I did some research today. A lot of the reviews praised it for its durability and resistance to humidity, though. More selling points for the less expensive one, all right!
(rereading the thread title) Hell, YEAH! They teach you the magic of how the notes follow and, in some cases, how they don’t. You could learn that from a piano keyboard but the dots are cheaper and more eloquent.
First off: don’t worry if you’re having trouble with fingering chords in the beginning. There’s a lot of muscles you probably aren’t used to using and they come rather quickly with practice. If that’s the reason you’re going for a smaller sized guitar, I’d lightly suggest you should just go regular size and sort of tough it out.
For me, the big breakthrough came with nylon strings. They’re much, much easier to fret and classical guitars tend to have a bit more space between the strings, so there’s more room for error to boot. Plus, you can get a decent nylon classical job for $300 used most places in the states.
Of course, that’s just my personal experience. I’ve given guitar lessons to some friends and they’ve agreed that nylon has a smoother learning curve and, like I said it was easier for me personally that way, and I’d come from years of playing bass. All this said, like the posters upthread noted, pretty much any acoustic should have inlays and whiteout’s worked for me with my old mandolin when I was learning my way around. There’s no shame in inlays. The dots are a life saver in the beginning, especially if you’re going to use a capo or plan on playing anything that isn’t just straight strumming. And Martin, well, Martin makes very nice stuff, both used and new. I always champion used acoustics but I’ve adored the new Martins I’ve tried out (“I’m going to buy this—I swear”) and don’t really think you can go wrong with that company.
The guitars the OP is looking at have small bodies only compared to, say, a Dreadnought or Jumbo sized guitar - in fact the bodies are similarly sized to a typical nylon string, classical guitar - their necks are standard size, fingering chords will be the same as any on other normally sized guitar (these aren’t “3/4 sized”, “travel”, or “child sized” guitars by any means).
Yeah, I could never do much on a piano with all white keys.
And since when are you not supposed to look at your hands when playing guitar? My son tends to over-focus on one hand at the expense of the other, picking vs fingering, but he’s 10. I think I almost never look at my picking hand, but I sure as heck look at my fingers on the fretboard as needed (not continually, just as needed).
To the OP: I’d really get a guitar with fretboard markers. Simple, clear roadmarks for hand positioning when traveling up or down the fretboard are extremely useful. I don’t feel that side markers are sufficient. And the vast, vast majority of guitars have fretboard markers, so it’s not like your guitar looks like it has training wheels in any sense.
Thanks again for all the responses. I went into the store 90% sure I was going to get the $500 Martin, but then I saw a similar Martin, but with a cutaway. They both felt great, but then I noticed the cutaway Martin was wired for an amp. I plugged it in (you know just to see how it sounded, maybe for my next guitar purchase in a few years). Then the justifying began…
