Say it aint so--- Teres quality question

Arrgh! You pulled me back out with the Martin reference. I once had the long term loan of a '39 0-18, which had originally belonged to the grandmother in a family close to ours. I received it when I was about 14 years old (began playing at 11), and the bridge had raised up due to its having been left unattended in its case for years with the strings tensioned. So my folks sent it off to Martin, and they did a super repair job. I played that thing like crazy for around 10 years - never played another guitar that 'talked' so responsively. Then, a relative in the family it had come from decided he wanted to play the guitar, so I had to give it up. Long story short, he moved to tropical Miami, and when I visited him a few years back, the Martin had been rendered completely unplayable by the climate, much worse than when I had gotten it. To me, it looked ruined and sounded like hell (couldn't be tuned at all, and barely fretted up the neck). Naturally, he had given up on trying to play years before. What a waste...it's an ambition of mine to one day own another (probably a 00 or 000 though).

Okay, maybe I didn't state the obvious about wooden musical instruments. They do require periodic attention by a luthier. Having owned two Martins myself since 1969 I had them tweaked a total of three times. I'm guilty of over simplifying. I figured readers would have a grasp of the abuses a stringed instrument undergoes and the stresses required for it to play. None of these issues are faced by a turntable platter. Hey Zakes, I sold my 000-18 to an old employer about twelve years ago and the last time I asked it was still under his bed, unplayed. Occassionaly I long for that guitar but prefer the dreadnaught bodies. Like stereo gear it would be nice to have multiples.

I still have my D35. After owning about 30 in my lifetime, I kept the Martin and a Takamine classical signed by Lee Ritenour. I keep them temp & humidity controlled!

Yeah, my only acoustic right now is a 70's Yamaha dreadnaught that belonged to an old girlfriend (yes, she gave it me, no, I didn't steal it, or even particularly want it, but it serves OK). I like the sound of a more narrow-waisted, rounded-bout guitar than a dreadnaught. I'd also love to get a really decent classical instrument, but hardly know where to start in that department...

Currently building 2 D-41, 2 D-45, 2 D-18, and a Venetian double cutaway dreadnaught. The D-41's are maple of course, and we used some very nice quilted maple on one, and a superb feathercrotch maple on the other.Bindings are snakewood on these maple guitars,and flamed maple bindings on our dark wood guitars, as we don't use any plastic on our custom guitars. Full D-45 style abalone trim. The snakewood bindings and trim on the tail, neck heel, headstock, bridge, and back strip, really give a killer look. We are even using a snakewood fingerboard on the feathercrotch guitar. Fancy maple and snakewood is an awesome looking combination. The double cutaway is from exhibition grade Bubinga and bound with flamed maple. All have master-grade German spruce tops and our custom German Spruce modified X-bracing(similar to pre-war). Honduran mahogany kerfing and blocks, and Honduran mahogany one-piece neck. Alot of work, but they are great sounding and great looking instruments. This bracing allows medium strings without worrying too much about "bellying" the top.

Sorry to drift off topic, but I had correspond with the other guitar buffs.