player opinions

Martin Backpacker - Nylon String

Martin Backpacker - Nylon String

  1. Name: Bill Pabon

  2. Band: -----

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $150

  5. Performance

  6. Well for starters from what I’ve seen here most people have a beef with holding this guitar. For myself I didn’t find much problem at all getting used to it. Sure it was akward for a few minutes but that was it. Top heavy? Yeah, sure if you let go of it with your left hand its gonna drop, but when you're playing it’s not a problem. Also I found it pretty easy to get used to positioning my right hand. So at least for this player comfort was only a minor issue that was quickly dealt with. As for the feel of the neck: the action is a bit high there, especially at the upper frets. You learn to adjust your playing to the backpacker. So to sum up as far as holding the thing goes as long as you are standing up and playing it with the strap I think a lot of you can get comfortable with it very quickly. The feel of the neck may take just a little more time and you will have to understand what you can play on it (note bending and hammer-ons and pull offs require more effort here). All in all its a great little guitar to travel with. I personally love the thing.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Everyone that has heard me play the Backpacker has been instantly impressed with the tone. I got the Classic Backpacker and I would recommend it over the steel string version. I played both and I think the Classic Backpacker has a fuller, warmer, more pleasing tone. It does have a relativily small sound compared to a full sized guitar but it is louder and more toneful than you might expect from just looking at it. I guess it has a banjo, resonator, U-KE-LAY-LEE (I don’t know how to spell that and I don’t feel like looking it up) tone to it. But all in all the thing that makes it pleasing is that in addition to that, it sounds warm. (Please keep in mind here that I am describing the Classical Backpacker). So for what it’s worth I am pleased with the tone of this guitar. If this were a full sized guitar it would get a low rating for its sound quality but since its tone is surprisingly pleasing for what you might expect I’ll be generous.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. The guitar is advertised as being built to handle travel. One thing that I read in the papers that came with it that was a dissapointment was that they don’t recommend you expossing the Backpacker to environements that you would not be comfortable in yourself. To paraphrase the manual: if you are comfortable in a particular environment the guitar will be too. They said that exposure to temperature and humidity changes can permanently damage the guitar. Oh by the way, there is no truss rod as far as I know. Anyway, so in the cold winter and the hot summer I guess you should leave it at home. So it seems like getting off an airplane that is air-conditioned at Puerto Rico then walking with your Backpacker into your air conditioned hotel room would be a bad idea. Seems to defeat the purpose of a travel guitar if this is what you might be doing. Perhaps they can make newer models in the future with a truss rod? Anyway all in all and with the extreme environment changes aside the thing is totally portable and comes in a nice case. I haven’t had the guitar long enough to see how tough or wimpy it is, but from what I have said above I would be a little cautious with it if you are doing certain types of travel.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

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  1. Average Ratings
  2. Performance: 8
  3. Sound Quality: 8
  4. Construction: 6
  5. Ratings Key
  6. 10: Excellent
  7. 0: Useless
  8. Available At Guitar Center
  9. Martin Nylon String Backpacker Acoustic Guitar Standard
  10. Company
  11. Martin

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