taoshaman's Full Review: Martin Classical Backpacker Acoustic Guitar
I didn't actually purchase a Martin Backpacker; my father did. However, I did spent quite a bit of time with this instrument in an effort to improve its performance, and I learned a few important things about getting the most from this instrument.
My dad travels a lot and is an extremely busy man. He doesn't often find time to play music, though he would like to be able to. He purchased a Martin Backpacker in the hope that he could take it with him on trips and make better use of the "downtime" spent in hotels.
After receiving his guitar, he discovered a couple disheartening things. First, the action on the guitar was fairly high, making it difficult for someone out of practice to play comfortably. Second, the sound was incredibly twangy, almost to the point of distraction and annoyance. So, he asked me to take a look at it and see if any improvements could be made. I ended up having the Martin Backpacker in my home studio for a few weeks and was able to give it a pretty thorough examination.
First, let's cover what's good about this guitar. The neck, fretboard, and general intonation are quite good. I've seen comments from people saying that this instrument is overpriced because of the Martin name, but I'd like to state that for the money it really is an excellent piece of craftsmanship. I normally would expect a small "practice" guitar to be of inferior quality to a larger instrument. Instead I was surprised to find that the neck and tuning machines were on par with those found on any top of the line Martin instrument. In fact, the only thing that is bad about the Backpacker is the very feature that is intended to make it portable and easy to use: its size.
It is true, the Backpacker sounds very twangy compared to a full bodied guitar. But this is to be expected! The entire purpose of the guitar body is to shape and amplify the vibrations coming from the strings. If you dramatically reduce the size of that soundbox, you can't expect the sound to remain the same.
Let's get back to the reasons I had the Martin Backpacker in my studio: adjustment of the action and the overall playability. There were two things causing this instrument to be a difficult play: the strings and the bridge saddle. Pretty obvious, eh? Well then, this would be my only complaint to the Martin company: why are you shipping this instrument in a less than optimum configuration?
The label inside the guitar as well as the included documentation clearly state that light strings must be used. Additionally, the included documentation mentions the fact that "silk & steel" strings are preferable to bronze, nickel, or phos. bronze wound strings. So why did Martin ship the guitar with what are obviously medium light bronze wound strings? If I have any real complaint, it would be that whoever is doing the final setup on these instruments is not shipping them with the strings the company literature recommends.
I highly suggest using light or extra light silk & steel strings (at least .10 gauge). Not only will they be more playable and offer better bending on that short neck, but the tone of silk & steel is much more muted than bronze and nickel; the twangy sound is greatly reduced. Without an increase in the soundbox you'll never get this instrument to sound just like a full-bodied guitar, but those silk & steel strings do actually make a pretty noticeable difference.
The main modification I made was a simple sanding of the bridge saddle. The stock saddle is quite high, much higher than any guitar I own. In fact, as shipped the action on the Backpacker is actually high enough to play decent slide guitar licks. If that happens to be your style of choice, you'll enjoy the stock bridge saddle. If, however, you're more of a finger picker who is used to having a low action, you're going to want to get out the sandpaper.
I took about 1/3 of the height off of that saddle with medium fine sandpaper (remember to sand from the BOTTOM of the saddle), being careful to keep my sanding line straight. The top angle of the saddle is just fine and you don't want to misalign it in the process. Once I had finished this and restrung the guitar with those silk & steel .10 strings (I recommend and prefer D'Addario strings), the change in sound and playability was immediately noticeable. NOW the Martin Backpacker was finally an acceptable travel substitute for a full size guitar.
My father was extremely pleased with the results of my effort, and has been using his Backpacker on every journey since.
Don't be fooled by the diminutive size of the Martin Backpacker Acoustic-Electric Guitar. A braced, solid tonewood top with a solid mahogany neck, bac...More at Woodwind and Brasswind
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