Today I picked up a Martin Backpacker from a local music store. I got it used for $189. A lot of people can get this for $150-$170, but the advantage of getting it at this music store was that the instrument’s action was already adjusted very nicely, the fret board was oiled with honey oil to help the fingers glide over it and keep the wood from cracking, and the strings were a very nice choice to bring out the bright trebles and mellow basses.
I had played the guitar a couple of times before at said local music store, and I was fairly impressed with its sound in such a small body and peculiar shape. It looked more like a strange ukulele the first time I saw it, though instead of a traditional mini-dreadnought shape, it looked more like an Asian instrument.
There seems to be a common consensus that this guitar should not be expected to deliver a rich, full range of both treble and bass that a traditional dreadnought could offer. The size and the shape of this guitar certainly give this guitar a slightly higher range, but I believe the balance between treble and bass is nicely optimized with the right strings. At higher volumes, the treble does seem to drown out the bass of this guitar, but the volumes at which this occurs would only really be practical for playing to others or groups. With that being said, that is probably not what this guitar should be used for. It is clearly a personal practice guitar.
There is also a lot of griping I’ve seen over the difficulty of playing with it, as the body is very small and there is not much to hold on to. In my experience, I have mostly been looking for a small profiled guitar like this that I could have a lot of flexibility with, so I have not gained the habit of playing with correct posture. However, the easiest fix to play with correct posture with this guitar is to play with the butt of the guitar stabilized on your leg, the arm of a chair or couch, or anything that’s convenient.
My model came with a strap, a strap nut located on the heel and a string to tie at the neck, and this makes it a lot easier to play. There seems to be a feeling that it is required to play it, but I was able to jam out pretty hard on it with minimal effort of keeping it steady without the strap. Perhaps that is because I have a big belly and big hands to keep the body down while still strumming. The best way to control the guitar is to adapt to the strings and not strum/pick with as much attack as you would on a fully size guitar. To me this occurred naturally, because the thing is so loud that I instinctively let up on my attack and mainly brushed the strings and got a nice, pleasant sound. It became a little bit more tricky to manage when increasing the volume, but I was able to match the volume and tone of some full-size dreadnoughts of the same price with it.
The action and bridge setup on mine may be customized, but if it is still the factory default, they did a terrific job. The intonation is also perfect, sounding harmonics all over the fretboard is not difficult even if finger picking. This is probably because of the high quality wood used in such a small body. The fact that it is so small makes it a lot cheaper, but the same wood and construction used for this can be found in other models that are up to $500-$1000. Most full sized dreadnoughts I’ve played with at the same price as this used high-pressure laminate or mahogany, this has a solid spruce top, and hard-wood sides. It might not be the best wood available, but it definitely surpasses quite a lot of guitars I’ve heard in the same price range.
I think this guitar is pretty nice for personal play, and could probably fill up a room with some pretty rich sound, but for open-air or concert environments, I think it would probably fall extremely short of most people’s expectations of a Martin guitar. There are some slightly better models available for a few hundred dollars more that have full sound like the Little Martin, but I actually really enjoy the unique body shape of the guitar.
It doesn’t come with a lacquer or finish which gives it a pretty strange appearance, though not really noticed given the strange shape, but the wood is very smooth, and it really helps hide the dents and dings that you might acquire. This was intended as travel guitar, but to me it seems to be a flexible guitar meant to be able to play in most any situation. Unfortunately, I don’t think that adding lacquer is possible without dampening the sound.
For performers and artists, I think they could serve themselves well by using a fullsized guitar, but for personal players this should serve all needs.
