Jason Isbell thinks his Martin guitars are sort of “like a laptop” – and his justification actually makes sense
Jason Isbell has made a rather strange comparison, but it kind of makes sense – his beloved Martin guitars are somewhat “like a laptop”.
Isbell teamed up with Martin for the launch of two signature models back in October, both of which take after his beloved pre-war 0-17 model used across his latest record, Foxes In The Snow.
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Speaking to Guitar.com about the guitars, as well as the Grammy nominations for his new album, Isbell likened his use of Martin models to the use of a laptop – not necessarily due to any jazzy technical specifications, but because of how versatile he finds them to be. With a Martin in hand, he gets stuff done.
“I’ve never felt like I could do something that a Martin couldn’t do,” Isbell explains. “You know, it’s kind of like my laptop. Especially with the really good old ones or the nice Custom Shop new ones. It’s like I’m doing emails on here, and this thing could operate a city or an automobile, y’know?”
He adds, “You don’t want your tools to create the ceiling. You want your creativity to create the ceiling and the tools should be able to follow you there. And that’s always been the case for me with Martins.”
The launch consisted of the super limited Martin 0-17 Jason Isbell, with just 50 made available, and the slightly “more accessible” 0-10E Retro Jason Isbell. Speaking of the two variations, he says, “This time around, I felt like a version that was more accessible would be a good idea because I didn’t want to split the difference.
“I feel like there wouldn’t be as much of a purpose in making one that was sort of in the middle of the road. I wanted one version that was as close to the old guitars we could get and then, one version that sort of had the spirit of that guitar, but was a lot more affordable.”
Find out more about Jason Isbell’s signature models via Martin Guitar.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
