Shop Talk

Neville Marten talks about a couple of recent in-store guitar purchases and laments the demise of several much-loved music shops

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Over the past couple of years I've regretted the sale of a couple of guitars. One was a Martin D-28 and the other a '52-style Telecaster. The Martin, constructed with hide glue, struggled with my flat's underfloor heating so had to go, while I simply didn't play the Tele for a year. Anyway, I got online and narrowed down my choices to a Standard series Martin D-28 at Andertons in Guildford, and a Fiesta Red '59 Light Relic Tele from Peach Guitars in Colchester.

Calling in to Andertons one Sunday afternoon, the place was heaving. The shop's acoustic expert Paul came over and - once the acoustic room was vacated by another eager Martin fan - sorted out the two I fancied trying. One was the aforementioned D-28, and the other the OM-28E from this issue's Wishlist (see page 26). I quickly realised that, while the dread was nice, it wasn't exactly 'speaking to me'. I then picked up the OM and it was instant. I loved everything about it. Paul went through all the Standard range's upgrades and I was sold.