My Uncle's Gear - Part 1

My uncle Billy is a singer & guitarist based out of Southern Maryland, and over the past 10 years he’s been somewhat of a mentor for me as I’ve started booking my own solo gigs and learning how to be a working musician.

& I often get to talking about guitar over the holidays. I mentioned I’d been looking at Martin’s 15 series, especially the small-bodied 000-15M. I was first drawn to the 000-15M by Tom Catmull, a Montana-based singer & guitarist, and one of my favorite songwriters. I’ve seen other people rave about them, and I told Billy I would love to take his Martin for a spin.

The mahogany guitars are elegant and understated, and their tone has a mellow lightness and clarity.

Generously (and after a couple beers), Billy let me borrow his. “You can’t keep that one,” he said as he handed it to me on a rainy Sunday in December. "Just play it a while, see if it makes sense for you to buy one.”

For the entire month of January, this was my main acoustic guitar. I couldn’t put it down. The small body was great for sitting on the couch writing songs, and I think a couple of songs for the forthcoming Jersey Calling record were written on this guitar.

It’s also light. Honestly, it almost feels like a toy. But as soon as you strum it you know it’s the real deal.

Billy put a K&K Mini in the Martin, and I used the guitar once for a live show through my Bose L1 sound system. Honestly, the pickup was too hot for my playing. I do a lot of chunky strumming, and this pickup didn’t really replicate that well.

But when I sat down with the 000-15M to work on my fingerpicking, I discovered a whole new side of this guitar. It’s responsive, and far more forgiving of my sloppy playing than any acoustic should be.

I promised Billy that I would book a gig for us in South Jersey, and I’d give him the guitar back then. So this weekend, after our show at the SouthWood Bar & Grill in Woodbury, I’ll be saying goodbye to Billy’s guitar.

And I’ll probably spend a lot of time scouring Reverb for a good deal on one of my own.