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MGR/Chris Bereznay « Martin DXM »
Published on 06/13/06 at 15:00Been playing now for about 25 years. I'm one of those guys who started off by learning Stairway to Heaven and after that it was history. I play everything from rock and country to heavy metal and some blues once in a while. I'm an on again off again player I'm ashamed to admit. Usually get real heavy into it for a while and then bail for months when I get too busy to settle down and relax. Love to record my own stuff too. As a matter of fact, I probably do more creative work than actually sitting down to figure out tunes. Although with summer here, I definitely want to get my backyard patio jam set together for some good sing-along action.
I bought this Martin DXM Dreadnought at Guitars Plus in Wexford, PA. I stopped by the store after the gym one day just to pick up some strings and maybe a capo, but when I saw a Martin hanging on the wall for $449, I couldn't resist.
What do I like the most? Hmmm... would have to be the price, action and sound quality in that order. Getting a Martin guitar under a grand is a great thing, even if it *is* made in Mexico. The materials are not the same, obviously, as you would expect in guitar priced much higher but the fit and finish is really good. I would expect that Martin has issued good quality assurance guidelines to it's Mexican manufacturer(s), so even though it's made there and with different materials, it still feels good and plays good.
The action is great too! This is probably my second favorite thing about the guitar. For a guitar in this price range it feels really good. Not as good as some guitars in the $2k-$3k range, but what do you expect? This was basically supposed to be a campfire beater for me, but it's so smooth it's quickly replacing my old Ovation Celebrity as my preferred acoustic.
Finally, the sound quality. The dreadnaught body helps produce a nice big, warm sound. Finer details like harmonics and string slides are still present and overall it's just a real nice tone in an inexpensive body. No complaints here.
Well, no real dislikes about this guitar except it's pretty plain looking. Even in this price range they may have put in some embellishment or inlays, just to make it an unbelieveable value, but honestly - who cares. I'm not playing it because it looks good and it's not going to sit on display somewhere so I'm not worried about it. That's really the only thing I have to pick on after about a month of playing it so far.
Construction and quality seem first rate for a non-US produced instrument. Frankly, some of these foreign manufacturers can do it quite well as long as strict quality guidelines are issued to them.
Overall, it's a great little guitar at a great pricepoint. Of course, the C.J. Martin name on the headstock is nice, but it's really the playability and tone that is impressive. A really good value is sometimes hard to come by these days and even though it's not a U.S. made guitar, I really didn't want to drop the dough for that in this case. Maybe someday, but not right now. Can't be pleased enough with my new Martin DXM.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I bought this Martin DXM Dreadnought at Guitars Plus in Wexford, PA. I stopped by the store after the gym one day just to pick up some strings and maybe a capo, but when I saw a Martin hanging on the wall for $449, I couldn't resist.
What do I like the most? Hmmm... would have to be the price, action and sound quality in that order. Getting a Martin guitar under a grand is a great thing, even if it *is* made in Mexico. The materials are not the same, obviously, as you would expect in guitar priced much higher but the fit and finish is really good. I would expect that Martin has issued good quality assurance guidelines to it's Mexican manufacturer(s), so even though it's made there and with different materials, it still feels good and plays good.
The action is great too! This is probably my second favorite thing about the guitar. For a guitar in this price range it feels really good. Not as good as some guitars in the $2k-$3k range, but what do you expect? This was basically supposed to be a campfire beater for me, but it's so smooth it's quickly replacing my old Ovation Celebrity as my preferred acoustic.
Finally, the sound quality. The dreadnaught body helps produce a nice big, warm sound. Finer details like harmonics and string slides are still present and overall it's just a real nice tone in an inexpensive body. No complaints here.
Well, no real dislikes about this guitar except it's pretty plain looking. Even in this price range they may have put in some embellishment or inlays, just to make it an unbelieveable value, but honestly - who cares. I'm not playing it because it looks good and it's not going to sit on display somewhere so I'm not worried about it. That's really the only thing I have to pick on after about a month of playing it so far.
Construction and quality seem first rate for a non-US produced instrument. Frankly, some of these foreign manufacturers can do it quite well as long as strict quality guidelines are issued to them.
Overall, it's a great little guitar at a great pricepoint. Of course, the C.J. Martin name on the headstock is nice, but it's really the playability and tone that is impressive. A really good value is sometimes hard to come by these days and even though it's not a U.S. made guitar, I really didn't want to drop the dough for that in this case. Maybe someday, but not right now. Can't be pleased enough with my new Martin DXM.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com