Martin DM12

[Ripper]

My income tax cheque will be in next week. Its time to choose my new 6 string toy! The [glow=red,2,300]Martin DM12[/glow] is in my ball park. I know its not a premium Martin, but does anyone have any thoughts...or has anyone ever tried one out?...I assume its made in the U.S. I hope so.

[inducedblues]

Hey. The Martin DM12 is US made however in recent years, with competition from Taylor guitars Martin has had to produce some lower priced models. Gibson hasn't had to because well, they have these other guitars called Les Pauls and SG's that seem to be popular...

Anyway, the DM series are great sounding guitars, Martin still means great craftmanship.

However the DM's are lower priced because of a few things, namely they don't have a gloss finish, the satin finish is cheaper and takes less time to dry which equals more guitars ready to sell. Also, the back and sides are LAMINATED (not solid) mahoghany. The top is solid spruce which is the most important part of course. If you don't know, solid wood is the gold standard of woods..meaning best tones. Alot of manufacturers use a combination of laminate woods and solid tops to provide decent tone and cut costs. Most foreign manufacturers similarly constructed guitars will not cost oas much because they are not made in the US where the labor costs are higher.

Believe me, when I met some Martin Luthiers who were visiting the shop I was working at in San Fran while promoting their new guitars...you could see them wince when they went into detail about how they are using laminate woods which to luthiers is like....well....not done. But since business is competitive these days, the Martin company has had to sacrifice a bit of quality to stay in the game.

[RJB]

I tried a couple of Breedlove Atlas series guitars recently. These were some of the lightest guitars I ever held. Had a nice "open" kind of sound. I don't know how they compare to Martins but might be worth a shot.

[Ripper]

Thanks guys!...I bought a Simon & Patrick 12 string. I weighed the options, and I think this guitar is amazing. Its a pain in the butt to change string though!