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#1
03-15-2018, 06:18 AM
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New Martin Dread Surprises....
As a fairly active member of AGF for the past 12 years and a loyal Taylor guitar owner, I was, of course, aware of the differences posited between Taylors and Martins. However, I recently got the urge to dip my toe into the Martin pool. I previously posed the question http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=502813 as to what others would purchase as their seeming one and only Martin guitar. I didn't want to ask what "I" should buy but instead what "you" would buy and as a result got some really good responses.
Since I don't own a dread and they seem to be a quintessential Martin guitar body, I decided to go with a dread. I've long been a fan of rosewood but really like the immediacy of tone of my all-hog Taylor 524 so I opted for a D-18 which many of you also preferred. I located a D-18 with an Adirobndack top & braces and came in a very plush Geib case. Seemed like the perfect way to dip into Martin ownership. Interestingly, what I've found have not been the vast differences between my new D-18 and my Taylors, both past and present. A few of these similarities include: 1) The comfort of the neck and overall playability 2) Relative brightness although this may be due to the new strings 3) Not overly boomy but this may due in part to the Adirondack top and braces 4) Action set either by the dealer or by the factory is comfortably low, not the high bluegrass action that I'd expected All in all it's a wonderful guitar which is comfortable to play and is really more like my Taylors than radically different. Oh well, another myth goes by the wayside, at least for me....
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Emerald X20 Emerald X20-12 Fender Robert Cray Stratocaster Martin D18 Ambertone Martin 000-15sm Last edited by RP; 11-20-2021 at 07:09 AM. 
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#3
03-15-2018, 08:53 AM
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#4
03-15-2018, 09:32 AM
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#5
03-15-2018, 09:58 AM
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So this is a new custom? Can I ask how much of a premium the adirondack top added to the price over a standard d18? Im thinking maybe I should have gone that route.
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Too many guitars and a couple of banjos
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#10
03-15-2018, 12:24 PM
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Emerald X20 Emerald X20-12 Fender Robert Cray Stratocaster Martin D18 Ambertone Martin 000-15sm
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#11
03-15-2018, 02:45 PM
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Congrats!
I can tell where you bought this great spec of a Martin and I will reinforce what you probably know, he’s a great dealer. Very transparent. Very competitive. Stocks a lot of attractively spec’d customs. I am very fortunate to call him my hometown dealer as he sold me my custom HD28V Guat which I adore. I too am looking to add a hog and he has several of this type spec on order.
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#12
03-15-2018, 03:08 PM
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#13
03-15-2018, 03:33 PM
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AKA 'Screamin' Tooth Parker' You can listen to Walt's award winning songs with his acoustic band The Porch Pickers @ the Dixie Moon album or rock out electrically with Rock 'n' Roll Reliquary Bourgeois AT Mahogany D Gibson Hummingbird Martin J-15 Voyage Air VAD-04 Martin 000X1AE Squier Classic Vibe 50s Stratocaster Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster PRS SE Standard 24
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#14
03-15-2018, 11:38 PM
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Very nice!
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2004 Martin D-28CW 1983 Martin D-12-28
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#15
03-16-2018, 01:54 AM
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RP, the reason I've got a D-18 is because its tonal balance and clarity. Personally, I prefer mahogany for the back and sides of square-shouldered dreadnoughts. Rosewood is what I prefer in Triple O's and OM's, because the rosewood brings some bass response that that body size would otherwise lack, but with the sheer size of the body cavity of a dreadnought there's already enough bass response. So mahogany brings it some balance and some high end.
whm
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