I went to Elderly today. I played a few Blueridges, a few Recording Kings, some Guilds and even some high end Martin D-18s and D-28s(just as a benchmark for a sound that I was trying to get close to). I finally decided on a Martin D-13E. To my ears it was just the clear winner, a lot more than I wanted to spend but my wife told me to get what I wanted within reason(she's an angel). I only would have saved like $200 by buying it used on Reverb.
I really hadn't done any research on this guitar before playing it. But Martin knows companies like Blueridge and Eastman are trying to undercut them, so it makes sense that they would try to make a guitar at the same price point that's better.
