[LakewoodM32Fan]

"Pics or it didn't happen" disclaimer: haven't had a lot of time to take pics, so I'll possibly add some later. The thing with the Martin mass-produced line is they're going to look very uniform, no unique figuring the backwood, etc. so honestly, google any D-18 MD and you'll see the one I have. It's a great looking guitar for what it is, nice tight grain on the VTS Sitka top, and beautifully consistent texture on the mahogany B&S.

So I'll start with why I went looking for, and bought, this guitar. I wanted a mahogany sounding (more mids, less scooped) guitar with dreadnought volume and projection to complement my H&D TD-R which is by all accounts a pure cannon with a torrefied Adi top and EIR back and sides. It's got tremendous bass (but not overwhelmingly so) but my 000 sinker hog got me wanting that sweet mids-focused tone on a large body.

That said, I also know dreads are uncomfortable for me to play due to my height and arm length, so I knew I'd be playing any hog dread a limited amount, so I didn't want to spend 4K+ on something that would only account for a small amount of playtime.

Now I'm not going to claim the D-18MD is the best mahogany dread at the price, I'm not even sure it's the best D-18 (no shops had a standard D-18 for me to audition in my area). What I will say is that it provided me that sweet hog sound I was looking for, with volume and projection to spare. Yes my TD-R can get louder, but it's louder than any other dread I've played in person, so that's not a strike against the D-18 MD.

But what you do get on the D-18 MD is this:

1. Great fit and finish. Granted I have a sample size of three that I tried out, but all didn't have any defects that I could spot, and all three had properly set neck angles and were set up well out of the factory (the one I ended up buying was almost spot on 3/32" action at the low E.

2. An extremely lightweight guitar. Mine weight 3.995 lbs according to the food scale. I'm owing most of that to the titanium truss rod.

3. I love the neck size and shape. Yes it's a bit of a departure for Martin, and some won't like it. I love it.

4. Consistency: all 3 I tried in 3 different shops to my recollection sounded very similar (meaning: very good) .

5. Fantastic tone. Yes I've seen the D18/D18MD videos and on some of them, the D18 regular sounds more traditional. But again, I caution against judging solely by YouTube. My specimen doesn't leave me wanting for anything, and I recently took it in with me to put it up against a Collings D1. Did I like the D1 a little better? Yes. But for the price difference, it should be better. And I'm not just talking about MSRP, we all know it's hard to get a significant discount on Collings, and any one of our forum sponsors will give you a big discount on Martin's non-Custom line. We're talking an out-the-door price difference of about 1.5 times (D1 over MD-18 MD). So if you'll be playing your hog dread a lot, the price difference is likely justifiable, but not for my use case.

6. Tremendous value. A torrefied Sitka top. torrefied Adi bracing with natural protein glue (not hot hide). Titanium truss rod to take a lot of weight off the guitar. Liquidmetal bridge pins included. Glossy peghead veneer with MOP Martin logo (vs. painted on). Gold open-backed Waverly tuners. I know I sound like a commercial, but holy crow Martin put a lot of things on this guitar.

All for a price which, again if you contact any of our Martin carrying sponsors, you will likely get for south of $3K (and not by just a dollar either).

The surprising thing? It has sounded so good, and I vibe so well with the new Martin MD neck shape that I've actually been playing it more than I thought!

For all the love we heap on boutique builders (and rightfully so) I have to say to Martin "Job Well Done" on what is essentially a regular production line guitar.