At a Glance

The Specs:
Solid Sitka spruce top. Solid sapele back and sides. Stratabond neck and East Indian rosewood fretboard. Modified hybrid-X scalloped bracing. Mortise-and-tenon neck joint. East Indian rosewood bridge. Corian nut and Tusq saddle. 25.4-inch scale. 1¹¹/₁₆ -inch nut width. 2¹/₈ -inch string spacing at the saddle. Satin finish. Chrome tuners. Medium-gauge Martin SP strings. Made in USA. Left-handed version available.

This Is Cool:
Powerful bass drives rhythm strumming and makes bass runs pop.

Watch For:
High factory-set action makes it a challenge to play up the neck.

Price:
$1,199 list/$899 street.

Maker:
Martin Guitar Co.: (610) 759-2837; martinguitar.com.

Martin D-1 Review

Times might be tough, but the Martin Guitar Co. doesn’t think the recession should prevent people from experiencing the joy of buying a new guitar. Though the market for affordable spruce-topped, all-solid-wood guitars has been dominated in the past few years by Chinese-made (often Martin-style) guitars, Martin recently reintroduced the 1 series, bolstering its under-$1,000 line with a spruce-topped series to complement its 15-series line of mahogany- or sapele-topped guitars. The 1 series is built with a solid Sitka spruce top and sapele back and sides, and it’s available in dreadnought and OM sizes, with acoustic-electric cutaway versions of each (DC-1E and OMC-1E) that are equipped with Fishman electronics.

In designing the guitars, Martin took full advantage of the same skilled, Nazareth, Pennsylvania–based workforce that produces its higher-end guitars and made some clever cost-cutting choices. With simple appointments, a stratabond neck, and a less labor-intensive satin finish, the D-1 sounds and looks every inch a Martin, all for a street price of around $900.

MÉLANGE OF MARTIN STYLES

Though the 1 series concessions to cost are almost entirely aesthetic, the D-1 displays typical Martin good looks. At first glance, one could easily mistake the D-1, with its black binding and black-and-white rosette, for a D-18. The D-1’s rosewood headstock overlay, rosewood fretboard, and large dot fret markers help it fit right in with Martin’s higher-priced models, and the satin finish looks like it was intentionally chosen to emphasize the tight grain of the Sitka spruce top. The sapele (often called African mahogany) sides and book-matched back on our review guitar were richly colored and had an even grain.

The heavily striated rust-colored stratabond neck, which is also used on Martin’s X-series guitars and is made of multiple thin strips of wood laminated together, adds a bit of incongruous flash to the D-1. Known for its strength and durability, the stratabond felt stiff and slightly heavy in my hand, especially compared to the guitar’s extremely light body. The modified low-oval neck profile is thinner than the low-profile necks found on D-18’s and D-28’s, and the satin finish makes it easy to grab notes up and down the neck.

SNAPPY, VERSATILE POWER

From the first strum, I was impressed with the D-1’s sound. The tone has that Martin jack-of-all-trades, master-of-many versatility: crisp and clear for bluegrass, yet punchy enough for blues and rock. The bass came through clearly on bluegrass boom-chuck chord progressions, and though strong, it never overpowered the mids and trebles. Rather, it’s the V8 engine powering the whole machine. Strumming a rockabilly-style, open-E7 progression, it felt like someone had turbocharged my rhythm; the bass notes gave the sound a noticeable drive, propelling the chords forward.

Adding some bass runs, I found the strings were very responsive to my pick. Full, round bass notes popped off the strings with a rich decay. On G runs and treble licks, the crisp notes held their tone over a long sustain. Inspired, I tried a few Jimmy Martin–style endings: a G run followed by a quickly muted G strum. The individual notes were snappy and well defined. To do the fast palm mute,
I had to move my hand a little closer to the soundhole and karate-chop the strings, but I was able to immediately and cleanly silence the sustain with little effort. On the lead riff in Tom Petty’s “Listen to Her Heart,” the ringing high-E drone lent just the right jangly tone.

The factory setup left the action a bit too high for my hands, which started feeling fatigued even on first-position open chords and got a real workout playing swing chords up the neck. As I played the descending sixths lick from Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive,” which starts up at the 14th fret, I displaced the first and third strings so much that I had to consciously make my pick jump over the second string to avoid playing it. Still, I was able to get a clean sound with only a little muscle, and on first-position flatpicking and single-note lines, the action would be fine for most players.

The higher action, however, contributes to the D-1’s massive volume and impressive dynamic range. Even when strummed with a medium attack, the D-1 has enough volume to support a small jam. It was easy to coax it down to a whisper or up to a full roar. I’m not an aggressive fingerpicker, but even with bare fingers, I was able to get a nice, even tone and good volume with virtually no effort.

AFFORDABLE MARTIN SOUND AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

With the D-1, players looking for “that Martin sound” in an all-solid-wood, spruce-topped under-$1,000 guitar can get one right from the source. The impeccable craftsmanship, attractively simple appearance, and full, rich tone make the D-1 a covetable instrument
at any price.