Martin DX-1 info needed...

So after a nice business lunch this afternoon, i trotted over to the local music store to play a couple guitars... there's usually a decent used selection, but as this is West Virginia, where bluegrass is the music of choice for musicians here, there are always a large number of martins and guild and yamaha acoustics to pick around on... sounds like a fine time, right?

Well, i picked up this DX-1 without any knowledge of it whatsoever... but i liked it, well i really liked it, so i bought it for 600 dollars...

Subsequently i have realized that 1. i paid at least 100 dollars too much money on the new market.. (more like 150, i know) 2. that most of it is not actually wood. (the guitar is constructed out of a counter top and a butcher's block) and 3. that i still really like playing it... go figure...

Anyone with any experience with this particular guitar? is the counter top material on the sides and back going to peel of in a week? is the 1,000 piece neck going to unglue on me? Hit me with some knowledge... BTW, i still really like playing it, so this is more of a structural integrity/problem seeking mission. I think it sound great, but i don't want to find out that i have purchased a toy guitar that happens to sound really good to me...

Thanks

-g

We have one floating around...Tone is ok, not as much bass response as I like.. but its very playable..I really like it. Did have a problem, but more due to improper storage..was kept out of the case in a dry hot environment..and began to slightly buckle at the bridge..and the neck was slightly to bowed ..too much relief..barley playable..Its my Brother in laws guitar..and when they brought it up for a visit..I took action immediately...re humidified the guitar nice and slow.reset everything afterwards "went back to almost factory set", took one half turn on the trussrod and it plays great now..The reason I mention this is it sat next to a Seagull S6 acoustic, around the same age..that had NO issues with the dry climate...The Seagull does have a laminate wild cherry back and sides...but a solid neck and a solid cedar top. It simply never dried out or warped at all..Only thing I would solidly say from this though..is keep it properly humidified, and perhaps by extension, safe and dry in humid and wet climates.

I'd be willing to give the new guitar the benefit of the doubt for a while. You love playing it, so I wouldn't lose sleep over the price. As for the post-modern materials coming apart, I'd wait and see. Martin's a company with a fairly good reputation, I hear :wink:

Also, if you bought it new from a dealer, it should carry the Martin Lifetime Warranty (http://www.mguitar.com/services/warranty.html), right?

I had a similar Martin and liked it a lot. I sold it to the rhythm player in my band and it has been drug out in all kinds of weather and played really hard and it is still a great guitar after five years on the road.

My friend had one, it was okay for a year or two. Eventually it started peeling and the woodgrain sticker rubbed off to reveal what is essentially drywall. Sound is pretty subjective but for $600 you really could have got a lot more.

I think you'll find 99% of the Martin "X" users here like the guitar very much.
I have the 12-string for about three years. Nothing has "peeled off."


Sorry, what is a "woodgrain sticker?"

I really liked the ones I tried. Sure it's 90% plastic, but you know what? It sounds great!

I found the size of the neck a little too small for me, and I didn't like how the "E" model's pickup sounded when plugged in so I went for a Seagull instead.

Hard to argue with that sound for that price though. Take care of it and you should have no problems.

Sorry, what is a "woodgrain sticker?"

That's the top layer of the laminate, which has the woodgrain pattern printed on it.

Well, i picked up this DX-1 without any knowledge of it whatsoever... but i liked it, well i really liked it, so i bought it for 600 dollars...

-g

Without any knowledge...didn't have the time to do any homework (impulse buy). Because you liked it so much you didn't feel the need to do any research and you felt like for the money they were asking it was an acceptable value and it played great....I don't see any problem here. If you fell in love with it and didn't want to risk losing it to another buyer, I'd say you did the right thing. Any time you find an acoustic you feel that way about I say buy it. It's about a 80% chance that most guitars will not have this affect on you but when it does it's a beautiful thing. I've done it, life's too short to let a hundred bucks ruin that feeling. Enjoy the guitar instead.

No need to worry about the laminated neck, the glue joints are stronger than the would. It shouldn't be a problem. The HPL on the back and sides I don't know how good it will do over time, but with a limited lifetime warranty from Martin, I'm sure they'll take care of any issues like that. They are a very quality concious company, and they don't want they're customers out there bad mouthing the "finest" guitar mfg. in the USA.

I say play the snot out of it an enjoy every minute....oh, and where's the pics.:grin:

I have the D12X1 (12 string) and I have the LXM (travel guitar) and I used to own a DX-1.

For what it's worth...I have 4 Martins in my woodpile now and I've had as many as 6 at a time. I love Martin guitars (I'm biased and I admit it).

Let's take it one thing at a time.....

The neck material is called stratabond. Stratabond is not a Chris Martin invention; it's been around for many years. Stratabond is real wood infused with a polymer under pressure. The lines on the back of your DX-1 neck are laminated wood. The wood is infused with polymer and then CNC shaped. High end replacement gun stocks have been made from stratabond for years and it's very durable. You could pry a car door open with a stratabond guitar neck (and the material feels and resonates like wood). My 12 string has been in and out of car trunks in freezing weather and it holds a set up to perfection. My LXM has gone from a frozen Wisconsin car trunk to the beach in Mexico 20 times and the set up is great.

The top is solid spruce. The X bracing is a simplified x bracing pattern but it still produces the Martin growl. 80% of the tone comes from the guitar top. The top is bookmatched wood. The left side is a mirror image of the right side quarter sawed from the same section or the same tree - it's 100% the real dead.

The back and sides are HPL (Martin high pressure laminate). It's a wood fiber/poly laminate. The sides of the guitar start as a hoop that is bent and molded into a dread or a OOO or whatever guitar it is that you bought. The material is very durable and it is the only Martin body that can be built in a day (hence the price).

Acoustic Guitar Magazine did a "Best Bets Under $1000" article about 2 years ago and the DX-1 and the Taylor 110 won the shoot out. The $1000 was list price not street price. The staff at AG went into great detail on 12 guitars and the DX-1 and 110 were the winners.

It's a very nice guitar. You paid a price that was a little high. The common cash price for DX-1's was $450 and the 12 strings were $500 up until about a year ago when the street price went up $50.

A Martin 300 series case (the case that is included with a D-15 or D-16GT will cost about $75.

www.elderly.com

Go to Elderly's web site and click on "shop by brand" and then click on Martin. The on-line prices will be about $50 higher than the real prices that they charge. Martin enforces MAP pricing (minimum advertised price)...you get a better deal if you call or e-mail; they cannot go beyond a certain discount on line.

This picture is 18 months old. I forgot about the OOCXE (the black guitar) that I used to have. The OOOCXE is an X series guitar that is 100% HP (fake top). I used to call it my poor-man's Rain song. I sold it when I got a Rainsong.

X boxes are great guitars. I don't know what to say about the price that you paid. Print the Elderly price page and take it to the guitar shop. Maybe they'll cut you a deal on the case or something.

Enjoy the guitar,

John

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k106/johnlg-2006/Lopo-Epi072.jpg

Thanks for the responses guys... I also looked around for info about construction etc. and i decided that i really don't care what its made out of, and it doesn't seem like belt buckle rash is going to be much of a problem anymore.

I took it to a little old time music jam thing that we do on the weekends and absolutely wore it out... its a drednought body, but i sorta questioned whether it would project like to old washburn used to, but boy was i surprised. its was loud and clear and sounded great, if not a little too bright. my buddy playing a j-50 had to play hard to keep up with the volume... it seems like some of the DX's sound a little like rubberbands and a shoebox but i lucked out and got a really nice one. Again thanks for the responses. i'll try to post pics tomorrow. also i'll watch the humidity, catfish. And John, i got a case that listed for $120 for free with the purchase so i didn't really do too bad.

Thanks,

Gabe

If you got a case as part of the deal you did fine.

Put some nice D'Addario 80/20's (12-53's) on it and play your heart out.

If your strings are shop worn at all you're in for yet another treat when you restring it. Kaboom. It's gonna jump out at you.

Enjoy.

That's the top layer of the laminate, which has the woodgrain pattern printed on it.


Thanks.


by Studio 1087
Let's take it one thing at a time.....



Thank you! You tell 'em. (Of course you posted the exact same explanation a few months ago.)
Thanks again.

Thank you! You tell 'em. (Of course you posted the exact same explanation a few months ago.)
Thanks again.

I get a bit excited when it comes to Tele's and Martins.

It's amazing how many players dig Tele's and Martins.

I post often on the UMGF (johnlg) and there is Tele appreciation thread going on the UMGF that is now 680 posts long. Martin pickers love Teles.

Check this out....some of the photos are great!

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.yuku.com/topic/1838/t/Telecaster-Obsession.html

John

johnlg - UMGF

RE: Martins and Teles

Yup, you're probably right.

I tried joining the UMGF once a year or so ago.
But it is "oursourced" and I could never get through the Registration / Credentials process so I gave up.

All the Dx-1s Ive played sounded good. Not as good as the 100$ martin models, but I always thought they were better than just about any other new acoustic guitar in the 500$ pricerange.
If you bought it new, keep the receipt, and if anything were to happen, the Martin guitar company will warranty repair anything that does happen to it that is not your fault. Quality acoustics are addictive. Once you get your first one, you keep wanting better until your spending way too dang much money on an acoustic guitar.

I've mentioned this before. (Twice before actually I think ... each time the DX-1 topic comes up.)
GE Smith played my 12-string version once. (See below.) It was the sweetest sound I ever heard. Wish I had a recorder going at the time.



http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q135/FirstBassman/Telecaster/GE-Playing-Martin12.jpg

Well hell, if its good enough for GE Smith... (you get the idea)