Martin D-15 Acoustic

My D-15 USA made great features, pretty standard for Martin, Great looking wood, I like dark wood.

I play Christian Rock, Blues, and folk it sounds great in all styles. I also have recorded with it, with two mics in stereo, wow, sounds like a 12 string if you do it right, and I do I own a recording studio. I wouldn't have any other acoustic in my studio but Martins, the best. Taylors and Gibsons are good too. Sound is rich full and don't need major EQ ing to bring it out like other acoustic guitars do.

Action is fine from factory, but it needs to be setup by a pro if your a pro and want the best action. Don't do it yourself take it to guitar center or somewhere that the tech knows what he's doing. I found no flaws in guitar, tuning pegs are great and hold strings in tune all session long, (but you still need to check it anyway, if you bend string alot, it keeps the engineer happy). The necks are great almost as good as an Hagstrom (thin).

Reliable & durable for life if taken care of. The wood is alittle soft beware, that's why they SOUND so GOOD. Finish is fine, strap buttons strong,would gladly take to all my gigs & studio & I do. That's what is so good about this model, great for studio & your shows, super all around guitar. Rock solid & on, brother!

Martin people are the best, THEY CARE>>>> & you don't find that everywhere anymore..................

I have been in music for over 30 years now, as a musician & recording engineer, these are very good guitars. I own several guitars, fenders,epiphones,Hagstroms,Yamahas, gibsons, and others. I rate Martins as the best acoustics out there in all areas. Take it from me there are several Good acoustic and they are Martin 1st Taylor 2nd Gibson 3rd (older ones) and on & on........ If you can afford one buy it..........
BOB

Already stated many many times!!!

Everything you need, nothing you don't!!

Case is a three ply hard case with a foam faced lid.
Mmmm... secure...

Fan-tabulous.

Very very clear, well defined notes: the overall sound is very rich and mellow. Very powerful sound.

Personally, I think this is far better than the Taylor models at the same price range, and indeed higher: It seems o have a lot more body and soul than the rather bland (in my opinion) Taylor 110 and 210.

I personally adore it, and knowing that it's all solid and will only get richer in time make me love it all the more.

As with all Martins, the saddle is a little high (this is NOT an error - it allows the individual player to file the saddle down to their own required height)

However, the action is really good, and the setup in terms of intonation is 100% spot on - and I'm very very very picky!!

Well, as its solid wood, I won't banging it around.

But take care of your investment, and you'll have it for many many years.

Martins have never ever ever come back for repairs in the shop I wourked in. Ever!

Have been playing for 11 years, and this is my first "professional" acoustic.

Couldn't be happier with it. Would buy again which is the real acid test, and I don't actually want another acoustic - Taylor, Tak, Guild, or indeed a d-45. This will last me!!!

barest features for a martin guitar

this puppy sounds golden (and that goes for the 000-15 and J-15 too). nice open sound is probably due to the thin finish as well as to the general design and mahogany/rosewood combination. the bass is deep, the treble is sparkly, there's plenty of midrange and volume too. in comparison, the d-28 sounds a little more refined, restrained, with the bass tamed and the treble perhaps more sparkly, with a more smoothly blended resonance overall between midrange and bass. i'm not sure if i'm comparing them accurately, but this is my best attempt. make sure when you're testing yours out that it does not have old strings.

the martin set-ups on the 15 series are as good as they are on the standard series from what i can tell.

my experience is that mahogany is a soft wood, easily dented.

limited lifetime warranty to original owner

considering that this guitar is half the price of a D-28, it's surprisingly good. highly recommended.

La D15 tiene solo lo esencial que debe tener una buena guitarra (sonido y comodidad), y ademas en su simpleza, es bonita.

El sonido es increible, teniendo en cuenta el precio. Inmejorable. Ductil, parejo, la dinamica es apabullante. El sustain eterno. Los graves, medios y agudos bien balanceados.

Martin decidio invertir sus mejores recursos en lograr una guitarra barata y buena. por eso no se fue por las ramas (por ejemplo al no incluir filetes en los bordes de la tapa). Muy bonita

El recubrimiento de guitarra no es fuerte, tarde o temprano se reaya (inevitable).
Es ultraliviana (al igual que las guitarras espa?olas, esa es una se?al buena,! en cuanto a sonido, ya que la vibracion se produce mas rapidamente).
La funcion del filete, ademas de decoracion, tiene que ver con proteccion de eventuales rajaduras por golpe, he ahi un punto encontra. Hasta ahora no he tenido problemas pero rezo. Espero equivocarme.

Martin funciona solo con Estados Unidos, el resto del mundo para Martin, parece, no existe.

No le pongo 10 poerque es posible que haya guitarras mejores, pero dudo que a precios que vayan por debajop de los U$ 2500.

i don't know much in the way of specs for this guitar, honestly, i don't care all that much. it's an acoustic guitar, there's not that much to it anyhow. some of the more important stuff: it has a satin finish, which means it will open up much faster than a guitar with nitro or poly finishes; it comes with cheap, plastic nut, saddle, and end pins--i've changed all of these for ivory; and it is solid mahogany, mine looks to be one-piece back, two piece sides, and one-piece top. the guitar should come with a case if you buy it from a decent dealer. it doesn't come with an onboard pickup, which, depending on whether you need one or not, may or may not matter. for me, since i play in situations that would benefit from having a plugin, the fact that it didn't come from the factory with a pickup is a negative mark. oh yeah, and the guitar is really fragile--more on that later.

my d-15 holds its own in all of my jams. one of my mates plays a taylor, one has three seagulls, and another bloke i play with regularly plays an alvarez-yairi. of course i'm biased, but i think my d-15 sounds better than all of them. it was a pleasant sounding guitar when i bought it, but after the modifications (as stated, ivory pins, saddle, and nut) it became a full-blown tone cannon. it has opened up an incredible amount since i bought it: the bass, which was originally a tad flabby to my ears, has sharpened and become more defined, while the mids have become more prevalent, standing out more than before. the chap who fixed me up with the ivory pieces loved the guitar and offered to buy it from me. not a chance! the guitar almost has an overdriven tone to it. this is perfect acoustic guitar tone--if i give it anything but 10 for sound, i'm going to have trouble sleeping.

factory setup was all right, but it had medium strings on it--i think martin ships there guitars with lights, but it was restrung at the shop. anyway, medium strings are too heavy for me (i'm used to my gibson electrics), so i had to have it setup again for lights (.10). the finish is a thing--mine has oil spots all around the soundhole and on the top where my arm rests while i play. you can scrub them off if you have a few days to spare, but they'll return. really, there's no point. plus, i think it gives it a neat look--the sign of a well loved instrument. the look of the mahogany with the red pickguard is amazing. uber-mojo, my friends.

as i stated earlier, the guitar is fairly fragile--you can dent the wood by rubbing your fingernail over it. my headstock has rings around the tuning pegs where my thumbnail has rubbed while tuning. however, martin build durable guitars, and mine has been through all kinds of crap (burned with cigarettes, dropped a 4lb pc speaker on it, liquor spilled on it, fallen off its stand, etc), and it's still a rock. i have absolutely no problem gigging without a backup, it's never failed me, and i doubt it ever will. these are like those guild guitars from the 70s you seen in stores all of the time (d25 i believe), these guitars are beasts. these will be around for a long time.

never dealt with them. the shop i got mine from is run by incompetent assholes, though, so i drive a bit to have mine setup and such. locally, customer support isn't that great, but i have no clue about martin themselves.

i have been playing for almost five years. i currently own this d-15 and a gibson sg standard. in the past, i've owned *deep breath* two fender american telecasters, a fernandes strat copy, a fernandes palisade acoustic, four fender american stratocasters, a gibson les paul studio, two ibanez acoustics, peavey and crate practice amps, a fender hot rod deville, a mesa boogie dual rectifier, a mesa boogie rect-o-verb, a marshall jcm800, and probably some other junk i'm forgetting. i was always more into playing electric guitar before, but, now that i've found my acoustic sound, that has changed. i've owned this guitar for almost two years (the longest i've ever owned a guitar), and i don't think i will ever sell it. if you're interested in this guitar at all, i highly recommend taking the plunge. it's not terribly expensive, and it's an incredible investment--just think, the more you play this guitar, the better it's going to sound. that statement is truer of this guitar than any other i've played due to the satin finish, bracing pattern, and tonal characteristics of mahogany. this guitar will become your ally for life. again, i'd feel guilty if i gave this prize anything less than a perfect score.

The other 100+ reviews will give you the specs. I purchased this guitar in 1999 - a few months after they were first put on the market. I saw and heard a guy playing it at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. I loved the "old"look and feel of the guitar so I picked one up at Guitar Center soon after. Simple appointments -- If it doesn't make the guitar sound better then I don't need it. I love the smell of this guitar, but I'm careful not to let anyone catch me with my nose in the soundhole

The sound has opened up over the years. It took a while though - the sound was quite restricted at first. The guitar is mid heavy, slightly brittle in the treble. But when you throw this puppy into DADGAD it is absolutely amazing. The deep celtic droan is simply not acheivable with my Norman B20's nor my Taylor 314ce. The D15 also shines in open G (sounds great with a slide)or open Dm. If your looking for an ethereal "Nick Drake type" sound this is a great choice. Of course it's not as bright sounding as Spruce -- I was looking for something that sounded unique.

I've come full circle with the set-up. Action was medium/high at first, so I initially sanded down the original saddle. I eventually added a bone saddle and nut. But the bone nut screwed up the tone a bit -- there was a bit of a shrill treble. I put the original nut back on and kept the bone saddle -- original nut tamed the shrill and bone saddle added a touch of definition to the upper mids. The finish confuses me though. Satin finish looked nice at first, but there's been a strange change since 1999 (aside from the shinny neck and arm areas described in other reviews). Difficult to describe, but the sound board has developed some discolorations around the sound hole and near the pick guard. but it doesn't affect the sound so no big deal to me. Hardware is still solid

A mysterious crack appeared in the back of the D15 a couple years after I bought it. Humidity was normal, and I didn't wack it against anything. The crack went all the way through to the inside of the guitar and had to be tacked and glued to stabilize it. It was on one side of the lower bout in a non-structural area. Interestingly, I saw a Martin all mahogany acoustic bass (modeled after the D15) a few weeks later with a crack in the same location. Anyway, there have been no further cracks since then, but I hesitate to play out with it as I consider it to be somewhat fragile. So much for resale value.

Never really dealt with the company directly. My warranty was long expired and I couldn't really explain how the crack occurred so i didn't bother contacting them.

I do enjoy this guitar. Throw a good condenser mic in front of it and it's great for recording, especially in drop tunings. Since adding a Fishman Ellipse Blend with Matrix transducer, I've really come to love the amplified sound as well. I've been playing for 8 years and although I have a day job, I do the coffee shop singer/songwriter thing frequently. I own a Taylor 314ce (expression system) as my main recording/performing guitar, a Seagull Grand Auditorium for travelling, and two Norman B20's with fishman prefix (wonderful guitars for the price). I do have a zen bond with this guitar and it would be thoroughly missed if lost. It could be sturdier, but if the unique tone would be altered as a result, then it wouldn't be worth it.

I already rated this guitar.. see john cotter below. You know the features. Really what more features would be nice.... an elecronic system... a cut out...

Compared to my new guitar Taylor 410 RCE it sounds like crap. But its better than most foreign made guitars. After you play a guitar with a sitka spruce top you can tell that this d15 is missing something crucial to its tone. If you play with some string that brighten up the sound then it is ok. Elixers are bright. It does have a unique sound... and if any salesman ever says that to you in a music store then it probably means that the guitar doesn't sound good.

The action AINT BAD... lower it yourself. The finish.... IS BAD.. Either get a guitar with a glossed top or never play this guitar without long sleeves. You body-oil will leave a "natural" finish where your arm sits and rubs. The neck has got that same natural hand oil finish to it now.. and really slows down my playing. Keep your hands clean.

Its incredibly fragile. Be extra careful with it. Wash your hands before playing.. Don't let them get sweaty.

Never had to do cust support. But chuck levin's is the best cheapest music store ever.

i've been playing for about 7 years now. I also own a taylor 410RCE which blows the martin away. I would have bought a taylor big baby, if they existed at the time i bought this. i wish it had a cut out and a electric system.. If you ever think you are going to maybe one day "play out" get a guitar with a electric system.

The D-15 is a plain guitar. I have the standard version. It happened to be on sale at Mars, and I had about a $500-600 spending limit. By itself, I thought the guitar was an excellent deal for the price.

They gave me a hardshell case with the guitar, which made it an even better deal.

I had previously owned a Fender acoustic which was very bright. I like the warm sound, and I've wanted a Martin or Gibson. I don't play well enough to justify spending $1000+ on a guitar. When I played the D-15, I was amazed at the full, even mellow sound. It's not a particularly loud guitar, which is fine by me, but I was amazed--I thought it sounded better than many of the more expensive Gibson, Martin, and Taylor guitars in the room. I thought the bottom was clear and clean while the highs weren't too bright but still good. Three years later, that warmth has developed.

The action was very good and comfortable (I have small-medium size hands.) It looked good. I loved the satin finish, plus I love the mahogany grain. It's a uniform look, but it stands out.

The one adjustment that I made was a shorter saddle. I dropped the action by about 1/16". I bought the saddle from the Martin online store (though I don't see them there anymore). I thought I might have to adjust it by hand, but one of the standard saddles was perfect. The action got even better.

When I first saw this guitar, the knock on it was that it's not durable, especially for live playing. I'm one of those home players, so I can't speak to its road durability, but I think the reason this guitar got that knock was that it's very light. It probably *feels* fragile. But it's a well constructed guitar.

The finish is pretty durable, though I have rubbed it shiny on the neck and part of the body. To keep the satin finish, you'll need to wipe it after you play.

I've had no dealings with support.

If something happened to this guitar (knock on wood), I'd buy another one without hesitation. While I have owned some pretty crappy acoustics in my life, I have had several guitar players for friends, and I've played theirs. Outside of a 1939 Gibson, I wouldn't trade this D-15 for any of them. One friend, a professional guitarist, played and really liked it as well. Some might not like that it doesn't project as loudly as other guitars, but the action and the full, warm sound is what I like most.

It was a pretty decent for features. Pretty standard but it was a solid-top. I like the mahogony wood on the top. Gives the guitar a little zing.

WoW, how can i even explain this. The sound is incredible. I love the fullness of it, it just seems almost perfect, I have no dislikes about the guitar.

The guitar i got had nothing wrong with the action, fit or finish. It all looked pretty much perfect for this catagory

I think this guitar will last for quite a while. All though mahogony wood is rather soft, that is the only thing i worry about. But so far it has served me well in it's life time

Haven't delt with these folks.

I got it 525 used with a case. The case looks perfect and the guitar doesn't look like it was touched. Well this guitar is great. Everytime i play it i feel like i can make twice as good music as usual. This guitar brings out all the goodness about martin guitars. This is probably the best sounding guitar for under 1500-2000$ on the market. I love the sound and i love the orginality of the mahogony wood. If you find this guitar, pick it up. I'm almost positive it will please anyone.

2002 Made in the USA. Non-cutaway Solid top, sides, back made of mahogany with satin finish. Very plush case included. Rosewood fretboard and headstock overlay. Nice tuning machines, seem to stay in tune very well. Dealer threw in two new sets of strings, leather deluxe martin strap, martin hat, t-shirt, martin picks, etc. Needless to say he is a martin fan.

I bought the guitar to try my hand at bluegrass. I play mostly acoustic rock with the occasional blues. I found that this thing just projects more than any other acoustic in this price range. The sound seems a little brighter than most taylors or seagulls i tried. The guys i've started playing bluegrass with love it. It stands out among other acoustics with it's own sound, which adds a variety to a band with three guitars, an acoustic bass, mandolin banjo. We laid down a few tracks of jam sessions, and you can pick this thing out in every song. There is no mistaking the brightness and projection of this guitar. Not noisy at all, no fret buzz.

This is where this guitar really stands out. In this price range a guitar should be flawless. My D-15 didn't fall short in this category. I love the neck feel and action. As soon as I played it i was amazed at how well it fretted. The frets were dressed perfectly, as are the fret ends. I love the satin finish, though i know some dilike it. The finish will hold up well, it's not as thin as people think. It is a workhorse, not a showcase instrument. But out of every acoustic guitar i've ever played, this one is has the best feel. The mahogany body also stands out in a crowd, to most people outside of the guitar community acoustic guitars pretty much look the same. I've had many comments on how beautiful this thing was. Wood is bookmatched perfectly. Hardware is still shiny, and tight. I fell in love with it after playing straight out of the case and tuned up. But when i got it home and put a new set of Martin strings on, it just came alive.

The guitar has stood up well to live playing, with no backup. I take care of my stuff, it stays in it's case when not in use, and has never seen a guitar stand. Hardware seems very good and is holding up well with no corrosion. Very dependable and reliable, has never let me down.

I have contacted Martin with a few questions about care of my fine acoustic instrument (humidity, cleaning, storage, etc.) They returned my calls or e-mails immediately, next day at the latest. They didn't refer me to my dealer, instead they took the time to help me themselves. Martin has a good warranty, and will back it up if anything ever goes wrong.

I love this guitar. It is a pleasure to play and sounds wonderful. I've owned other acoustics (epiphone, alvarez, ovation and a yamaha). None have compared to this one. If stolen i would, go straight to the dealer and pick out another one. I couldn't believe i bought a non-laminated solid wood, mahogany guitar for under $700. This is one of the best deals around. It will outlast me. Hats off to Martin for such a fine instrument