Martin DC-1E

read up on it.

Awesome dreadnought low end.. but still bright. I play a lot of bluegrass and folk, so it suits me good, but what genre wouldn't it suit? Seriously, you can spend a lot more, but this is a great sounding guitar for the money.. Which is, for most of, a limitation.

Love the electronics. Great plugged in.

The matte finish was cool at the time, but i'd prefer a glossy now. The finish did get glossy where my right arm/ body hits the top. I really do love the finish though.. It just looks old, which is good.

Action.. amazing. after 12 years, adjusted once for FREE!!! Lifetime warranty on the action.

My top did end up splitting at the center joint below the saddle, but it's my own fault for not humidifying it like i should.. it closes up in the summer, opens in the winter.. Doesn't bother me.

This thing takes a licking.. But i just like beat up guitars.. Like Willie's. :)

Dealt with a dealer and also a certified repairman. Never with the company direct.

Love it.. My first real guitar, and i'll always keep it.

This is a great guitar for around a G!!! The electric pick up can manipulate the sound from bright to warm.

It's a martin. Perfect for bluegrass, blues and country. It works well in drop D for rock n roll and alternative music also...

Probably the best action for around $1000.00

I have had this guitar for 10 years. I have used it all over the east coast, indoors, and outdoors in the Florida sun and West Virginia Winter. It has held up perfectly. I have only had to adjust the neck one time...

Lifetime warenty!!!

I will skip this part since it is all listed on the Martin website, but I will rate it an eight since changing the battery on the pick-up requires reaching into the guitar, which can get difficult if your not doing it while changing the strings.

When I first bought the guitar (1999) it was thin on the bottom and top frequencies, with the middle taking precedence. It didn't sound bad, just not as alive and outstanding as it does now. It's been five years and the sound has gotten better each year. It's got a voice of its own now, real character and balance.

The action sits a little high but I prefer that. The craftsmanship was and has remained top-notch after much playing. I've had some saddle filing done for intunation issues, but I chalk that up to the variable nature of wood.

I've had two issues. One is that I live in cold-weather climate and 2 years ago the back of the guitar split near the seam from the dry nature of my apartment. I did not have a humidifier in place at the time.
The second issue is that the finish has worn beneath the pick guard. I've played the guitar extensively, so I'm not surprised that it has worn in that spot from strumming. Even still, I'm sure there are other guitars that have more durable finish in that spot.

Never dealt with the company.

This guitar has taken a beating, and it's held up for me. It's tone has only gotten better. It's a beautiful tool used to convey music. It passes the test that I give all my guitars. Is it worth more to me after five years than it was the day I bought it new?
Absolutely

2004. Nazereth, Pennsylvania. Solid spruce top. prefix fishman pick up. laminated mahogany sides and spruce top. neck is indian rosewood.satin finish. dreadnought.

um AMAZING!!! thats all i can say on the sound.
`

action is a little high and strings taht came with it were too rough on the fingers but good thing all this can be fixeed!
no flaws other than that.

just got itm dont know yet.

not sure yet.

Would defintly buy this one again great guitar for any type of palyer! I love the sound its great and nice clean look. sounds so good plugged in its incredible. buy this now!!!

Solid Spruce Top and solid mahogany back. Laminated mahogany sides.
Cutaway Dread with Fishman Prefix electronics. See Martin web site
for full details(mguitar.com). This is a MARTIN... The Cadillac of Acoustic Guitars. Comes with a nice case as well.

I play blues and original Rock and Roll/Rockabilly.
The sound is full, not real loud but very clear. Bass is strong.
This is a Great Guitar for strumming......Very powerful when amplified. A little quiet with flatpick or finger picking.
Nice "Martin" sound for the money. I give it a 10 for the money,
but there are better sounding Martins for $1800 and up!

Action is a little high...easily adjusted.
I have not found any flaws. Wood smells great. Finish is nice,
you can see where the top was bookmatched, the stain is lighter right down the middle. Nice neck shape, light guitar. I played alot of Guild and they are heavier and the neck is thicker. The neck is much closer to the Taylors I played.

So far so good! Strap buttons are solid. I would use it without a bakup. Hardware seems to be good quality.

Never dealt with Martin yet!

I have been playing for 17 years. I play mostly electric and I am a Fender Man. I have two Strats and a 52 Tele. I also have a Dearmond
t400 that I customized. My previous acoustics were an Epiphone pr200s
and a Fender JG 26sc. This Martin is a nice step up in the acoustic world. I think for the money and if you are a strummer/flat picker,who likes the ability to go electric you will be very happy with this guitar. Fingerer pickers might want to look at other guitars, especially if you are not plugged in. Remember this is a Mid series Martin. IT is not a D28. But it is superior to their cheaper x series guitars.

This is a great American made guitar. Check the website. Mine has Fishman Prefix electronics. I would like a package with a built-in tuner.

This is the finest sounding cutaway guitar I have ever played. I switched to a bone saddle (replacing the factory plastic one, and that made a huge difference. Great "barky" bluegrass sound. Easy to calm down for some smooth finger style.

The set up was a bit high, typical for Martin. I often wonder how many new customers they turn off because of the high action on floor samples? There are valid reasons for shipping guitars with a high setup, but to the novice even the cheapest guitars "feel" better.
I bought mine via mail order (phone Guitar Center), and begged them to dig out the best one they had. They ended up calling a sister store. It was months later that I got to comparing mine to others. I have wonderfully tight grain, and a terrific reddish cast to the top. EVERY one that I have seen since has very loose grain, and a yellow cast to the spruce.
There were no factory flaws on this guitar.

I originally said this was my "home" guitar, not wanting to risk it gigging (It is my first Martin after all). I have since started playing it almost exclusively. The satin finish offers little or no protection from scratches, but what does? The over all light weight can give the guitar a "flimsy" feel, but don't be fooled. Mine has lived in my truck for 3 years or more, and shows no sign of problems.

I agree with the others. Customer Service amounts to telling you to talk to an authorized dealer.

I have played non-professionally for over 30 years, and this was my first Martin. I haved lived with this gem for 3 years now, and haven't seen anything to complain about. I love it.

Martin DC-1E, Fishman electronics,cutaway, came with nice martin case
go to www.mguitar.com for specs
I play anyting from john mayer to stevie ray vaughan. I love this guitar. It is my number one guitar. It has a beutifal fishman electronics system. This thing can sing!!

This guitar works great for many styles of music. I run mine through PA , sometimes with a little boss chorus. It is very quiet when not being strumed. very very rich full sound unplugged. you will not believe until you play this guitar. This easily blows many taylor out of the water. The one thing i do not like is that when unplugged when im at the higher frets i can't get it to really stick out. for that i give it a 9. plugged in when i can belt the high notes i give it a 10

the action right out of the box was perfect. i didnt need to touch it. the top i got was very beutifal it had a birdseye grain to it. The smell of this guitar will take your breath away if the sound doesnt. Then flaw i found as other reviewers did was the when i hit my E string i heard a vibration at the headstock. i quick tightening at the keys fixed that. but i mean c'mom a martin should not have that problem

this guitar will definatly be the one i will use gigging. i will definitaly play this without a backup. The finish is still good only time will tell. nice positionning of the strap bottons. Just a very dependable guitar.

havent delt with them.

I have played for 2 years and i have the abiliy of someone who has been playin for 10 years. If this was stolen i would cry and hope insurance would cover a new one because i dont have extra money to buy another. I own a Stage bass amp a fender strat a washburn bass , fender dg-8 (my firstborn) and the love of my life the martin dc-1e

Look on the Martin web site for all these details there's no sense in me entering it again. Look to <www.martinguitar.com>

Alright! I'm here to tell you that this guitar will spook you. It spooked me, it spooked the daylights out of me. Let me tell you why.
I wanted a Martin for several reasons. The first reason is because I've owned practically every other production line and custom shop guitar out there, not all, but alot. It was just time for me to try a martin. Second I've really gotten into the acoustic thing and wanted that classic martin tone, like Clapton,Stills,Young,Ron Block,Dan Tyminski, the list goes on. I thought this is a great place to start. I expected to get a good martin sound, but hootchie mama...I didn't know that that martin sound would be so exact to what I heard from the those guitar greats. I'm convinced that Martin&Co. dips their wood in some magic potion or they cast a spell on the guitar before it leaves the factory. This guitar sounds great, the best acoustic sound out there, Taylor and Ovation/Adamas can eat my shorts. don't waste your money, buy a Martin.

All the workman ship on this guitar was flawless and all the materials were of high grade. How do you set up an acoustic guitar that everyone is going to like. That is impossible so I think Martin did a pretty good job at setting up the guitar for factory ship out.
They put light gauge strings on it, left the action on the high side
(left room to shave the saddle down). Gave the neck a healthy relief and made the case fit tight. I made adjustments to this guitar which any guitar player with a brain can accomplish.

I ended up putting medium gauge strings on (13 -56) tightened the neck a quarter turn and shaved off 1/16 off the bottom of the saddle.
I can't put this guitar down, it inspires me to write. this guitar makes me feel like I am one with the wood,one with the strings ,one with God.....Amen

I'm not going to waste time explaining the features in depth, you can just read about that in other reviews or www.musiciansfriend.com. It's a pretty standard no frills (visually) dreadnought acousic with a cutaway. If you want to stand out from the crowd this guitar wont do it, it looks just like a million other acoustics. Not a bad thing. The tuners are martins, they seem ok. I ordered some boxwood and brass endpins (to see which give a better tone) with abalone inlays and a really killer abalone pickguard just to personalize this guitar a bit. This guitar uses a Fishman PreFix preamp system which sounds amazing.

This guitar sounds great. Althought my first one did not (read reliability section)! You really notice how nice it sounds after playing an inferior guitar. It sounds a little better for strumming and playing with a pick than for finger picking, but still sounds great all around. This guitar really shines when plugged in. The Fishman Prefix preamp sounds amazing. You can dial up any tone you need, from warm a full to shimming highs with killer attack.

The action was a bit high for my taste, but it turned out this was do to the neck, not the bridge on this guitar. No problem, a fairly simple truss rod adjustment and we got a strait neck and better action. The action could still be a little lower if you play lightly, but it's a nice hight for a variety of styles. The woods, finnish, hardware, etc... were all nice with one exception. I could see the edge of some of the frets(the part that goes into the neck) on the sides of neck. They were smoothe and flush with the wood, but just looked tacky. Ok, maybe Im a stickler, you do kinda have to look for them, but when you spend this much on a guitar, believe me, you'll be looking :-)

Well, my first DC-1E had a slightly noticable dull note on all the F's(mainly 4th string 3rd fret). And it also had intonation problems. I had musicians friend send me a new one and it worked much better. But that same F note is still slightly(almost unnoticably) dull. The intonation was nearly perfect on this one. I'm just going to deal with that note and hope it works itself out over time(I only notice it finger picking). And yes, I did change strings :-). One slight problem with the new DC-1E is that when amplified the low E rings vary much louder that the other strings, I assume this is simply caused by the placement of the under the saddle pickup, which I will (hopefully) fix when i change strings on this one. I know I am being very critical here, but 1000 bucks is a large amount of money(to me anyways) and I don't expect these problems. The actuall guitar was made very well, bracing looked nice, as did all woods and finishes, and it feels sturdy and well constructed.

Sent martin an email, took almost two weeks for a reply and I got a slightly modified 'cookie cutter' reply. Which when summed up, essentially said; 'we don't have time to talk to you about your problems, heres a list of authorized repair centers'. I don't like the idea of having to take a brand new guitar to a repair center. It shouldn't need repairs if its new, or it shouldnt be sold. I have to think though that I have just been unlucky here, as martin has a very good reputation for quality.

Overall its an amazing guitar. I happened to have a few problems, but this may just be my bad luck. Or maybe not. The sound is excelent, the hard ware is nice, and the quality, whith a few exceptions, was very good.

1999 USA
19 Frets (I think...)
Solid Top
Volume, Tone, 3-way
Fishman Pickup
Matte Finish
Cutaway

It sounds like a dream...I love it.
I play it mostly without an amp, but it sounds amazing with one!
It has deep bass tones and very clear high end. I do not have any problems with rattling or humming.
LOVE IT

Great Action! The pickup is under the bridge and not noticeable. The guitar is beautiful. I bought it new and it was perfect.

I play this guitar for about 10+ hours/week...but it could withstand much more. It keeps in tune very well and is very well assembled. The finish is great, and would withstand quite a bit of playing. The guitar is definitely reliable...I would use it without a backup.

Never had to deal with the company.

Unbelievable!
I love it... I don't see how it could be any better. Honestly.
I don't think that guitars that are $3000.00 are that much better.
GREAT.