Martin DX-1

Immediately upon getting this thing home I went into a playing funk which lasted about four days. During this time I put the guitar down only to eat and go to work and sleep. Sounds and textures evolved from this instrument that I didn't know I was capable of making. Sounds like a top line acoustic to my ears. Scored a 9 only because I would like a tad more volume (projection).

It's beautiful to my eyes. I even like the fake wood on the neck and sides. I can see no flaws.

I don't know. It's probably not gonna survive if you play 'el kabong; with it. Sems solid.

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Been playing pro/semi pro for over 30 years. I own mostly elctric guitars and basses (Gibson, Fender, etc). I needed something with a good tone for recording and occasional live performance. I don't spend much money on gear anymore because it no longer pays for itself the way it once did. $500 was what I wanted to spend and that's what I spent. I wish it had a pick-up but not if the acoustic tone suffers and not if I gotta spend another hundred bucks, so I'm happy just the way it is. Make sure you shop around. Found this at American Music Supply $50 cheaper than anywhere else.

Everything but the sides and back and the finish are fine.

I played guitars from virtually every maker I could find in a price range of $500 and $1,000, and the only thing that even came close to the same sound quality was a Taylor 110 that was selling for $150 more than this one. The sound booms like any other Martin I've ever played and blows away any almost any other guitar in the same price range.

The setup and action are great. The tuners are precise and hold their tune well. The finish leaves a lot to be desired. It couldn't be more plain, and the HPL sides and back don't add to the aesthetics. This guitar, however, is all about sound and not looks. If you want a quality sound at a low price and are willing to sacrifice looks, this guitar is for you.

The fact that the sides and back are HPL material instead of wood will keep it intact for years to come.

The sound is unsurpassed for the price. The looks could use some help though, and I didn't realize until I got home that Martin had started making these in Mexico this year. Oh well, still sounds great.

Made in 05 in the USA. Others have described features well enough. I won't.

Sounds INCREDIBLE!!! A bargain instrument that sounds like much more expensive guitars. One thing that struck me the most about this guitar, is the response it has. Even with the lightest possible bare fingered playing, this guitar sings. I mainly fingerpick with picks, but a also play with bare fingers and every now and then with a pick. Sounds great with everything I throw at it. Great with a glass slide too. Playing over the neck sounds totally differnt than by the bridge, then there are all the places inbetween!!! I also use many different tunings. I have yet to find anything that sounds bad.

WOW

The neck feels great in my hands. I hate the look of all the plys that make it, however. I almost didn't buy it because of that. The simulated wood on the sides and back don't bother me too much. However, I think something like solid black would have been better than fake wood grain.

Guitar was set up great. Holds tune very well, despite my changing tunings every day!!!

I think this will last forever, since most of it is made of high pressure "stuff." I don't see anything really going wrong with it. A bonus is that you really can't scratch the body.

For what it is, certainly a 10!!!! I wanted another Martin Dread and this is one that I could afford and not worry about beating the tar out of. Despite it's materials, this guitar sounds AMAZING!!! Nothing in it's price range comes close. Close your eyes, and you think you're on a D-28. I've owned too many guitars to list and know good tone and good quality. This has both.

Not sure if I'd want a Mexican built one however. If you can find a US made one, get it!

2006-Made in Mexico,very plain yet not ugly. decent tuners, Im not interested in anything any fancier. Nice neck, medium size. NO case or bag, which is ok, as I was on a very tight budget. Can always get one later. Laminated back and sides, and multi-layer neck, but I dont care. Very nice construction. The only features you need are a pickguard and a set of tuning machines, anything else is costly.

Well,like most other reviewers, I was stunned by how good it plays and sounds. I also looked at the high-value Martin D-15, and this is better sounding I think and it is $300 cheaper. If you arent bothered by the lack of cosmetics, the sound is comparable to guitars much more expensive! Very well balanced, a good guitar for strumming. I use it for country and blues.

Set-up was fine as is usually the case with Martin, and assembly was very good. Materials are cheap, but Martin shows that the way in which a guitar is built and assembled is what matters the most. Gibson, for one, could learn a lot from Martins assembly quality. I think the lack of a heavy finish allows this guitar to ring and sustain.

Time is the only answer.

Had very good service in the past.

For what you pay, its a 10. Even comparing it to high end models, it is still competetive. Its not a HD-28V, of course, but if you want a cheap instrument that wont embarrass you, this is it. I have owned many high-end acoustics in the past, and I am very satisfied with this guitar. Head and shoulders above the many other $400- $500 imported guitars I tried. I am very sad to see that they are now made in Mexico, and if I had known this at the time of purchase, I may have passed on it and bought a US made one on ebay. I KNOW that the profits made on their higher priced models could have allowed Martin to continue to make these in the US. There may not be as much profit in these models, but from my experience working for a major US guitar maker, I can tell you there is VERY little money tied up in the raw materials, most likely under $50. I doubt that Martin takes more than 4-5 hours to make this model from start to finish, and now is probably paying a wage of about a dollar or a dollar and a half per hour to their Mexican work force. That complaint aside, this is a great bargain on a fine instrument, you cant go wrong.

This is very much a No-Frills guitar. Martin spent their money wisely on using the best materials in the critcal areas. I've owned this guitar for almost a year now and am still amazed at how well it holds a tune. The machine heads are top notch. The nut is smooth and silky allowing the strings to stay balanced on both sides. The lack of flashy adornments keeps the price down so as to give the owner room to customize.

The day I purchased this guitar I went out the door with $1000 in my pocket. I toured the city hitting every music store in town...sometimes twice. I was determined to find the my magic sound. After playing Martins, Taylors, Takamines, Gibsons, Ovations, ranging from $500 to $5000 the DX-1 was my pick. From the first strum I knew this was the guitar for me. Anybody with any kind of passion for music knows this feeling. I don't care about all the miles of Abalone inlays and exotic woods...ultimately it's the sound and this guitar has it. LOADS of it. The bass is strong and present due to the solid spruce top. This makes finger picking a true joy to behold when you are doing an alternating bass riff. The mids and highs are crisp but smooth due to the Formica type laminate back and sides. I use Elixir extra light nanoweb strings and it almost sounds like two guitars playing in chorus. I also own a D-28 with the same strings and much prefer the DX-1's sound.

The action was a bit high for my tastes(possibly due to severe carpal tunnel) so I had a luthier install a pre-amp piezo pickup and lower the action. With Martin keeping the price down I had the freedom to install exactly the pre-amp I wanted. When shopping for an Electric Acoustic I was going to have to pay through the nose to get the features I wanted. So now I can get the features I wanted and still have money left over for good cables.

Although the finish is flat and can be prone to staining...the back and sides are almost bullet proof. The laminate is strong, durable, and scratch resistant. This makes this guitar PERFECT for going on the road. It's not as sensitive to humidity and temperature changes as the higher dollar exotic woods models.

I've had no issues to take to Martin yet. But if I did, Martin has the reputation for top notch customer support that leaves me with a sense of satisfaction and pride in owning a Martin.

If you're looking for glitz...keep looking. If you're looking for that magical Martin sound...pull up a chair. This is a guitar I hope to make a family heirloom out of. I'm sure the purists of you are gagging right now but this guitar represents the craftsmanship, quaility, and excellence Martin has become synonymous with over the years. No, I don't work for Martin I'm just a consumer caught up in this world of corporate greed and boosting the bottom line at the cost of quality. I am a VERY satisfied customer and appreciate what Martin puts in their guitars.

My DX1 was made in 2006 in Mexico. Martin uses high pressure laminates with solid spruce top. The finish is very thin, and the guitar feels very, very light. The tuners are chrome. Visually, this guitar looks as plain as plain can get, but hey, that didn't stop me from buying it. The only thing I'd probably change is the pick guard. I like the Taylor style pickguards better. I won't score this category because for this particular guitar, Martin was not visually trying to impress us anyway, nor was that the point of this model. The DX1 is a very plain, quality instrument, and I'll leave it at that.

The sound is unbelievable. It definitely has that fabled Martin sound. The bass is VERY thunderous and the mids and trebles are clear and strong. I loved this guitar the first time I played it (at Guitar Center, of course). Fingerpicking is wonderful on this guitar. All the notes are just so... clear, and the projection is very impressive. Strumming or playing rythm is just a sweet because the sound balance across all six strings is super. Eventhough the bass response certainly impressed me, this is not a "strong bass - tinny trebbles" guitar. All notes are very woody and strong. I played this guitar against the Martin D-28, and I found myself prefering the DX1 a whole lot more.

Fit and finish is fine. Action was perfect when I bought it.

This guitar is just as reliable as any other acoustic guitar. The finish is thin, but doesn't look like it's gonna come off anytime soon. The DX1 comes with the endpin at the lower bout. I had to drill and screw in another endpin towards the top of the upper bout to use my strap.

No need for company contact so far, so no rating for this category.

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years. I also own a Crafter D45/N acoustic guitar (just as awesome and powerful as the DX1, but with its own characteristic sound), a Zager ZAD-50CE (not in the same league as the Martin DX1 or the Crafter D45/N, but still a good and very balanced sounding guitar with unbelievablly low action), a Yamaha AEX500 semihollow body acoustic electric guitar (very mellow, jazzy sound), an Esteve 1GR3E classical guitar (solid classical sounding instrument) and a David Macias flamenco guitar (unbelievably off the top of the lung sound). Lately, I've been playing more acoustic steel string and leaving the nylon stringed equipment to collect dust.

Already in love with the sound of the Crafter guitar, I also needed another powerful (and affordable) acoustic guitar to be used for certain parts for live playing and recording. Once I heard the sound of the DX1, no other guitar will do. The day I went to Guitar Center to purchase this guitar, the store had at least six DX1's on display. I had the good fortune to try all of them and purchased the one that I thought was the best, thought I must say all them sounded impressively consistent. If this guitar was lost or stolen, I would definitely replace it. No other guitar will do. I do love some of those louder, expensive Taylors, but I had to also remind myself that compared to a fine instrument such as the DX1, they're only a bit louder, and in live performance and recording, louder is just a matter of turning up the volume knob. It's really that characteristic deep, woody, resonant acoustic guitar sound that I'm after because that is what simply turning up the volume knob can't give me. The DX1 is truly what an acoustic guitar should be. Thumbs up for Martin on this one.

I have the usa made. Tuners are pretty solid. These guitars don't have the shinny finish. That's a reflection of the cost. I dropped mine and chipped the top edge. I had my guitar shop guy cut it and patch it. It Gave it some character. It plays and sounds and stays intune like it did before I dropped it.

My DX-1 Sounds flawless against some of the high end Gibson's, Taylor's,etc... that I have played in music stores. Not saying you couldn't find a Gibson or Taylor that sounded amazing. I would describe the tone as low mid magic. I do home recordings, and I rarely eq my acoustic gutar tracks because the tone itself is so close to perfect. Wether it be a condenser or dynamic @the hole. The only thing i have to cut is the low Freq 200hz range because of the DX-1's boomy bass. By far the best bang for the buck in a straight up non-electric acoustic. I would definatley have any guitar setup by a skilled guitar shop. That's the bad thing about buying one new in a store. You can't really set it up until you buy it. I would get to discuraged if a new guitar didn't play the best in the world, but first concentrat on tone.

As i said before get it setup by a pro and it will play like butter.

Like I said before I dropped mine and chipped the top on the edge. I had a square cut out where the chip was and filled the square with a new spruce peice. It looks awesome.

Made in the USA (They are now being made in Mexico.) - Solid Sitka Top - Satin Finish - HPL Laminate Back and Sides - Morado Bridge/Fingerboard - Compensated White TUSQ Saddle - Standard Chrome Tuners - No frills design

I have to say that I was amazed by this guitar. I had sold my CA Legacy AE Aura and my Taylor 314ce. Both guitars sounded great but their bright tone began to wear on me. They lacked fullness & warmth. Needless to say I was on the hunt for another acoustic. I went to my local Guitar Center & Sam Ash. I was in the market for another mid-high end acoustic. I played a few Larrivee's in the $1200-$1400 range very nice guitars, Taylor?s in this price range to bright, & I played some lower end Martins in the $1300-$1700 range. The Martins definitely excelled in the fullness dept. I saw this Martin DX1 hanging there for $499.00. Reluctantly I grabbed it. How could it sound decent for $499? When I began playing it I was blown away. It produced a very full, rich tone with just the right amount of sparkle on the high end. Very balanced sound. After a few more comparisons I realized that this guitar was a steal at $499.00. I didn't care what it was made of. I was prepared to spend alot more money to get the sound I was looking for and I ended up with a DX1 and a $1000+ bucks in my pocket

The guitar played and felt just as nice as the $1200 and up models. Of course it lacks all of the nice fancy inlays, binding, and extras that come on the high end models and its not made of solid wood, but thats ok because I was interested in sound alone. This guitar delivered. The craftsmenship was top notch no complaints there. The action was a little high but that is easily remedied.

I would not hesitate to play live with this guitar. The fact that it is not solid wood does not bother me. I have a 15 year old Eterna acoustic that someone gave me, it has a laminated back and sides. It has held up fine through the years and sounds amazingly good (for what it is) now that the Spruce top has aged. The DX1 will only get better with age. The satin finish is thin but that just improves the resonate quality of the wood. With reasonable care this guitar should last a lifetime.

Haven't had to use.

I have been playing for 25+ years. As I mentioned earlier I owned a CA Legacy AE Aura Drednaught ($2000 retail), a Taylor 314ce ($1600 retail). I know that there are guitars out there that are nicer and sound better than the DX1 but in the $1200 - $1600 range I didn't find one. Somehow Martin was able to create a very balanced sounding acoustic guitar without the used of solid wood construction. It's great to have a guitar that sounds this good at such a low price. The DX1's are now being made in Mexico so if you can find one of the USA made models jump on it I?m sure they will hold there value.

2006 DX-1
Satin Finish
VERY simple design.. no inlays in the fretboard.
Standard tuners.
Paid somewhere around 450 for this.

For me being an ex-bassist I love low end sounds.
This has the rich tone that I love without sounding 'bottomed-out' or muddy.
For me the highs seem a little bright - but I'm still experimenting with different strings and get either a brighter or 'lower' sound.

I tend to stick with Martin Bronze strings (.13)

Also - for me? This guitar is LOUD. Sure it's not the loudest out there but you can def get some noise out of it. Heh.. just ask my wife - she definitely thinks it's loud enough. But I could foresee needing a mic at a bar or small gig.

Factory setup from the local Guitar (screw you good) Center was decent. And it looked like it was recently taken out of the box as it didnt have too many hands touching it.

Action was just a 'tad' higher then I would've liked but easily fixed. The feel is perfect - not too 'lose' nor too 'tight' (Taylors feel too tight for my liking)

Frets were nice and 'polished' I've played a few guitars where I thought the frets were razors - def not the case here.

Finish of the wood on neck and body was perfect. I couldn't of asked for a cleaner acoustic for under $500 bucks.

Well... it's done the ol' dive bomb onto a carpeted floor once - and it survived without losing it's tuning - so needless to say I'm happy.

I tend to be pretty rough with any stringed instrument (comes from playing bass I guess) This guitar handles my punishment with a pick nicely.

My only gripe is I will probably replace the tuners as the G is already starting to get 'wiggly' after a few string changes. And it can't be fixed - has to be replaced. Overall though very solid guitar.

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I've been playing on and off for about 15 years. Mainly a bassist I switched to guitars for my own personal enjoyment for the last 5 years. I don't play any gigs.. but if I did this is the acoustic of choice.

My only advice before buying this (or any guitar for that matter) is PLAY the damn thing. You can usually tell if it's going to be a problem child if you take the time in the shop to ditz with it.

I played everything from begginer Takamine's to high-end Taylors, and everything in between. I'd have to say that this is a very nice guitar. And it is all business without the trappings of silly inlays.

Spuce top (no finish), kitchen counter sides and back.

I graduated from my wife's laying-around-the-house-so-I-might-as-well-learn-to-play-it Yamaha classical guitar to this. Bought it at Sam Ash and tried every other $500-and-under guitar and this was the best sounding, hands down. It had much richer bass and fuller, more distinct mid- and high tones. But then again, it was nearly twice as expensive as its nearest competitor (I knew when I had wandered off the floor and into the expensive-guitar room I was in trouble.) I don't know squat about other famed guitar makes, but to a novice's ear, this is the finest, cheapest guitar in existence.

The lack of finish on the spruce top means it will get and hold dirt quite easily. And, damn it, it chips easily (nicked it when it barely touched a WOODEN chair.) So give it an assured safe distance from any and all obstacles.

I hope the particle-board back and sides hold up, but won't know that for a while. However, the formica-like covering is impervious to dings and nicks. Each tuner has a personality of its own, but humidity and temperature changes aside, it holds its tuning pretty well.

I only wish I'd asked the salesguy about the longevity of the back and sides. Then again, the cheaper guitars are made entirely of laminate, and more expensive ones are made entirely of whole wood, so there probably wouldn't have been anything to compare the DX-1 to, anyway.