Martin DX1 Guitar Review

!±8± Martin DX1 Guitar Review

The Martin DX1 range consists of the Martin DX1-AE, DX1-E, DX1-KAE and DX1-RAE model guitars. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these soundly crafted guitars. They are really high quality dreadnought acoustic-electric guitars that are designed for a low price.

These Martin dreadnaught guitars have no cutaways and their body dimensions make them feel comfortable to sit and play with. These precision instruments come with a Fishman type Pickups and utilize Solid Sitka 5/16 Spruce for their top braces in A-Frame "X-1" patterns.

This design gives them a fuller, bassy sound when played. Not only do these guitars look beautiful, they sound amazing with their projection of clear bright tones and excellent sustain.

The Body Of The Martin DX1-AE, DX1-E, DX1-KAE and DX1-RAE Guitars

The body design of the Martin DX1 range is known as D-14 Fret and is based on their butterfly shaped designed tops. The neck is connected to the body of the guitar by a mortise and tenon neck joint. This type of joining is what makes these guitars strong and durable. The simplicity of these Martin dreadnaught guitars makes them a beautiful guitar to play.

The tops of these Martin dreadnaught guitars are made of solid Sitka Spruce. The top has a hand rubbed urethane light satin finish. The rosette around the sound hole is of multiple black and white Boltaron rings with red fibre in middle. Next to the rosette is the tortoise coloured pick guard. These two features make the Sitka Spruce top very distinctive and appealing.

These guitars have a belly style bridge, which is made of Morado on the DX1-E model guitar and black Richlite on the other models. The bridge string spacing is 2-1/8'' and the bridge endpins are white with black dots. The saddle is of a compensated 16'' radius and is of white Micarta on the DX1-E model guitar and of white TUSQ on the models.

The side panelling on the DX1-AE and DX1-E Martin guitars are of a Java Mahogany pattern HPL textured finish. The DX1-KAE Martin guitar has a Koa pattern HPL textured finish and the DX1-RAE Martin guitar has an Indian Rosewood pattern HPL textured finish.

The backboard of the DX1-AE and DX1-E Martin guitars is of a Java Mahogany pattern HPL textured finish. Whilst the DX1-KAE Martin guitar has a Koa pattern HPL textured finish and the DX1-RAE Martin guitar has an Indian Rosewood pattern HPL textured finish.

These Martin dreadnought guitars use Fishman type Pickups. The DX1-E Martin guitar has a Fishman Classic 4 Sonicore Pickup. The other models use Fishman Sonitone Pickups.

The Neck Of The Martin DX1-AE, DX1-E, DX1-KAE and DX1-RAE Guitars

The Martin DX1 range of dreadnought acoustic-electric guitars use a Stratabond type neck. The neck material of DX1-AE and DX1-E Martin guitars is a Rust Stratabond, whist the other two models have a natural Stratabond. The Stratabond neck shape is referred to as a modified low oval. The neck width is 1 11/16" at the nut and the scale length is the typical 25.4".

The fingerboard material used on the DX1-E Martin guitar is called Morado. The other models use black Richlite. The fingerboard width at the nut is 1-11/16'' and width at the 12th fret is 2-1/8''. The fingerboard has 20 frets and 14 are clear. There are 6 fret dots at the top of the fingerboard.

The fingerboard and head is separated by a white Corian synthetic nut.

The headstocks are designed for 6 strings. The headstock of the DX1-E Martin guitar has a square tapper and the other models have a solid standard taper.

The headplates of the DX1-AE and DX1-E Martin guitars are made from a Mahogany pattern HPL. The headplate of the DX1-KAE Martin guitar is made from a Koa pattern HPL. The Martin DX1-RAE guitar has a headplate made from an Indian Rosewood pattern HPL.

All of these Martin dreadnought acoustic-electric guitars use Martin type tuners, which are chrome enclosed with small buttons. They seem to work very well and are quite responsive. Martin Studio Performance Light Phosphor Bronze (msp4100) strings are recommended to used with these guitars. However, other players find that D'addario EXP 11-52 strings sound better.

The Sound Of The Martin DX1-AE, DX1-E, DX1-KAE and DX1-RAE Guitars

The fairly deep butterfly shape body and the tonal woods used within the sound box and on the back and sides of these guitars create such unique acoustics. These Martin dreadnaught guitars seem to make every note sound beautiful. These Martin dreadnaught acoustic-electric guitars will produce rich and crisp tones, with a great bass response and cutting treble. You'll be blown away by the sound quality.

The Martin DX1 range of dreadnaught acoustic-electric guitars may be the cheaper model styles of the Martin guitar range, but they sound like a professional's guitar. You can gig with them and play almost any style of music on them, such as blues, pop, folk, country, rock and jazz. You could play acoustic hippie, chord strum or just pick a little solo.

For the quality and cost you can't beat these Martin DX1-AE, DX1-E, DX1-KAE and DX1-RAE model guitars. You can get them to suite both Right and Left handed players. They are beautifully crafted and incredible sounding guitars.