Martin DCX1KE

[Monkus]

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Martin-DCX1KE-Dreadnought-Cutaway-Acoustic-Electric-Guitar-514515-i1148320.gc

So I'm looking at a new acoustic preferably under the 1K range. Saw this at guitarcenter but haven't heard of it before. Seems the body is some sort of laminate and a sitka spruce top. when i got my ibanez EWC30A SERLG (what a mouthful) it sounded great at the store and felt great, but now playability is getting worse.


http://newellsmusiconline.com/shop/product_view.asp?storeID=69F64F5D0F1B423FBFADCAC95 D302F4E&menu=&seg=0&brand=Ibanez&brand_id=3&private_brand=&pr=271901&priv=0

I'm assuming its because we are close to 100% humidity all the time.

1. Reviews on this guitar?
2. Thoughts???
3. Suggestions?

[street music]

Monkus, I tried four of them in different stores and wouldn't have traded my my Carvin C350 for any of them. I have found the recent Martin guitars that are under $1800.00 just don't cut it.

[Jipes]

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Martin-DCX1KE-Dreadnought-Cutaway-Acoustic-Electric-Guitar-514515-i1148320.gc

So I'm looking at a new acoustic preferably under the 1K range. Saw this at guitarcenter but haven't heard of it before. Seems the body is some sort of laminate and a sitka spruce top. when i got my ibanez EWC30A SERLG (what a mouthful) it sounded great at the store and felt great, but now playability is getting worse.

I'm assuming its because we are close to 100% humidity all the time.

1. Reviews on this guitar?
2. Thoughts???
3. Suggestions?

If you have the chance get a Martin D1 I have one since ten years and it's one of the best sounding guitar I ever possessed and it clearly stands in front of many other brands like Guild, Takamine or even some Larrivée

[Eric]

I've never played one, but I used to work with someone who bought one of the Martin X series. He was a beginner, but I think he took his time in playing a bunch of guitars and the guitar with the tone he liked best was this one.

If memory serves, they call the material HPL (high pressure laminate) for the guitar construction. I think there's also something funky about the fretboard, like maybe it's a composite or polymer or something. Can't quite remember. Maybe it's the "Stratabond" neck that I'm thinking of?

I think the whole thing was supposed to be an attempt to find ways to make acoustics without solid tops, both from a sustainability standpoint and to sell to the cheaper market.

Someone on here said that they owned one and liked it when I asked about the X series previously. The one thing I would say is that if you're having problems due to humidity, you might want to consider a non-solid-top acoustic. Blasphemy, I know, but it might be a solution.

[DeanEVO_Dude]

I picked up one of the X series Martins. Made in Mexico. Originally I got the dreadnought DX1AE, but I took it back due to the size and got the 000X1AE instead. Both are the same price ($499.99). Acoustic/electric hidden inside the body, from the looks of it, you will need to loosten the strings or when you change the strings, you should change the 9v battery at the same time. It has a real nice smell (like wood, duhh LOL!), and a real nice sound to it, though, the dreadnought did have a much nicer sound. If Fender can do it, why can't Martin? Fender has been making guitars in Mexico for many, many years...
The body is made of a HPL (I suspect it stands for High Pressure Laminate), a solid Spruce top, some kind of composite fingerboard and bridge, it feels really nice. It has no inlays on the fingerboard, and when I was picking it out, I thought that might give me problems, but with the side markers I don't have any problems with not having fingerboard inlays. Overall, a very nice guitar, very well made though, it is my first acoustic guitar, so I'm not exactly any kind of expert.

A questions for those of you that have accoustic guitars and have had them for a while: Proper care storage- I have my electrics in stands, I only have 2 gig bags (one is a Godin, really heavy duty, the other is a Road Runner, kinda heavy duty). For my acoustic, I picked up a Road Runner gig bag (like the electric one, kina heavy duty) and a humidifier (a planet waves with the little sponge in it, sits in the sound hole between the D and G strings). Obvously, the hard case and electronic humidifier would be best, but problaby another $250 on top of the guitar price and I just didn't have that kind of money. Did a make a useful purchase, or did I waste my money on what I got? Any suggestions?

Thanks all.

[Monkus]

thanks for the replies guys !!!

[sunvalleylaw]

Just a thought here. I purchased my solid R/W Spruce SPD-16TR (see here: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php/13486-New-Guitar-Day!-The-Martin-has-Landed!?highlight=spd-16tr ) for just over a thousand, and if you looked, I bet you could find one out there now. Or if not that, you could get a good used D-16 gloss top for under a grand all day long. I would go that route myself. The some of the solid satin martins are pretty nice. I know Tone2theBone loved his when he got it. But with used prices what they are, for the same money, I would take my time and find a good used D-16 or up.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

@Monkus - Exactly how is the playability "worse"?

[Monkus]

The strings are to me getting stiffer when in tune. I use the same gauge that was on the guitar when i bought it. It also seems that the action is getting slightly higher.