35fingerpicker

"Every guitar is our BEST effort" -CFM." The effort Chris is referring to is the actual construction of the guitar. Like any commodity, a guitar's production cost is determined by more than the amount is costs to put it together. Your comparison of a D-1 and a D-28CW is an excellent illustration. Back and side woods-Solid Indian or Brazilian (CWB) Rosewood is a lot more expensive than laminated(or solid back) Mahogany. Fingerboards and bridges-Solid Black Ebony costs a lot more than In dian Rosewood. Top Woods- High Grade Adirondack Spruce costs a lot more than Lower Grade Sitka Spruce. Finishes- It takes a lot more time and labor to do a Nitrocellulose High Gloss Lacquer finish than a Catalyzed Lacquer Satin finish. Have you noticed that I haven't said anything about inlays yet? Why does the CW sound better? Tone is pretty subjective. Different woods produce different tones. A lot of people prefer the tone of Rosewood over Mahogany. I happen to like them both but traditionally, Martin's Mahogany guitars were of simpler designs so their prices were lower. The higher-end guitars do get higher grades of these woods also and, of course, straight grained, consistently colored,"prettier" woods cost more. Generally, stiffer top woods produce better tone and tighter grained Spruce tops tend to be stiffer. Martin says they grade their tops by appearance only but basically, better looking tops sound better (there is, however, certainly no consensus on this point). They have basically 4 grade "ranges" (my term, not Martin's) within each species of Spruce. They are 1/2, 3/4/, 5/6, and 7/8. The 7/8's are reserved for Vintage Series, Limited Editions, Signature Editions, and 40 Series guitars. It is possible to get a higher grade top in a "lower" series guitar by special ordering it (at additional cost) or, ocassionally there may be a temporary shortage of a given grade for a certain model so that guitar could receive a higher grade top than that specified for that model but it would never receive a lower than specified grade. Most of this information comes from the very knowledgeable "sad souls" that post on the UMGF but my personal experience has proven to be pretty consistent with what I've read there. I'm saving for a D-18VS.

"I own two Martins and like them very much. Thing is, with the low-end models(witch I own) you have to pick through a lot of them before you find the"good"one." Your post points out what I believe to be the biggest marketing problem with Martins right now. It seems as though a lot of people (especially on this forum) have less than great opinions of Martin "quality" based on what they've seen at Guitar Center or Sam Ash and other megastores. I really can't blame these people for their perspective; I've seen what these stores do to their Martins, mainly through neglect. Pour setups, nasty crusty strings, and misinformed salespeople are pretty much the order of the day in a lot of these places. Since guitars are made of wood, a natural substance, there will be variations in tone, even within a particular model, but overall, the build quality of Martins is the same, regardless of the price. The fit and finish on my 000-15 is every bit as good as any factory built guitar I've ever played (and I've played for over 40 years). Does it look and/or sound as good as my OM-35? Of course not, but it does routinely blow away $2000-$3000 Taylors at open mics.

"Well I don't know much about the family, afraid if I did, I'd question the guitar's integrity." If you and some of the other posters here did know a little more about the Martin family and the Legacy Chris is very succesfully continuing, you might not be so quick to criticize. "Integrity" and "Quality" are two words that get thrown around a lot in our current business world but at Martin, they actually mean something. Personally, I'm very impressed by any family owned company that can not only survive, but thrive, through six generations and stay at the top of its industry.