Single Best Martin Guitar (our top value pick)

The best Martin acoustic guitar is not just going to be the most expensive. That's clearly the "best" in terms of pure quality. But we've always tried to base our top picks on value, which is two parts:

• Lowest possible cost
• Highest possible quality

This consistently leads us to guitars that are popular, well-liked, consistently manufactured, and more affordable. When that balance of price and quality meet, that's where you'll find your best options.

In a lot of cases we build these pages with multiple entries, or what we call roundups. On this page we're only putting forward one option. The best of the best.

Here we're looking at the best Martin acoustic, which we'd argue is the Martin D-15M. We'll first do a couple of tools - comparison and pricing - then make our case with some additional info.

Compare Section

This chart compares the Martin D-15M with a few similar Martin acoustics, all of which are in our honorable mentions section below. This table just allows you to compare basic specs and pricing, so you can get a feel for how the D-15M stacks up against others of similar price and quality.

Pricing Tools

These price tables update in real time, with an alert and history tool so you can keep tabs on price drops (or increases). Note that if the history graph only has one bullet point, it just means the D-15M hasn't had any price changes recently. 

Sweetwater Pricing

Additional Vendors

Price Alert (tracks with Sweetwater)

Honorable Mentions

As our disclaimer states, recommendations like this are subjective. The D-15M is your best option for the widest range of buyers, in our opinion. However, that doesn't negate the additional Martin guitars that also deserve a serious look.

Particularly if you're looking for a Martin guitar with electronics (internal pickup and preamp), you might consider browsing through some of the following honorable mentions.

In no particular order:

• Martin D-28E (regular or deluxe versions)
• Martin SC-10E
• Martin LXK1(E) or LXK2(E) Little Martin
• Martin GPC-16E
• Martin D-10E road series

Note that anytime you see an "E" after a Martin guitar's name, it indicates that it's an electronic version. This is typical among other guitar brands as well. In the same way, an "M" after the title means it's made from Mahogany. 

The "D" and 15 series

To give a broad and more encompassing answer of the best Martin guitar, the D body design as a whole is probably where we'd look most of the time. The D stands for dreadnought (the body shape) which is where Martin has made the most impact over the years. They're known for their warmth, and strum-friendly tone profiles that go hand-in-hand with dreadnought body shapes. 

If you want the concert style body, perhaps with a cutaway, it's fine to move away from the D variations.

But as far as arguing for a best option, we'd have to land there first.

The 15 series sits near the middle of Martin's lineup, between the upper-tier options like the 28s and the lower cost 10s. Again, we'd argue this gives you the best balance of price and quality.

Conclusion

Martin is the standard-bearer when it comes to acoustic guitars, especially natural dreadnoughts. Taylor might come somewhat close, but even they're not at the same level as Martin. Now you can obviously disagree with our pick, but I suppose that's the beauty of a situation like this.

You don't necessarily need to know the "best" guitar, since that's simply going to be the most ideal and highest value guitar for the largest number of people.

What works for you from the Martin lineup might be totally different.

Just because it's best overall, doesn't mean it's a perfect fit for your situation.

If you think there's another Martin that deserves the top spot, or you just want to ask a question, please refer to the comments section bellow and I'll answer. And keep in mind before you comment, these are the rantings of a lunatic and are probably wrong. Take it all with a grain of salt.

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