Martin 000C-15E Acoustic Electric Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsOn-line, http://www.music123.com, $799. I wanted a reliable, "no-frills," solid-body, all-wood guitar with a cutaway that I can use for recording and live performance. I am a big fan of the Grand Auditorium body shape, and the all Mahogany construction makes for both a very loud and boomy guitar.
It has true "Martin" tone, and no fancy frills -- no ornate bindings, inlays, or finish. It is incredibly loud (but still, very clear) whether fingerpicked or strummed. The GA body style makes it very comfortable, coupled with the fact that the Mahogany is a very light wood -- so the piece is easy to heft around.
The only thing (so far) that I am unsure about, but may change my mind with additional experimentation, is the Fishman Prefix Plus. I am used to playing guitars with the Stereo Blender, and to my ear, the blenders reproduce the guitar's natural harmonics better than the Prefix Plus. I am still tweaking it though...
Absolutely solid construction, through and through. As I said earlier, this is a "no-frills" piece -- it is a very basic looking guitar, right down to the decal rosette. However, the workmanship is unquestionably USA Martin.
For under $800, I don't think there's a better deal in this guitar's class: USA made, all wood, cutaway, with electronics. And oh yeah, it's a real Martin, too. The rest of my acoustics are Taylors, and I wanted to get something that would sound great and play great for shows for under $1K (and that I wouldn't worry about in bars at 2 am). This guitar fits the bill. Even if I wind up changing out the electronics, I still got a great deal. Highly recommend this guitar.
Dave rated this unit
on
2003-01-21.
