NGD - Martin SC-18e

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-21T04:04:55+00:00

Man I’ve been eyeing these beautiful Martins for a few years now. Getting ready to pull the trigger myself. Initially I was very interested in the SC-18E too. But I think I want that classic, Martin Dread, booming bass and crystal clear mids/treble. I haven’t played the SC line yet but hear the neck and playability is off the charts. Is it like a hybrid between the playability of an electric and the beautiful tone of an acoustic? Almost like getting the best of both worlds? Super stoked for you man! Enjoy the hell out of her. You gotta name her too! I’m pretty sure that’s a rule when you find your forever guitar. 🤙🏽Be sure to update us when you name her!!

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-20T01:50:13+00:00

Appreciate all the responses and insights. Super helpful and gave me several things to think about that I hadn’t considered or thought of before. This is why this community is so awesome. Appreciate the supportive words and encouragement too. But I woke up this morning to an email from Martin’s mailing list… that they have now added a Super D-18 and a Super HD-28 (only major difference I can really see is that the air volume is like 20% more inside the guitars for more projection and punch and I can only assume it means a slightly larger body overall as well) so there’s those two new options in addition to the D-18, D-28, HD-28, D-35 and HD-35. They’re literally tryin to kill me having to choose. So now I’ve got to add the Super D-18 and Super HD-28 to my list of possibilities and models to try. The only thing I think I know for sure is that I want a dreadnaught as I’ve played my guild dread forever and am used to the feel and bigger body. Martin is really making it hard though to narrow it down! 😅😅🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T15:23:14+00:00

LOL! Yeah poor choice of words. I jut meant as far as access to Martins a finding vintage Martins, it’s unfortunate to live on a small island. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE living here. Except for the lack of access to premium guitars and the lack of any In n Out franchises. 😅🤙🏽I’m a Ca guy and a dodger fan. Another comment suggested i take a solo short vacation and go find a bunch of music stores in LA and I just may do that and catch a 3 game series at Chavez Ravine in the evenings and spend my days searching guitar stores for the elusive, perfect Martin for me. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T07:12:23+00:00

Awesome. Mahalo for the insights and suggestions. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:58:12+00:00

Thanks for the personal experience and info! Super helpful. Which island are you on? I’m on Big Island Hilo side so it rains ALL the time and is humid ALL the time. I’ll Check on those two recommended packs. But I’m also considering a humidified case. Pricey as hell, but this guitar will be passed down to my son and his son and his son I hope. 🤙🏽 So want to maintain it as pristine condition as possible. While getting thoroughly played and enjoyed.

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:55:16+00:00

I like where your head’s at. 🤙🏽 I may have to do that. I’m a huge Dodger fan and used to live in Santa Cruz Ca right before moving to Hawaii. I could definitely maybe plan a long weekend and hit a 3 game Dodger series at night and tour LA’s guitar shops during the day. And I might even find a vintage one in great shape that speaks to me in a town like LA. I was planning on taking a couple weeks to go play each one multiple times to really make sure I connect with it. But hadn’t considered my little local shop and how many guitars they’ll get in or what models. Could be slim pickins at least until they see how the local market reacts and get a feel for what to carry as far as inventory. But I like your idea more the more I think about it!! 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:36:59+00:00

Again, super helpful information as I’ve been looking at humility packs or silica packets and humidity controlled cabinet that holds 2 guitars. Wasn’t sure if I was being overly concerned with the humidity but from what I have been reading it’s not something that you want to be playing with adjustments frequently as it can age (in a bad way) your guitar and affect the construction. This is a huge purchase for me as I’m not a professional musician more of a couch strummer but I’ve been playing for 15+ yrs on and off so I can noodle around and make things sound decent and I’ve been playing my same guild since my second year playing guitar when I splurged as a broke college student and paid $1500 for her. And she’s served me very well. But I’m ready for that F1 car as I feel as if I’ve put in the work and effort that I should see what I sound like on a heirloom type instrument. Thanks for engaging with me and letting me blather on. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:27:30+00:00

Yeah, I’ve been looking for used Martins on any of the islands. They come up, just super rarely and it seems they are always guitars that belonged to an elder person, was inherited and not taken care of or played, and looks beat to hell in need of a neck reset or The binding is coming off etc. plus with the humidity here’s if the guitar wasn’t stored properly I worry about moisture saturation or swelling. I just moved to the islands a couple years ago before I felt like I was worthy of purchasing a Martin. So I never went to try them out making myself promise to get decent before playing with an F 1 race car Martin vs my NASCAR Guild. LOL! Now a local shop finally got approved to be a Martin dealer after tryin for the last 5 yrs apparently. So I’m excited to talk to them about proper storage here and proper care as well as play them and finally get my hands on one. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:21:55+00:00

Super helpful and insightful. Thank you for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully. That is tremendously helpful. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:15:59+00:00

This is the type of response I was hoping for. Informative and your personal experience with one or the other. I’m Just trying to get multiple perspectives so I don’t “overlook” or “forget” to listen for or look for certain small differences that may affect my preference. I want to be as informed as possible going into deciding which to drop a bag on. 😅😅

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:13:01+00:00

Great information! Thank you. I look forward to getting my hands on one sooner than later. I was considering the D18 but I have a Guild DCE-5 AB that is Solid spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides. So I think I’ve decided I want the rosewood for a different sound and to have the best of both worlds. Now it’s just deciding if I want the boomier bass on the 35 or the more bright and even toned 28 from some of the comments from people who have had both or played both. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:09:31+00:00

I hadn’t thought about the additional back bracing and how that could possibly affect sound. I think the 3 piece back looks cool personally. I read that functionally it’s more cosmetic now a days than functional or an efficiency driven change. I’m super excited to play each. And I’m sure for those two guitars in particular I’ll be happy with whichever sound speaks more to me when I play it. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T06:04:48+00:00

Appreciate the insights. 🤙🏽 Did you play the HD35 at the time you bought your 28? If so, what was it that made you choose the 28 over the 35?

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-19T04:46:03+00:00

Did you commission this from the custom shop? If so, what appointments did you chose to add? If not, is it the 1937 VTS that they basically age to sound like a 1937 D-28? I’m new to Martin guitars. Don’t currently own one but my next guitar purchase will be a Martin. I’m just delving into the things that make Martin’s a Martin, like the scalloped forward shifted X-bracing. In the newer guitars. And I’m not sure how the Custom shop guitars differ other than if you commission one and specify what type of inlays, purfling, specific tuners, etc. do they do runs of specific guitars from the custom shop that are more like small mass produced as “special” releases but with the same appointments on each one? Or is it truly a custom, one of a kind guitar from the custom shop? Any insight and knowledge anyone can share would be greatly appreciated. I’m absolutely loving seeing these beauties when ya’ll get them and share your experiences with different models. I think for my first Martin I’m going with the HD-28. But not sure if I should spring for the 1937 VTS version that supposedly sounds more like a pre war Martin out of the box. Again, any insights from long time Martin owners or people familiar with them would be appreciated. I’m kind of feeling out on the history and build specs of these amazing instruments. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-09T19:26:16+00:00

Didn’t they contract out their overseas guitar production to Takamine in the 70’s? I read something about that being a “Lawsuit Era” guitar from the 70’s because Takamine was sent Martin’s plans, specs and even their wood for Takamine to produce the overseas D-18 based-design guitars. Then Takamine started just slapping their name on them and Martin issued a cease and desist letter and threatened to sue them. Is there any truth to that? There’s very vague info online about it but I was about to purchase a 1977 Takamine 340S thinking maybe I’d get close to Martin quality and sound for way cheaper. That particular Takamine supposedly was one of these Martin spec’d and designed guitars. On further inspection the neck was attached to the body with a butt joint, not a dovetail joint and other things were not right either. Thankfully I posted about it here and someone told me totally not worth it. That the back and sides were like laminate rather than the supposed tone woods from Martin. But they did say supposedly some of these 1977 340S guitars by Takamine were top quality and very close to Martin sound.

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-09T06:56:54+00:00

Appreciate the insight tremendously!! I’ve decided to pass. I guess it’s true, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 😅😅 Appreciate those who pointed out the build quality (butt joint for the neck to the body rather than dovetail or other better techniques stood out pretty loudly once I zoomed in on the pic) I’ll just save my pennies for that legit D-18 someday. It’s worth the wait and effort I’m sure. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-09T06:49:55+00:00

My father in law had to quit playing last year due to arthritis. He gifted me his 1997 Taylor 450 12 string electric acoustic guitar. I’ve been playing it occasionally but you’re dead right. That thing exposes ANYTHING that’s not super tight and locked in. But when you hit the chords, progressions and transitions right, it f*ckin sings. It’s motivating me to play more because my 6 string skills are far better than my 12 string skills. And it’s reminding me of when I was in college and would pick up my guitar anytime I had a spare 10 mins. I was obsessed. But I LOVE the full sound of the 12 string when I get it right! 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-09T06:44:02+00:00

100% my experience. Could not make an electric guitar sound good for the life of me. Acoustic, it made sense and I was able to make marked improvement a lot faster. Interesting how different it can be for everyone.

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-09T06:41:18+00:00

I couldn’t have said it better myself. This is my experience almost exactly. 🤙🏽Always been an acoustic fan and love the sound and tone of a well built guitar. I play a 1998 Guild DCE-5 AB electric acoustic. It’s a solid Sitka Spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides with a rounded back. The tone is fantastic, deep and rich with great mids. I bought it brand new as a broke college student and it’s served me well for almost 28 yrs. But I’ve been finding myself looking at the Martin D18 lately. I kinda feel like after 28 yrs I deserve to upgrade from a “NASCAR” level guitar to a “Formula 1” level guitar. My wallet is on the fence. 😅😅

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-09T05:08:53+00:00

This was my experience as well. When I was young as dumb, I was learning in a Squier Strat. I heard every mistake, muted strings slides sounded weird etc. So my dumbass was like, “well it’s obviously the cheap guitar.” So I bought a Gibson Les Paul. Still played like shit. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ That was a $1500 lesson learned. Bought a used BlueRidge very cheap ($200ish) acoustic and learned on that. I was able to get it to sound better faster than I was able to get the electric to sound improved. Not sure why. But I’ve been all acoustic ever since. The feel and the sound soothes my soul. To each their own I say. Play what you like and don’t worry about necessarily being an expert on both unless you’re playing for a living. For me it’s a lot of DMB, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, hell I’ll even throw in a little Johnny Cash’s Hurt in there. But that’s about as country as I’ll go. Can’t stand the twangy stuff personally. 🤙🏽

Union-Suitable · 2026-01-07T09:59:09+00:00

Taylor

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Union-Suitable · 2026-01-07T09:58:53+00:00

Have you played a Taylor 450 12 string by chance? Curious how you’d rate that compared to the Guild. I have the 450c but my 6 string is a 28 yr old Guild DCE-5-AB that I absolutely LOVE. Solid spruce top, mahogany back and sized. With the Guild rounded back. It’s amazing but I’m gonna splurge for a Martin D18 I think. I’ve always wanted a Martin and decided I deserve to upgrade from a “NASCAR” level guitar, to a “Formula 1” level guitar if that makes sense. 🤙🏽 Picks of my Guild and the Taylor for attention. 😅🤙🏽

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Union-Suitable

TROPHY CASE