I bought a Martin DX-1 made in Mexico over a year ago as a beginner guitar. I selected this guitar over a Baby Taylor because it had a deep rich tone I liked. I thought the guitar was great right out of the box, the action and strings were fine for me to learn on. After playing it for a year I can say that it really did a great job staying in tune which allowed me to focus on learning and not tuning. I am disappointed that the pick guard laminate is peeling up and all of the Martin decals inside have lost the adhesive. I've kept it in a well padded gig bag whenever not in use. So my opinion is this guitar sounds great out of the box and is great to learn on, but its not built to stand the test of time.

I've owned this Martin for a year and a half. At first I was quite pleased with it. Then the top (at the lower bout where it joins the end piece) split open (came unglued) for about 4 or 5 inches. I keep this guitar in the same room as all my other guitars and haven't had any problems with the others. I'm an older player who mostly fingerpicks so the guitar has not seen rough treatment.

Bought the guitar with the intention of having a great sounding travel guitar and initially was very pleased. In less than a year bracing at the top of the body caused the guitar to be unplayble. martin fixed no questions asked. Now a couple of months later the entire back is coming unglued and the action is already messed up again. As other have commented great sound and playability initially but think I may have a real problem. Local luthier saw my guitar with bracing failure and thought I was stupid enough to buy it on the street from someone who had asked him to fix same problem. Think there may be some problems out there.

The DX1 is a Martin. It feels, plays, sounds, and even smells like a new Martin. It came set up correctly for finger style playing right out of the box. The fit and finish are excellent. I bought this one to travel with and you will want a case to keep it as nice as it is new. For the money, this is definitely a 5.

This guitar is perfect! I've played for 10 years and have lots of guitars and its my fav and my most used.