Martin Road Series D-12E

This dreadnought is streets ahead with its solid-wood build and Fishman pickup

- Jonathan Horsley

Martin will forever be an aspirational acoustic guitar brand but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t spared a thought for our pocketbooks in recent years. We have seen the X Series use high-pressure laminate builds to keep prices south of a grand, and the LX Series, aka Little Martin, offering affordable, travel-sized guitars. The Road Series was introduced in a similar fiscally conscious spirit. Built in Martin’s plant in Navojoa, Mexico, and featuring solid-wood builds of sitka, sapele and koa, with Fishman MX-T electronics throughout, the Road Series is positioned as a pro-quality range for gigging musicians whose appearance fee can’t quite stretch to Martin’s US-built models, which, if we are honest, is most of us. But there is no acoustic such as Martin’s Road Series D-1