Martin D-15 neck not a dovetail !

[Rmccamey]

"That’s easy. Martin customers insist on the traditional dovetail neck with all of its drawbacks. “No dovetail = not a real Martin” in the minds of many buyers."

You are correct saying "many buyers" but there is obviously a significant market for Martin's without a dovetail neck and/or a customer demographic who either do not know the "benefits " of a dovetail neck joint or who don't care. I would speculate that the growth market for Martin is that same demographic. That was one of the biggest draws of this new, upstart guitar company a few decades back when they started building guitars in a non-traditional manner - Taylor.

Re: Harley; they are facing some serious issues in the name of "tradition". I've riden Harleys for decades but I'd be the first one in line if they would hook up a V-Rod engine to a touring model drivetrain/frame/suspension. Like Martin, the growth market for HD is a lot less about tradition.

[Earl49]

I submit for your consideration that the buyers of the so-called "lesser" Martin guitars with non-dovetail joints are far more influenced by the price point than the neck join. If I have to spend north of $3K for a Standard Series with a true dovetail or I can get a good sounding D-15 or D-17 for half that (just picking a number).... my concern about the alleged purity of the neck joint design goes out the window.

Having gone two-for four on neck resets with true dovetail Martin's bought new, I will never again buy a guitar that isn't a bolt-on. Unless it is cheap enough to be a total throwaway when neck reset time comes. I believe that the neck joint does not matter at all, as long as there is solid contact for vibration transfer.

[nellatrab]

Being new here, I have just been crusing around reading and enjoying the posts...as an old guy guitarist, I have owned 25+ acoustic guitars from American, Chinese and Japanese factories and a few from private builders (Fox and Goodall)...All are in my home now and possession for over 25-50 years of playing and gigging, and of course a few newer ones in my collection of acoustics. My latest being a Martin 000-15M Streetmaster, which is simply awesome playing and sounding. I record with it of late. I have never ever needed a neck reset on any of them, including 2 Taylors, 1998 Larrivee, an 2002 Gallagher dread, 70's Mossman dread, 2001 Charels Fox, 1993 Goddall Concert, a very old Gurian and of course 4 Martins. So I know this is an old debated post, but I could not help but comment. So, I wonder why so many guitars need neck resets, especially those that say newer Martins a few years old do or were built wrong? Were they not checked by QC, I doubt that. Could it be the care they've been shown over the years...or...? Oh and btw...the Martin simple dovetail neck joint is CNC'ed so it is very precise, strong and needs no real hands on adjustments to install on the body. Tradition plays a big part in history, regardless of the outcome, cost or need. As for the tone of any acoustic guitar, negated by the neck joint design, that's all subjective, of course.