Martin DSS-17 Review

Wonderful guitar. So happy

Very versatile. A joy to play. A very nice instrument. Was worried about getting a hard case for it as the lower bout is a tad larger than most. I had great guidance with the salesman. His name is Ben Stein. Listened and went out of his way to get me info in a very timely manner. He made the sale happen and made me very happy!!! Thank you Ben and Sweetwater.

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Whiskey Sunset Take my Mind

This Guitar is it! If ever I dreamed of a 1 stop all in one design,action,sound that would wow!any small audience say 500 people I would say my hands never (until I bought one) touched such a beautiful instrument (for me that is). It is like playing the most beautiful Stradavarius on the finest of Orchestral Stages where the acoustics are perfect.I can just picture the likes of… read more Don Mclean,James Taylor and, many other Great Troubadours of the music world would come to play. The colors are bright yet very warm. I wouldn't change a thing on this Guitar. Oh,a Hard Shell Case to Store it in................that's it. Thank you CF Martin---it took me 50 years to find this Master Piece. Gary

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DSS17WSS

Very playable, sounds great. I'm not an accomplished player, but am making gains in no small measure due to this splendid instrument.

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Agreed - An Abolute Cannon

I'm going to have to agree with one of my counterparts on this thread that stated that this is a cannon. I couldn't have said it better, so I'll repeat what they said, because it deserves repeating. This thing is punchy and boomey. It is a powerhouse of a guitar and I can't believe Martin has this price tag on it. I have owned 2 Gibson J-45s in the past few years (just for comparison,… read more since the 45 is what I compare it to). One was a 2018 J-45 with Sitka over Mahogany and the other was a Gibson J-45 Regal with Sitka over Rosewood. Neither of them had the volume of this Martin. Don't get me wrong, they are amazing guitars and I love my J-45s, but I actually like this DSS-17 better (also very light weight). I'm almost exclusively finger-style these days. For that reason, I like a solid, thriving bottom end when I play (I don't use a pick), but need the clarity of a good melody to go with it and this DSS-17 provides that, in fact exceeds my expectations. I confess that I didn't buy mine new, but the one I did buy had only had hands on it about twice, so in very new condition. Also, I'm no fan of gig bags, and this guitar comes with one... That said, after playing this beast, I would have paid upwards of $2,500.00 to get my hands on it. I would simply suggest that if you buy it, and you should if my description even gets close to your style, talk to your Sweetwater sales manager and add a hard case. You won't be sorry you did. Also, if you don't keep your guitars in the case when you're not playing them, please start doing it and add the humidipacks that Sweetwater sells. I had a J-45 2018 standard, which I mentioned above. I learned a hard lesson on that guitar as it relates to proper care. Your guitar will always take care of you.. IF.. you take care of it. The humidipacks will keep your guitar at the proper humidity level once you've placed it back in the case. I take one or two of my guitars out of their cases every morning, and at night before I go to bed I put them back in with the humidipacks. I have had no issues since I started that process 3 years ago (I have owned guitars my whole life and I'm 63 now). I have a rebuilt 1969 Silvertone acoustic. You can do the math on the age of the woods, and it is as pristine as the day it was made, all due to humidipacks. I didn't want to preach a message here, but I believe this message doesn't get preached enough. If I'm spending more than $1,000.00 on a guitar (and that's all I own now), I want to make sure I don't have to spend another $1,000.00 have it repaired due to my own negligence. I hope this review helps you out if you are considering this Martin DSS-17. If you can't tell, I'm impressed with it.

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A cannon

In my opinion, this is probably one of the most underrated and misunderstood current Martin guitars. I've had mine for 18 months and always look forward to playing it daily. The satin finish is beautiful, and over time, develops these cool shiny spots where the oils from your hand frequently touch. It's not a gloss finish like others, so I expect over time it's just going to get… read more more beautiful and even after only 18 months. The neck was the unexpected thing for me to adapt to as it was a wider nut 1.75 nut and thinner profile than I was used to, but quickly found comfort with it and now prefer it's profile over my other guitars with thicker neck profiles. The slope design does make for a little bigger guitar body than your standard dread, although on paper it appears negligible, I really do notice the bigger body especially when playing seated of on the coach. It is big. The sound Is crazy cool. One of the first things you will notice when picking this up, is how feather light it feels. Because of its lightweight, it resonates and just booms for days. Equipped with the oem Martin retro strings, it definitely takes to back to a vintage period many of us can only imagine. It is LOUD and likes to be driven hard. In fact it's quite easy to play hard. Because of its resonance and quick response, it makes for a great finger picker too. It doesn't take much effort to get volume out of this thing. Did I mention it was loud? The only thing I'd change, and it's purely cosmetic, I wish they would have kept the headstock mahogany to match the neck instead of the black. But that's just personal preference and inconsequential. It's an amazing guitar and I don't ever see myself parting with it.

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