The past decade has seen a huge spike in amount sales of acoustic guitars. Thanks to them becoming more affordable and accessible, more people are purchasing guitars, and experts have suggested that it’s only a matter of time before the guitar beats the piano in terms of popularity.
Furthermore, the acoustic guitar is exceptionally versatile and can play many genres. If you’re new to the guitar world and you’re looking to buy a good guitar, you may go through option paralysis.
With so many brands releasing guitars day in, day out, the market is really saturated, and it could be difficult for you to choose the right one.
However, there’re only a few guitar companies that enjoy a good reputation in the market. Guild and Martin are two such companies. Both brands have been around for quite a while and offer a wide range of guitars.
Guild’s D-40 and Martin’s D18 are two very popular models by Guild and Martin. They both pack many exciting features and have been embraced by so many famous artists. So, which guitar model sounds better and offers more value for your money?
Today, we’ll compare Guild’s D-40 and Martin’s D18.
| Features: | Guild D-40 | Martin D18 |
|---|---|---|
| Price: | £1,500 | £2,999 |
| Bracing: | Scalloped X bracing | Forward-shifted X bracing |
| Top: | Sitka Spruce | Sitka Spruce |
| Tuner: | Guild Vintage Style Open Gear | Nickel Open Gear |
Guild D-40
Founded in the 50s by Alfred Dronge and George Mann (a former Epiphone executive), the Guild brand quickly became a popular and trusted guitar brand that competed with the likes of Martin and Gibson. The traditional guitars take design cues that are reminiscent of Gibson and Martin, while also having an expansive line of electric instruments as well. Guild has built a cult following by having produced some of the most revered guitar models coveted today in the acoustic guitar market.
Build – Classic Western Styling
When you look at a flat top acoustic Guild and see both Martin and Gibson guitar homage. Their guitars have a simple Martin dreadnought look with the big Gibson pickguard and shapely headstock. However, Guild has added their own flavor, especially with their unique pickguard and more elegant bridge.
Every appointment has a purpose to not only make it look like a Guild but to perform like one as well. This includes things like the nice appointment, like the bone nut and saddle, Indian Rosewood fingerboard and fretboard and even the butterbean open back tuners that function very well. The D-40 tends to have more elegance applied than the lower-end models. For instance, you can notice the bound fretboard, abalone rosette and the higher grade tonewoods on the D-40. Guild’s D-40 has been made to compete with other bluegrass models like Martin and is a powerful option, making it a great Flatpicking guitar.
A Great Versatile Neck
Guild has always been very consistent with its neck profiles, and all of its models tend to have similar neck profiles. The Mahogany neck is attached to the dreadnought body at the 14th fret at the dovetail neck joint. Guild knows what they’re doing by now in order to create a comfortable neck on all of their models. The D-40 has a sleek, comfortable profile and satin finish, so players shouldn’t have any problems transitioning to chords or making the most daunting disfigured bar chord. The neck is laminated with an Indian Rosewood fretboard with a 16-inch radius, giving it a nice flat classic dreadnought fretboard feel.
Performance
Guild’s D-40 acoustic guitar is a dreadnought constructed of a solid Sitka Spruce top, Sitka Spruce scalloped bracing and solid Mahogany back and sides. The Sitka top is known for providing a warm resonant tone that provides ample volume and projection. Its scalloped spruce bracing allows the top to vibrate more freely, producing a deep resonance that projects greatly while providing good stability at the same time. The solid Mahogany back and sides makes the tone warm, woody while giving it more pronunciation on the mid-range notes. The dreadnought body is finished in a satin sheen which allows the wood to vibrate and breathe more freely.
Martin D18
Martin’s dreadnought guitars are benchmarks in their own right, but their D-18 is a benchmark for all dreads.
Yes, there are more expensive ones available; with more decorative embellishments and exotic tonewoods. However, because of its depth, balance and clarity, not to mention its ability to ‘boom’ and ‘whisper’, Martin’s D-18 is the dreadnought against which all others are measured.
Build
Martin has made internal and external detail changes to the D-18. While their standard ‘X’ bracing was used on the old D-18, their forward-shifted, ‘X’ scalloping is used on this D-18.
This means that the bracing material is gently carved along its length, maintaining strength and rigidity, while also improving the flexibility and, therefore, the top’s propensity to vibrate.
Its external changes include an upgraded Delmar tortoiseshell polished and bevelled pickguard. It has butterbean open-geared tuners rather than the chrome enclosed types, an ebony fingerboard and bridge, plain black bridge pins and an old-style Martin headstock decal.
Interestingly, for a dreadnought, Martin increased the nut width from 42.86mm to 44.45mm.
Martin’s new D-18 uses a solid Sitka spruce soundboard with a tight, straight grain.
The guitar’s back and sides are formed from solid mahogany, the two-piece back being divided by a simple black Boltaron pinstripe. Both the D-18’s front and back are bound with tortoiseshell effect binding, along with a matching pickguard, and the soundboard binding is augmented with uncomplicated white and black coloured Boltaron coachlining.
Performance
Martin’s dreadnought tone is well-known and has been written about endlessly for quite a while.
The new D-18 outperforms the older version. What is perhaps more noticeable is how much more responsive the new D-18 is – it feels more ‘alive’ than its predecessor.
This is no doubt owing to the scalloped bracing and freer soundboard. The D-18’s overall tonal output is crisp yet smooth, powerful yet controlled.
Whether it’s being played gently, fingerstyle or thrashed with a heavy pick, the D-18 offers a balanced, well-rounded timbre with bags of headroom and sustain.
Conclusion
Guild’s D-40 produces a fuller sound, more harmonics, and a better strummer. Martin’s D-18 is great for Flatpicking, leads and bluegrass and has less sustain than the Guild. What kind of genre you play will influence the decision, although you can’t go wrong with either. But if you’re a strummer, then the Guild would be the better option.