This is my Martin D-15. It was my first guitar, purchased new in September 2000 from the late, unlamented MARS Music for about $549, if I'm recalling correctly (I've got the shipping invoice around somewhere so I may check that number). I was in the midst of a breakup with Mrs. Lefty 1.0 - the stuff had been split up, the papers were filed and were just marking time until the court hearing. At the time I bought it I'd never played a musical instrument other than plinking on my grandparents' piano, but I felt this bizarre urge, almost a need, to do something different and creative in the middle of all the emotional and financial turmoil of the divorce. The more I thought about that need, the more I realized I really wanted to learn to play guitar. So I started searching online and found this one. Choices for left-handed players are limited to say the least, but even a clueless newbie like me knew the C.F. Martin name. I purchased it for a number of reasons - first of all, it was available immediately. Second, knowing the Martin name, I figured if I didn't like playing I could sell it without much trouble. Third, unlike all those boring, plain white or yellow-topped models, this one was BROWN! Way too cool. I didn't know a darn thing about tonewoods, bracing, binding, purfling, tuners or fretboard materials, but I knew a cool-looking brown guitar when I saw one! Advertised as solid mahogany and all solid woods, how could I go wrong?

And here it remains nearly five years later - it's plenty loud enough even with the medium gauge strings I prefer on it. I find medium strings overdrive the top too easily, muddying up the sound. It has a nice woody, deep and resonant tone that strums remarkably well. For the past several years, Martin has been substituting a similar wood called sapele (often inaccurately called African mahogany) on Style 15 instruments when supplies of genuine mahogany run low. Sapele usually has much more pronounced banding, almost a ribbon pattern in the grain. More recently, Martin has replaced micarta with Tusq as the stock saddle material. Mine came with micarta but a replacement bone saddle and a set of Tusq pins helped improve definition and sustain while increasing treble response. The pins I used are black, but these pictures predate them. Another recent change is that Martin now usually grafts "wings" onto the headstock to avoid