rampside
Senior Member
Sigma by Martin.
Made in Japan for Martin. We know the story. Make an affordable quality guitar by going overeas. These guitars were made with materials provided by Martin and were inspected by Martin before being released for sale. The Sigmas made in Japan were high quality guitars. Later Sigma was moved to Korea and the quality suffered.
Only a small handful of the DR-11's were made, so this one is pretty rare. It is a higher end Sigma and is a copy (I believe) of the D-41 (Martin's D-45 had inlay along the sides of the fret board up from the sound hole).
I don't remember the exact price, but it was on sale when I walked in the store. Somewhere around $300. There were American guitars all around it for more more $$. I didn't know much about guitars then, but it sure seemed like a steal to me. After all, it is a Martin.
I do need to have the original plastic saddle and nut replaced. That should make this sweet little cheap guitar a whole lot sweeter. :smile:
Thanks everyone. It was fun reading all the guesses and comments!
ps: By the way, the top is solid spruce and the back and sides are supposed to be laminate RW, but as you can from the sound hole, there's RW inside and I'll darned if the grain patterns aren't closely matched to the exterior. I haven't pulled the end pin to verify, but it does indicate what went into the build of these early Sigmas.
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