The best builders of guitars have to set the action a little high at the nut in order to ship the guitar cross country and not have a neck change resulting from shipping and climate changes leave the instrument with buzzes and rattles. The Martin Company has made a great effort to change from the old days of mile-high action from the factory to action that is similar to the other top makers when the instruments arrive at the dealer. The big box stores: Sam Ash, Guitar Center and Mars, may have storage facilities that aren't heated or air conditioned, like Public Storage rental spaces. The action and problems that can result to a well-made guitar are not pleasant for the purchaser or the guitar company. Guitars of all brands sold in my town at Sam Ash have gone through this torture and should either be avoided altogether or rushed immediately to a guitar hospital. Martin is offering many special models now with bone nuts and saddles, wood bridge pins, too. This is a major change for them and surely a response to players like ourselves who equate the best materials with quality guitars. Remember when Taylors had Schaller tuners and bone nuts and saddles? Remember how much better they sounded? We just re-tested the "Tusq" saddles from Graph-Tech and they stilll don't compare with high density cow-bone. If you like the thinner, stringier sound of a Taylor you can find a guitar for $350-400 that offers that sound without the price tag. Try a Yamaha "Handcrafted" that comes standard with bone nut and saddle. If you like richness in second and third generation harmonics and a sound that blooms as it rings, Collings, Santa Cruz, Lakewood, Goodall and most Martins will probably please you most. If your factory ax didn't come with a bone saddle and wood pins, do yourself a big favor and try the upgrade. Old strings of any brand aren't worth taking home. Good brands are not so different, but if your dealer bought the strings a year ago to get a good price he's taking your money for nothin'. We recently had a bib store Grand Opening that offered 12 sets for $20. A customer opened the package on the first set to find rusted strings. What a deal!