Went to buy a Martin @ Dick Lurie's Guitar Store in Cleveland Heights, Oh. Mr. Lurie had a rep for being a pompous, opinioniated, sarcastic pain in the rear, but he knew guitars in and out. Segovia stayed at his house when he would come to Cleveland for a concert. When he asked me why I wanted a Martin I said, "Because they're the best and I want the best!"
He replied, imperiously, "Go stand over there and turn your back!"
He strummed at least 10 guitars and asked me to judge the tonal qualities of each. For a solid hour at least. I picked five I liked...they were ALL Guriens. The ones I didn't like were ALL Martins.
He repeated the process with the Guriens and I chose an S3M(Size 3 Mahogany) as being the best balance of bass/treble, projection, warmth, etc.
When I made my selection he looked at me with genuine respect, affection and warmth and said, "Young man you have chosen my favorite steel string guitar in the store. If you will pay the sales tax on the full retail price I will sell you the guitar at my cost, agreed?"

$350.00 with a hard shell case out the door...are you kidding?

For years afterward everytime I would go there he would give me a set of strings and showed me great kindness. So much for his reputation.

Years later the Gurien was stolen as was a '64 Martin D-18S I had. Have had a '67 D-18, '69 D12-35, '57 D-18, '67 D-18S, '77 D-35S. Was never fully satisfied with any of them.

Had a 'Dove'(brand name of Jan Burda at the time) fashioned on the S model Martins made from red cedar and black walnut. Scalloped bracing. The BEST sounding guitar new, used, vintage, foreign or domestic I have ever heard. Including Lowdens, Goodall, Santa Cruz, Whitebrook, etc. Had to sell it to relieve a tax problem(f**king blood sucking leeches!).

Spoken from personal and professional experience, Martin's are over priced, inconsistant and overrated. Like the little girl with the little curl...