Cindy, if you are looking for a lifer instrument, then you really don't want to get hung up on whether the braces are scalloped are not. The art of luthiery has moved on so much in the last decade, amd so many great instruments are being made that really there are many more important factors to consider.

Most importantly, you have to lose the idea that Martin guitars are somehow the lodestone by which all others should be judged. There are individual luthiers today building guitars of a quality which Martin will never approach, far less equal.

It really all comes down to how much you can afford, but if you are looking for a guitar to spend the rest of your life with, to honor and obey (!) then please go the handmade route, don't walk the factory floor

Murray