I was in a music store and just for kicks (as I could never have been able to afford it) I picked up a Martin 12-string and plunked around for a while. I was happily surprised that this guitar I was holding and cost well over ten times (in 1976 dollars) more than the $200.00 no-name I had at home sounded no better to my ear. Cheap tastes served me well, for they had saved me years of longing for something I could never have been able to acquire. I gently returned the guitar to its place on the wall rack and have never again felt the urge to revisit the highly touted Martin family of guitars.