Road Series DRSG Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar

Martin’s Road Series line of guitars features a blend of the legendary Martin tone, with solid-wood construction, and lightning fast playability. The Martin Road Series DRSG Dreadnought acoustic-electric guitar was designed for the player that is searching for incredible tone, playability, and visual appeal at an affordable price.

Its all solid-wood construction produces a tone that will rival some of the most expensive guitars made today. To start with, Martin selected a solid Sitka spruce top as the basis of the tone engine because it’s a very expressive tonewood that produces the right amount of tone, volume, and dynamics. To augment the crisp tone of the Sitka spruce, the back and sides are fashioned of solid Siris, a tonewood that adds the perfect amount of warmth and definition to the mids and highs. Unlike laminate or layered woods that are stiff and lack bottom end and resonance, a solid wood instrument has crystal clear highs, a punchy bottom end, and lots of sustain.

The DRSG is the first model in the Road Series to feature an all-polished gloss finish. The DRSG not only sounds great, but it looks like a million bucks!  

The Martin DRSG is designed using the world-famous Martin dreadnought body. The dreadnought body is a little deeper than your typical 000 or OM guitar. The added depth gives you an increase in volume, while producing an even tone across the entire musical spectrum. The combination of solid tonewoods and beautiful cosmetic appointments body produces an instrument that is extremely expressive and dynamic. You won’t be overpowered at a jam session when playing this guitar. Martin’s DRSG great sound and fast action is perfect for the singer-songwriter, stage performer, session player, and aspiring guitar student.

Playability is a must for many of today’s musical styles, and Martin got you covered. The DRSG has one of the most comfortable necks on the market. The slimmer profile and taper lets you glide across the neck with ease. You will be able to make a smooth transition from your electric guitar to this acoustic. And as an added bonus, the DRSG is precision setup by one of Martin’s Plek machines.

As one of the last steps in final setup process, Martin uses the Plek machine to give you the ultimate guitar setup. If you were to have a technician Plek one of your guitars, it would cost you anywhere from $250-$400. Martin includes this valued bonus on every Road Series guitar for free. If you’re a fingerstyle player, professional, novice, or singer songwriter, you are going to love the way this guitar sounds and plays.

The Martin DRSG comes complete with Fishman Sonitone electronics. This compact, easy-to-use electronics package lets you plug in and play. There’s no need for you to spend hours getting a great guitar sound. Just plug in, and you’re ready to go. For easy access, the volume and tone controls are positioned directly in the soundhole of the guitar. This gives you the ability to make changes to your tone in real time. 

Martin Dreadnought
The very first dreadnought guitars were designed and crafted by C. F. Martin & Co. in 1916, but marketed in Boston and New York exclusively under the Oliver Ditson brand. Originally made for Hawaiian slide playing style, the very first Dreadnought made was a Model 222 shipped to Ditson in August of 1916. After Ditson went out of business in the early 1930s, Martin introduced the D-1 and D-2 Dreadnoughts for standard playing style that would soon become Martin’s iconic D-18 and D-28 models. Over the past 100 years, the Martin Dreadnought has defined what an acoustic guitar can and should be, and subsequently, it has become the most popular acoustic guitar design in the world.                                                                                                                                              

The dreadnought guitar was invented, in 1916, by the Martin Guitar Company. It was designed for an East Coast music chain called the Oliver Ditson Company. The goal of the Ditson Company was to increase their business by designing new custom guitars and ukuleles that specifically targeted their customer’s musical taste and musicianship.  They asked Martin to experiment with various appointments, body shapes, and sizes.

Back then, musicians were playing concert or parlor-sized guitars that were designed to be played in small rooms, such as the parlor room of the home. As Martin’s craftsmen began to experiment with body shapes and sized, they thought about creating something larger than anything they had made before. After many weeks of experimentation, they eventually came up with a bigger 12-fret guitar. It had a very unique voice, with more bass and a tremendous amount of volume. Now the question was: What do we call it?

Frank Henry Martin, the CEO of the Martin Guitar Company at the time, was an amateur historian. He had read about a new type of British battleship called the HMS Dreadnought. It was the largest and most advanced battleship ever built in the history of the Royal navy. He thought, this was the largest guitar we had ever built, so remembering the ship, he decided to call the guitar a Dreadnought.