DVM Veteran's Guitar

On February 14, 2000, Martin employees formed together to design a guitar to honor all American Veterans with the DVM Dreadnaught Veteran's Special Edition Model. It seems like after 9/11 every guitar company came out with a flag guitar or something like that. The only problem was where were they before this? Do they also donate any of the money that they make like Martin does? Not only does Martin honor them with the guitar, but also they donate money to Veterans that need it. There are many Veterans who served this country and also gave their lives for this country. Martin Guitars is the oldest guitar manufacturer in the country and everything they do is with class. They wanted to thank the U.S. Veterans for what they have done for our country and they decided to make a tribute guitar. They didn't just go out and paint a flag on the guitar, as usual they took their time to do it right. They took their time and received permission from each branch of the military before they even got started. It took a long time to get permission, but with the help of Congressman Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania's 15th district, they were able to receive permission.

The guitar has a Dreadnaught shaped body with East Indian Rosewood back and sides and the top is made of Sitka Spruce. The bracing is a mix of the A-Frame and scalloped X bracing. There is a style 45 Paua shell rosette with herringbone binding. The back inlay is a style 45 multi-colored mosaic.

The neck is a low profile mahogany that is 111/16" wide at the neck. When playing the guitar, I found it to be a very small neck. If you want an acoustic with a small neck, this is the guitar for you. The fingerboard is ebony, but what is on the fingerboard and the headstock is what really makes this guitar so special. On the third fret there is a mother of pearl inlay of an eagle followed with the word Veterans starting at the fifth fret down to the 12th fret with one letter between each fret. Small five pointed stars mark the 15th and 17th fret. The National Defense Service ribbon is then inlayed between the 19th and 20th frets.

The headstock has the emblems of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guard. The tuners are the opened gearbutterbean knob tuners. The guitar comes with a hard shell case and a pair of dog tags. A portion of the sales will be donated to a disabled veterans association that asked to remain anonymous.

Martin as usual did a great job on this guitar. It has a very classy look to it in honoring the Veterans without the gaudy decorations that a lot of the other companies have done. It still looks like a Martin Guitar. The DVM that I played sounded similar to a D-28 with a smaller neck. This is a must buy guitar for Vets and people in the military. If you have someone that plays guitar and is a Vet, this would make theperfect gift. The DVM is very reasonably priced with a list price of $3,199.00, but you should call your Martin dealer to find out how much you would pay for it. By the way the person in the picture with the DVM is my father, Ed Goldman who is a WWII Vet and the guitar was supplied courtesy of Eliot Jacobs at the Cherry Hill Guitar Center.