2007 Martin DC-16RGTE Acoustic/Electric Cutaway Dreadnought Guitar




A friend's father brought this guitar in for resale. He's owned it since new as far as I know, and aside from some pickwear around the soundhole, a light smoky smell to the inside, and a few minor nicks/scratches around the top edges, it's in pretty dang good shape.

As a gloss-top D-16, its "in front" looks equate to a cutaway D-28, though the back and sides have a satin finish to them. Like all modern US-made Martins, the build quality is tight and construction is crisp and clean. Sound-wise, it has a classic Martin dreadnought voice with good, robust lower-mids and a clean, clear group of mids and highs. It's a great chord-banger that handles well for fingerpicking, too.

I'm pretty skeptical of factory-installed pickup systems, but the undersaddle pickup on this one combined with the Aura preamp is very impressive. It allows you to blend "voice-mapped" acoustic guitar signatures with the dry signal from the pickup itself. This gives a more "microphone-sounding" voice to the instrument when you've got the voicings blended-in about halfway. It works quite well and is a lot more authentic of an experience than I expected. While needing an onboard 9V battery (something I'm not a fan of), at least the 9V is easily installed through the rotating face of the preamp control box -- there's no reaching-inside the soundhole to put a new one in involved.

Repairs included: a very light fret level/dress, some cleaning, and a good setup.

Setup notes: action is bang-on at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret, strung with 54w-12 gauges. The neck is straight, the truss rod works, and the frets are nearly full-height and have many, many years of play in them to go.

Scale length: 25 3/8"
Nut width: 1 11/16"
String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"
String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"
Body length: 20"
Lower bout width: 15 5/8"
Waist width: 10 3/4"
Upper bout width: 11 3/8"
Side depth at endpin: 4 7/8"
Top wood: solid spruce
Back/sides wood: rosewood
Neck wood: mahogany
Bracing type: x-braced
Fretboard: black Micarta
Bridge: black Micarta
Neck feel: slim C-shape, ~14-16" board radius

Condition notes: there's mild usewear to the face and top edges and pickwear around the soundhole and pickguard. The guitar has a mild smoky smell at the soundhole.

It comes with: its original, green-lined, Martin hard case and a trigger-style capo. There's a fresh 9V battery installed.
















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