Picking a Partner

I bought my Martin OM-15 when I graduated from high school. I am pretty sure I stashed away for quite a while and added a pile of graduation cash to buy the thing, and I still had to get a loan from my mom to cover it all. The 15 series is on the cheap end of the Martin line, but for an 18 year old it was still a big investment. I bought it from Grandma's Music in Albuquerque, because my friend Ben worked there (who was to be my future duo partner! Yay!) and because it was down the street from my house. I had done my research and knew that for the money I had, the 15 series was probably going to be my best bet...but when you get to Grandma's and a whole wall of mahogany is staring at you in various sizes and shapes...you get a little freaked out. So I played the D-15 and the 000-15 and the 00-15 and the OM-15, and I played 2-3 of each kind...and I A-B'd them against each other and I checked all over for scratches and dents. I went back at least 4 times over a couple of weeks, and while I thought I wanted a plain old D-15...the OM was it. It was warm, it had depth, and it played really nicely. Strange how guitars from the same factory made of the same wood can vary so much. So I traded in my Sigma classical guitar that I had started lessons on when I was 11 (I kind of regret doing that but I totally needed that steel string) and took the OM-15 home. I will probably "upgrade" at some point for gigging purposes, but I won't make the mistake of trading this one in. I don't even think Martin makes this particular model anymore. This one has been across the country and at almost every gig of mine, so we'd kind of bound for life now.