Maury's Blog

Martin Dreadnought Junior 10

At Winter NAMM 2019 C.F. Martin & Company debuted the new Dreadnought Junior 10 and Dreadnought Junior 10 Burst. The new DJr-10 design differs from the previous version in one significant way, the depth of the body is shallower.

For a limited time 2018 D Junior remains for sale, allowing guitarists the choice between these two successful designs.

Both guitars are made from all-solid tonewoods used for the neck and body, including sapele back and sides from equatorial Africa, and a Sitka spruce top from the Pacific Northwest, with the clear, woody tone one expects from the mahogany family of tropical tonewoods, enhancing the warm and wide dynamic range of Sitka spruce.

Each version has the same bracing, comfortable neck shape, satin finish, and so on. The updated 2019 appointments on the DJr-10 include the wide decorative sound hole rosette, made from faux mother-of-pearl, which is part of Martin’s new Style 10. Style 10 is also found in Martin’s newly renovated Road Series of affordable, full-sized acoustic electric instruments created with the gigging musician in mind. The 2018 Jr. has a more-traditional rosette, similar in looks to the Standard Series guitars.

D Jr (left) and Djr-10 (right)

The original DJr is basically what it looks like, Martin’s legendary Dreadnought design reduced in size, so that is makes for a very good travel guitar, with a comfortable neck that has a short 24” string scale, and overall dimensions that work well for smaller guitarists, like children for example, or anyone who wants a real guitar of good quality with smaller dimensions. 2019 DJr-10 has the sides have the depth of a 000 or OM, while retaining the same top and back size, and the dreadnought silhouette. This allows the guitar to stow away in even smaller locations, making it an even better travel guitar when it comes to overhead bins on aircraft, say, or fitting into that over packed SUV.

D Jr (left) and Djr-10 (right)

Smaller guitars have become more and more popular, particularly with younger musicians who embraced the recent popularity of the ukulele and wanted a guitar with six-string guitar of similar proportions. Ed Sheeran prefers the Little Martin size, but other guitarists wanted something a bit bigger, and Martin answered with the Dreadnought Junior. This new Dreadnought Junior 10 has the same top size, but with shallower sides more like the Little Martin models.

Shallower sides also mean a change in sound, both in terms of tone and dynamics. And that may make all the difference for the discerning guitarist trying to decide between these two DJr versions.

The 2018 D Junior, with a side depth to top width ratio of dreadnoughts, like the D-18 and D-28, has similar overall dynamics to traditional Ds. In other words it has a full-bodied voice, thanks to a prominent bottom bass note from the low E string. The notes from the midrange and treble strings are enhanced by the warmth of that impressive bottom end.

D Jr (left) and Djr-10 (right)

The 2019 D Junior 10, has tonal dynamics more like an Orchestra Model, with the bottom bass string brought more in line with the midrange and treble, resulting in a voice that sounds evenly balanced across all six strings. And the D Junior 10 sounds more open, again like an OM, because the voice is less thick and more airy. The individual notes stand apart from each other, and project with great clarity.

Some guitarists may consider it a trade-off, the shallower body being more comfortable and more stowable in exchange for giving up the rounder, fuller bass and richness behind and around the fundamental notes.

D Jr (left) and Djr-10 (right)

Some guitars may find the reduced sound chamber depth of the D Junior 10 to be simply a bonus that comes along with the new string-to-string balance, openness, and definition to the fundamental notes. And other guitarists will prefer the feel of the greater body depth and the thicker, fuller tone heard from the larger sound chamber of the original Dreadnought Junior design.

To each their own – that is, so long as supplies of the 2018 Dreadnought Junior last!