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Good Review about the differences here.
They changed the bracing in the mid/late 40's. I think it was to make the tops more stable with heavy strings which people were putting on to get more volume to compete with other instruments. The problem is that what they now call "standard" bracing is a lot less responsive. It might sound good if you are willing to put 13s on, but with sensible string gauges it sounds dead in comparison with the forward shifted pre-war style.
I've always recommended on here that people go for what was the Vintage series (D18V, HD28V, OOO-28EC etc) which always had the forward shifted bracing. With the revamp they now have a Retro series. I don't know if this is replacing the Vintage series or in addition to it.
I didn't realise that they had actually put this bracing onto the standard D18, which is at a much lower price point. It brings the price of a really great Martin down a long way. I'm trying to work out how to get one now. I don't have a mahogany bodied dreadnought.
It's interesting that the D28 still has the "standard" bracing not the forward shifted bracing. If you want a great 28 style dreadnought you will still need to go up the price range. At least you get the herringbone trim on something like a HD28V. If you don't have that kind of money I prefer the 16 series guitars to the normal D28 - or better still buy a Furch/Stonebridge.
In terms of decent acoustics I have two Vintage Series Martins and two Furch/Stonebridge guitars. They hold up very well against the Martins. I'm half tempted to sell the Furch 12 fret dreadnought that I have if anyone wants to make me an offer but the Stonebridge OM is going nowhere. To be honest I've been playing that one more than my OOO28EC in recent times.
Something like this will be really good:
http://rguitars.co.uk/collections/furch-guitars-stonebridge/products/ds-32-sm
No pic with this one but this has ebony fingerboard, and transparent scratchplate if you don't like the leopard print one.
http://rguitars.co.uk/collections/furch-guitars-stonebridge/products/furch-stonebridge-d24sr-acoustic-guitar
Edit: If you are willing to fly out to the factory in part of what used to be Czechoslovakia (not sure which bit) then you can get massive savings on UK prices.
Sometimes you can get really good guitars from some of the small UK makers as well, because you can buy direct and cut out the middlemen. If you buy a Martin then the UK distributor will pay the import duty and then put a markup on it, and then the shop will put another 30% so so on that.
The real bargains might be finding a UK made guitar second hand. Most of them don't hold their value that well.
I've had one of mine for about 8 years and the top is fine. I don't go for heavy strings though. Given that they are so responsive you don't need to put 12s or 13s on them. They sound great with 11s.
It wiped the floor with a Collings I compared it to.
It also had an amazingly low action for a high-end acoustic, yet played really cleanly.
It was so good, I nearly part-exchanged my old Martin for it. If I'm honest, it was only sentimentality which stopped me!
There was a Pre-war Dreadnought model that belonged to someone else that was stunning. I tracked down another of the same model but it wasn't quite as good so I ended up buying something else.
I also played a 12 fret OM in a shop. It might be the best sounding acoustic I've ever played. It was a lot of money though - £2,800 and that was 11 or 12 years ago. From memory I didn't like the neck profile over much either. I think it was a pre-war style wide one if I remember correctly.
Another maker that might be worth mentioning is Moon. They are made in Scotland. I played a Moon dreadnought in Ivor Mairants that was up there with anything I've ever played.