can someone help by informing me which are among the best taylor/martin acoustic guitars under a $1200 retail value?

FG may be rewarded:)

How'd you decide it had to be either Martin or Taylor? It doesn't matter what brand it is, but how it sounds..

Get a Taylor man! Find a 300 series on eebay or something if you dont want to pay the full retail. Im sure you could find a used one that would be fine for 1200. The 300 series is the starting line for a solid piece of wood with the best pickups in an acoustic guitar to date.

those are overpriced

martin sounds better than taylor if you are looking at a dreadnaught style, dunno about the "0-000" series.

imo go blueridge! i bought one 5 years ago and liked it enough to sell my martin. i bought the br-160. the 180 is a little prettier for a little more $. heres some reviews:

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Acoustic+Guitar/product/Blueridge/BR-160/10/1

http://www.janetdavismusic.com/blueridge_dread.html

-new under $1,000 with nice hardshell case

what i suggest you doing is going to a guitar store like guitar center or somethin
and testing out all kinds of Taylors and Martins

choose the one u think sounds best under 1200 ofc
and then go look that exact guitar on eebay and buy it

thats a good plan

I have a 1974 Martian D-35 and I love it. It's very smooth to play and is very bright. But I also love the way Taylors sound. Go try some out and then hit up eebay.

Martin makes the most amazing guitars I've ever seen/heard/played.

I learned once that they sound better with age, sort of like wine does.

rofl EVERY guitar sounds better with age. The brand doesn't mean shit, it's how the guitar sounds. Martin may have the reputation of high-quality guitars and may sound better in a lot of cases, but that doesn't mean that simply deciding on a Martin guitar over every other brand means you're gonna get the best sounding guitar.