Martin has unveiled a special commemorative acoustic guitar to mark Earth Day and to support penguin preservation worldwide.

No, not the Gretsch guitar, we're talking about the loveable flightless bird in the tuxedo, and the Nazareth, PA company has also made a donation to the Global Penguin Society to help habitat conservation and raise awareness.

Who among us doesn’t love a penguin? They are magnificent creatures. But if you really love penguins, you’ll really love the Biosphere IV 00-L.

Martin’s regular artist Robert Goetzl (he painted previous years’ Biosphere models) has gone to town on it, painting a family of emperor penguins on the guitar’s top, a domestic scene on ice in their home eco-system of Antarctica.

Goetzl’s depiction of a chick being sheltered by its parent is inspired by the idea that “when your environment is at threat, you feel very protective of your offspring… and the creatures around you that need protecting”.

This graphic is laid atop an FSC-certified Sitka spruce top with a custom ink top colour, on a guitar that is sustainable across the board, from the message behind it to the actual build itself.

All the woods used are FSC-certified, with sapele on the back and sides, a mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard.

There’s something fitting about this, a tribute to penguins, being a little more compact than previous Biosphere models.

Last years’s was a D-14 dreadnought, a larger canvas to accommodate the polar bears, while 2024’s was a DSS slope-shouldered tribute to Hawaii’s humpback whale population. Size matters when it comes to the sound.

Where Martin’s family of dreadnoughts gives you that signature boom, whopping bass response, big lungs for big chords, the more compact 00 grand concert Martin guitars are a little sweeter on the ear, more treble presence, more detail in the midrange, and a subtle voice that rewards fingerstyle playing.

The details on this Martin acoustic are really something. The ebony ‘board is inlaid with sapele dots. Flamed maple binding ties the body together. The Biosphere IV 00-L is available now, priced $2,399, and there are left-handed models available, too. Check it out at Martin.

Today, Martin is also shared its 2025 Impact Report, tracking its sustainability efforts and community engagement, with the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation awarding more than 100 grants, totalling $594,750.

You can read the report at Martin Guitar, and watch a highlights reel above.

This has been a busy year for Martin, with NAMM 2026 seeing a comprehensive refresh of its mid-priced Road Series acoustics, with 20 new Retro and Modern models added to the lineup.

NAMM 2026: Martin has announced a wholesale refresh of its Road Series acoustic guitars, unveiling 20 models and dividing its mid-priced lineup into Retro and Modern streams.

The idea is that there will be something for everyone in this collection, and that maybe noviciates to Martin guitars will find it a little easier to choose which instrument suits them better.

The Retro models mine Martin’s illustrious history for inspiration, present today’s players with traditional body styles – i.e. Dreadnought or D-shapes, and auditorium or 000 shapes. The Modern lineup is where you’ll find cutaway acoustics and bold new designs such as the SC-10E and SC-13E acoustic electric guitars.

“This is a great example of how we have one foot firmly planted in tradition, but one foot always stepping forward into the future,” says Rameen Shayegan, international instrument design manager at Martin. “In this way we are hoping to serve both sides of the modern guitar player’s needs, whether that’s a traditional guitarist, or a modern guitarist, both of which are going to need extreme playability and great tone.

“But from an aesthetic and and maybe access standpoint and feature set, [they] are maybe looking for very different things in their instruments.”

Just take a look at how two acoustics comprised of similar materials can also be so different under the Retro and Modern house style.

Below, we have the all-sapele D-10E, that redoubtable square-shouldered dreadnought shape quintessentially Martin, and the SC-10E, which transposes this sapele look and build to the Pennsylvanian brand's most modern design – an instrument that bestows some electric guitar playability to the acoustic-electric paradigm.

The 2026 Road Series organises these Retro and Modern across four distinct styles, each infused with Martin DNA. The 10 Style models have all-satin finishes, solid sapele on the back and sides, the choice of solid sapele or spruce tops, Martin’s E1 acoustic guitar pickup and preamp system, and they draw their inspiration from Martin’s more upscale Style 15 models.

The 12 Style takes its lead from Martin’s Style 18 (e.g. a D-18), and so it’s largely the same as above, except with gloss finishes as standard. The 13 Style presents us with a few more options, with gloss finishes and solid spruce tops across the board, and the choice of solid black walnut, aka “Pennsylvania rosewood,” or black walnut with koa veneer on the back and sides.

These take their design cues from the Style 28 models, and have Martin E1 electronics on all models, save for the SC-13E, which has an LR Baggs Element installed.

And saving the best for last, certainly if you’re looking for some of that old-school Martin aesthetic at a more affordable price point, there are the Retro Plus models, which are described as “elevated interpretations of the Style 12 and 13 models”.

With torrefied spruce tops, scalloped spruce X-bracing and solid granadillo on the back and sides, they’re all kinds of fancy, and you can get the smaller-bodied 000 or the big-lunged Dreadnought, both with ebony fingerboards, both mighty fine, for £2,149/$2,099 street.

That’s a high-end acoustic guitar in our book, but the 2026 Road Series has plenty of affordable options, with prices starting from £949/$899, and the series doing exactly what Martin says it would, bridging the gap between its entry-level X Series and the dream machines of its mainline models coming out of Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

These new Road Series will be on display at NAMM 2026. But they are also with Martin dealers worldwide, available to order.

Browse the full range at Martin Guitar.

Jason Isbell has teamed up with Martin once more for a pair of signature acoustic guitars, and a set of artist series acoustic guitar strings, and there’s something for the high-end collector and the regular strummer alike.

The headline act here is the Jason Isbell 0-17, an all sinker mahogany 14-fretter featuring a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard that is a replica of the serial Grammy-winning singer-songwriter’s 1040 0-17 that you can hear all over his latest studio album, Foxes In The Snow. It is a beaut.

But at $4,999 and limited to just 50 units worldwide (the label in the soundhole is signed by Isbell), it is not for everyone.

That’s where the 0-10E Retro comes in. It’s the spit of its super-premium sibling, and it’s made of all-solid mahogany, retailing at a more approachable (but not cheap per se) £1,069/$1049.

Not bad. And you get the onboard Martin E1 acoustic guitar pickup system – with the onboard guitar tuner – and everything you would need to play a gig. Isbell says one of the non-negotiables with this acoustic electric guitar’s design was that it should be an instrument you won’t outgrow.

“If you’re a beginner player, a guitar this size and the shape works for you because it’s easy to play, but the more advanced you get as a guitar player, the guitar still works because it’s easy to control,” he says.

Furthermore, it is a guitar that does not get in your way. As Isbell notes, there are enough challenges when it comes to making a record, or even writing a song.

“A guitar like this meets the artist criteria that the instrument can’t be the challenge. The quality of the instrument should not be the challenge,” he says. “What the guitar should be is an extension of your own physical self, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that you play it well enough to where it feels like you’re tying your shoes, but it can mean that you play it well enough to where you don’t notice it after a while.”

Isbell says this state of semi-consciousness is when the songwriting magic starts to happen. He just plays and plays a riff or motif over and over and then it comes to him. “For that to happen, I don’t need to be interrupted by the quality of the instrument,” he says. Quite so.

Other key specs? Well, the 0-10E has open-gear nickel tuners, a 24.9” scale, a 44.45” nut width, the “select hardwood” neck that you would expect from Martin at this price with a Performing Artist profile and a High Performance Taper.

It’ll be a crowd-pleasing, mainstream feel. As Isbell promises, it’ll play easy, with its small-bodied concert-sized acoustic proportions not getting in the way.

The Jason Isbell 0-17, as you might imagine, is a little bit more involved. It shares that sort of simple aesthetic – it looks like a no-brainer for Delta blues and folk, designed for putting some vintage acoustic sounds to your open chords and fingerstyle arrangements. But putting this together was no gimme. The neck itself is a work of engineering. And Isbell says it matches his original 1940 model exactly.

“I can’t really feel a difference. And I know that was not an easy thing for Martin to do because they were all handmade, obviously, back in those days,” he says. “And this one gets sharper. It’s the slightest V, but down here, there’s really none of it at all, and then it gets sharper as it goes up the neck.

“So I think that that was probably a beast for them to recreate in the Martin factory, but they did a beautiful job of it. It’s a very simple guitar to look at and to play, but certainly not simple to put together.”

And Martin dug out the good stuff for it. The Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and matching bridge is where a lot of your money is going here. Brazilian rosewood is thin on the ground. There is not much left of it in circulation, so little wonder Isbell is so pleased to see it on his guitar.

Why is Brazilian rosewood better than the more commonly found Indian rosewood? As Isbell says, it’s darker, and it might be just be an aesthetic preference – can anyone, honestly, hear the difference between Brazilian and Indian rosewood on a fingerboard, surely, not. But it sure looks the part.

“That actually the fact that Martin was able and willing to do that for these guitars makes me really, really happy,” he says. “And the price point of this guitar, I don’t know if it’s the least expensive acoustic you can get with Brazilian rosewood on it, but it’s certainly one of them. So that’s going to make it more collectable.”

Jason Isbell also reveals that he has a strange ritual that he puts all of his new acoustic guitars through. It’s like an initiation ceremony. He comes in, he takes them out of the guitar case, and he places them in front of his hi-fi system’s speakers. Then he blasts them with hip-hop.

No, seriously, this is what he does. He does not elaborate as to the tonal benefits of this, whether this is a sort of ancillary torrefaction process that further ages the guitar, drying out the wood, helping its tone mature, but we like the sound of this anyway – and are intrigued to try this home.

We might try it with Illmatic or Liquid Swords but your favourite hip-hop record should work similarly.

“I recommend putting it in front of a couple of stereo speakers when you leave the house and turn it up really loud,” explains Isbell. “I normally use, like, OutKast or something, just so when I come home, OutKast is playing on the stereo – it makes me happy. But all the guitars, all my new acoustic guitars get to listen to Outkast for about 40 hours the first week they’re in the house.”

There you have it. Maybe it gets the soundboard going, too, with that aged sinker mahogany top buttressed by scalloped Adirondack spruce bracing, and all those good vibrations. Our tone tip? Just keep it in good working order and remember that a good set of strings can make all the difference.

These guitars ship with Isbell’s new signature set of 12-54 Martin Era treated phosphor bronze strings, which have the patented Lifespan treatment, but with the “more traditional SP core construction.

Find out more over at Martin. Jason Isbell's Foxes In The Snow is out now via Southeastern.

What is it?

Adding a 12-string acoustic guitar to your arsenal opens up a whole new world of tone.

Whether you’re chasing that rich, choral shimmer for textural layering in the studio or looking to add a little extra dimension to your live sound, there’s no denying their allure.

But for many players, a 12-string can feel like a luxury on top of your regular six-string acoustic guitar - nice to dabble with, but maybe not essential enough to justify a big-ticket purchase.

So when a brand like Martin drops a new (okay, “remastered”) model for well under a grand, it’s worth taking note.

Made in Mexico and punching in at exactly the same price as its impressive six-string sibling (the D-X2E), the Martin X Series Remastered D-X2E Brazilian 12-String appears to strike that elusive balance between quality craftsmanship and absolutely stonking value.

It features a solid spruce top, classic Martin dreadnought body shape, built-in electronics, and even comes with a swish soft-shell case to travel around in.

So, where’s the catch?

Specs

• Price: £699 / $699 / €879
• Made: Mexico
• Body shape: Dreadnought
• Body top: Solid Spruce
• Top bracing: Scalloped X-Bracing
• Back & sides: High Pressure Laminate (HPL) (Brazilian rosewood patterned)
• Neck/shape: Select Hardwood, Martin Performing Artist neck profile with High-Performance Taper
• Scale/length: 25.4" (645.2mm)
• Nut/width: White corian / 1 7/8'' (47.6mm)
• Fingerboard: Select hardwood
• Body depth: 4 3/4” (120mm)
• Finish: Satin finish natural spruce top with Brazilian rosewood effect HPL back and sides.
• Bridge/pins: Select hardwood bridge with white plastic bridge pins.
• Tuning Machines: Satin chrome closed gear
• Electronics: Martin E-1
• Weight: 5.5lb / 2.5kg
• Case: Includes Martin soft-shell case
• Left-handed options: Available
• Contact: Martin Guitar

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

In keeping with the rest of the X Series Martin guitars, the D-X2E Brazilian 12-String utilses both solid wood and High Pressure Laminate (HPL) components in an effort to provide a practical balance of tone, durability, and affordability.

On top, there's a lovely solid spruce soundboard, supported underneath by Martin’s signature scalloped X-bracing. This gives a reassuringly robust feel – particularly important given the added tension that comes from a dozen strings.

It has a hand-rubbed satin finish, a single-ring faux abalone rosette and classic teardrop pickguard. It’s a bit of an austere look, but let’s be generous and call it ‘understated elegance’.

For the back and sides, HPL keeps the price down, providing durability and some aesthetic interest with its detailed Brazilian rosewood-effect patterning.

Interestingly, these printed patterns will vary subtly from guitar to guitar, which is a nice touch. That said, the effect on this particular example is giving strong Georgia O’Keeffe vibes, but it’s a pretty good effort from Martin in the realism stakes.

The neck – billed as "select hardwood” – is likely hewn from Spanish cedar, sapele, or possibly mahogany, though the exact material is less prescriptive, and may vary depending on availability.

Sure, the broad-stroke labelling feels a little vague, but the important thing is that Martin isn’t cutting corners where it counts. You’re still getting a quality, solid hardwood neck – and on a 12-string, that will serve you well over time.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★★

A great 12-string playing experience relies on a comfortable neck. Too wide and you’ll struggle to get your hand round your favourite chord shapes; too narrow and you can forget about making clean changes or fingerpicking with finesse.

With its Performing Artist neck profile and High-Performance Taper (47.5mm at the nut and 58.75mm at the 12th fret), along with refined string spacing, beveled fingerboard edges and low factory-set action, it’s clear that a lot of care and consideration has gone into the D-X2E Brazilian 12-String’s comfort credentials. And you can really feel it.

Whereas many 12-string guitars can feel unwieldy and cluttered - like a heavy duty workout for your fretting hand - this one delivers a pleasingly low-effort playing experience. I’d even dare to call it dreamy.

These guitars also go through Martin’s high-tech ‘Plek’ process as standard, ensuring smooth, buzz-free playability right out of the box and adding even more baked-in value.

Elsewhere, rounded edges soften the feel of the dreadnought body, while the built-in LED tuner on the preamp helps take some of the tedium out of tuning up all those strings without the need to reach for a separate guitar tuner.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Striking a balance between beauty and power, this guitar offers heavenly 12-string chime with classic Martin dreadnought clout.

Unplugged, it delivers a big, room-filling sound, with powerful bass projection and dazzling choral shimmer on top.

It’s also undeniably evocative. Whether picked or strummed, it effortlessly conjures nostalgic sounds of the late ’60s and ’70s - when 12-string acoustics were at the height of their popularity.

Played through an acoustic guitar amp or a PA speaker, the onboard Martin E-1 pickup and preamp system does a great job of reproducing the guitar’s natural qualities. Tucked away inside the soundhole, volume and tone controls provide scope for a little additional sonic sculpting and there’s a phase switch for tackling feedback in live situations.

Verdict

There’s no doubt about it, Martin is a prestigious brand. It invented the dreadnought shape and has been turning out great 12-string production models since the mid-1960s. Owning a piece of that legacy is undeniably appealing.

Although the D-X2E Brazilian 12-String deviates from tradition in its use of HPL, and a little more aesthetic detailing wouldn’t go amiss, choices like these help keep costs low, while the overall quality remains high.

Most importantly, this guitar sounds just as it should and plays like a dream.

MusicRadar verdict: For those on the hunt for a great quality 12-string electro-acoustic that won’t break the bank, it's a no-brainer. Even if you can stretch to a higher price tag, the Martin X Series D-X2E Brazilian 12-String is still well worth considering thanks to the playability and overall sound on offer.

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• “While it might not be the vintage D-28 of your dreams, this is a Martin you can be proud of”: Martin X Series Remastered D-X2E Brazilian review

Martin has launched the Junior Series, an all-new range of acoustic guitars aimed at the player who might want a compact travel-friendly six-string but might otherwise baulk at the thought of having a smaller scale instrument.

These are definitely not toys. All have a 24.9” scale length. The bodies retain the familiar shape, e.g. the Junior Series D Jr E is recognisably a dreadnought in silhouette, bearing the archetypical Martin guitar profile, but its body is smaller, shrunken, more easily carried around in a the padded gig bag that’s included in the list price.

These are also all stage-ready guitars, with the “E” in each model’s designation a sign that they all ship with Martin’s E-1 onboard electric guitar pickup system with an onboard guitar tuner.

We’ve got some specs that are shared across the board, with Performing Artist Profile necks with High-performance Tapers, Sloped Modern Belly Junior bridges. Necks join the body at the 14th fret, and the FSC certified Richlite fingerboards have rolled edges and faux abalone dot inlays.

Under the hood you have scalloped X-pattern bracing. Satin natural finishes are as standard and, we’re saving the best for last here, these all have all-solid wood builds, and there’s quite a bit of choice on the menu – there’s even a faux relic’d model inspired by the vintage rarities in the Martin Museum.

Let’s start with that. It’s called the StreetLegend, it has the D Jr E body shape, a distressed Burst finish, and is all solid sapele. The aesthetic is kind of pre-war, like this has been been carried from state to state by some up-and-coming folk artist in the ‘60s.

Martin has given this one some nickel open-gear tuners with ‘butterbean’ buttons. There’s some Brazilian rosewood HPL on the headstock facing.

If you like the idea of an all-sapele acoustic – and if we’re subscribing to the conventional wisdom that sapele has a mahogany-esque tone profile, then that idea might be a warmer, more rounded sound – then you have options.

The D Jr E StreetMaster is a similar proposition to the StreetLegend albeit with no relic on the finish. The dark StreetMaster Burst is pristine, and we have satin chrome closed-gear tuners.

This is also available as a more compact 000 model, and as a cutaway model in the shape of the the 000C Jr E StreetMaster, again, with resplendent with that dark burst, and if you want the cutaway but with the more traditional spruce/sapele pairing, then there’s the 000C Junior E. Clean, classic.

Besides the StreetLegend’s relic job, there’s not that much aesthetic largesse here. Single Ring Faux Abalone rosettes keeps things minimal.

Finally, there’s the 000C Jr E Bass, which has the spruce top, sapele back and sides, and this is the odd one out in a sense as it the 24.9” scale is short for a bass. But then, these are travel guitars. You want to travel light.

The Junior Series is out now, priced from $699. See Martin for more details.

Eric Clapton’s 1992 set for MTV Unplugged was one of the all-time great moments in acoustic guitar.

Rearranging his most-famous tracks, performing them on a pre-war Martin guitar, Clapton’s session would shift 26 million copies, pick up three Grammys and ultimately would become a seminal moment for the guitar brand.

It planted the seed for collaboration. Just three years later, Clapton and Martin teamed up for his first signature guitar, based on the vintage 1939 000-42 he played on Unplugged. The rest is history.

Now, Martin is celebrating that history, marking the 30th anniversary of its first Clapton signature models with a pair of Golden Era-inspired acoustics, the 000-EC and 000-42EC 30th Anniversary models.

Officially unveiled on Sunday, 30 March, to coincide with Clapton’s 80th birthday (many happy returns, Slowhand) these high-end acoustic guitars will surely soon be collector’s items. Martin is only making 300 of the 000-42EC 30th Anniversary. The more affordable but still super high-end 000-EC 30th Anniversary will be available until March 2026.

Both share the 000-14th fret body and the same dimensions as Clapton’s pre-war model. There’s the Authentic 1939 neck shape and the 1.69” nut width, the 24.9” scale length. But there are some fundamental differences.

Those with a five-figure guitar budget might want to first check out the 000-42EC 30th Anniversary before they’re all gone. Its $10,999 price tag is eye-watering but the spec would bring you to tears, too.

Here we have all the good stuff; solid Guatemalan rosewood on the back and sides, Adirondack spruce on top. Martin has given a lick of vintage gloss over Antique Toner, letting the wood – and those decorative abalone flourishes on the binding and the rosette do the talking.

That spruce top has scalloped X-pattern bracing just like they did in the Golden Era. This guitar is very easy on the eye. The twinkle of GE 42 Snowflake inlays in abalone on an ebony fingerboard is total class.

But as Martin says, this guitar’s true charm lies in how it plays and how it sounds, and it is designed to accommodate many different styles. “The scalloped Adirondack spruce Golden Era-inspired bracing enhances resonance and projection, ensuring this guitar fills any room with an unmistakably full-bodied sound,” says Martin.

Appropriately, these guitars leave the Martin factory strung with his signature acoustic guitar strings, Clapton’s Choice 12-54 phosphor bronze – and an extra set in the premium, embroidered Harptone guitar case the guitar ships with.

Each of the 000-42EC 30th Anniversary models has a hand-signed paper label, and there’s a certificate of authenticity too.

Now, if your budget does not extend that far, then the marginally less decorative 000-EC 30th Anniversary might be a better bet. At $4,999, however, it is hardly a runaround acoustic. This is serious stuff. The core recipe – its feel and its tone – is similar.

The mahogany neck joins the body with the compound dovetail joint, the X-bracing is scalloped, and so forth. But this has East Indian rosewood on the back and sides, with a solid spruce top, and Clapton’s signature is pre-printed on the label.

We have a regular gloss finish instead of the vintage tint, and the herringbone trim instead of abalone. Some might actually prefer that look. And besides, you still get a COA inside the case, and each guitar is numbered in sequence. Either way, these are special guitars for a special player. For more details, head over to Martin.

These Martins come hot on the heels of the Gibson Custom Shop's Murphy Lab replica of Clapton's “Disraeli Gears” 1958 Les Paul Custom, which was later owned by Albert Lee. It's really two signature guitars in one, and you'll find both Lee and Clapton's signatures on the electric guitar's second pickguard.

What is it?

Back once more with a reboot of their popular X Series, Martin continues to bring iconic acoustic guitar designs at accessible price points.

Its dreadnought body shape has been around since 1916, when it was introduced to help guitarists compete with louder instruments in the band. Big and booming, it remains the number one choice for everyone from Neil Young to Jason Isbell to Billy Strings.

But, owning a guitar exactly like the ones these guys have (though an X2E Strings signature model was unveiled at NAMM), is beyond the means of most of us.

Cue the D-X2E. Featuring solid wood elements (top, neck, bridge and fingerboard) and High Pressure Laminate (HPL) back and sides, it promises the classic dreadnought look and sound at a fraction of the price.

While the mere mention of HPL will have purists recoiling in horror, Martin has a solid track record of building good guitars with this stuff, and it champions HPL's ecological credentials and “rugged, take-it-anywhere” durability.

Recently, it has also been working hard to make it look more like “real wood”.

For this iteration of the D-X2E, Martin is offering three “photo finish” tonewood patterns for back and sides: mahogany, Brazilian rosewood, and ziricote burst.

At the risk of stating the obvious, these are purely aesthetic choices and don’t impart any of the tonal qualities associated with these rare and desirable woods.

Our test example has the Brazilian rosewood pattern and a natural spruce top.

It certainly looks pretty convincing, but how does it sound?

Specs

• Price: $699 / £699 / €879
• Made: Made in Mexico
• Body shape: Dreadnought
• Body top: Solid spruce
• Top bracing: Scalloped X-Bracing
• Back & sides: High Pressure Laminate (HPL)
• Neck/shape: Select Hardwood, Martin Performing Artist neck profile with High-Performance Taper (1 3/4" at the nut and 2 1/8" at the 12th fret)
• Scale/length: 25.4" (645mm)
• Nut/width: White corian, 1 3/4'' (44.5mm)
• Fingerboard: Select Hardwood
• Body depth: 4 3/4” (123mm)
• Finish: Natural spruce top with mahogany or Brazilian rosewood effect HPL back and sides or sunburst spruce top with ziricote effect HPL back and sides. All variations have a satin finish.
• Bridge/pins: Select hardwood bridge with white plastic bridge pins.
• Tuning Machines: Satin chrome closed gear
• Electronics: Martin E1 pickup and preamp system with a built-in chromatic tuner and volume, tone, and phase controls
• Weight: 4.6lbs / 2.1kg
• Case: Includes Martin soft-shell case
• Left-handed options: Available
• Contact: Martin Guitar

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

If anyone knows anything about building great quality guitars, it’s Martin. So, even in its lower budget ranges, you’re going to expect exceptional craftsmanship.

Rather than Nazareth, PA, the D-X2E comes from Martin’s Navojoa factory in Mexico, which has been producing guitars for over 30 years now.

With perfectly smooth edges, tidy joints and no visual imperfections to be seen, first impressions are very pleasing.

In keeping with Martin tradition, the top has scalloped X-bracing, and you’re getting a nice slab of solid spruce here. Conversely, the HPL back and sides do have an artificial feel, but that’s to be expected and there’s no doubt they’ve been produced with market leading knowhow.

Aesthetically, efforts have clearly been concentrated on the Brazilian rosewood patterning. Elsewhere, this is a bit of a plain Jane.

While the spruce top has a lovely grain pattern, the hand-rubbed satin finish does little to help the natural details pop. With a thin abalone pattern rosette, standard teardrop pickguard and no decorative binding or purfling, the overall effect is a little bare, but some will appreciate a more minimalist approach.

The soft satin theme continues into hardware, with satin chrome strap buttons and tuning machines – a look you don’t see on many Martin instruments. Operationally, I’ve felt smoother machine heads, but this is a very minor complaint.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★½

“The X Series is made to play,” says Martin. Frankly, it’d be weird if it wasn’t. But it does feel like there have been some concerted efforts to make the experience easier and more enjoyable than ever, particularly for those in the early stages of their playing career.

For a large guitar, you don’t have to wrestle to get comfortable with the D-X2E. Its body design features rounded edges where the top and back meet the sides, meaning that you’re not going to get jabbed in the ribs, armpit or inside the elbow by any pointy corners when you sit down to strum – as can happen with other dreadnoughts.

The Performing Artist neck profile, High-Performance Taper, hand-rubbed finish and a very respectable factory set-up all combine to make for zippy travel around the neck. There’s ample spacing between the strings for fingerpicking and nailing clean chord changes. The spacing here is "refined" (read: increased) on this Remastered model.

Having volume and tone controls concealed within the soundhole is a familiar sight on X Series electro models so the E1 preamp doesn't visually interrupt the guitar's curves, but reaching inside the guitar to make adjustments may still take a bit of getting used to for some players.

The built-in chromatic guitar tuner, also concealed in the soundhole, is bright, responsive and intuitive as could be. It’ll even turn itself off after 90 seconds of inactivity – great news if you're prone to burning through 9V batteries like there’s no tomorrow.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Martin dreadnoughts are quite probably the most used acoustic guitars in the history of music, so you’re likely to have a good idea of what to expect from any instrument of theirs with a ‘D’ in the name.

From the first strike of a big open E chord, the D-X2E proudly measures up when it comes to volume and projection expectations. It has an impressive amount of resonance, too. Strummed hard and held, it feels as if a single chord might just keep ringing into tomorrow. You can thank the solid spruce top for that.

The overall tone is warm, booming and bassy. While it won’t be the most nuanced choice for delicate fingerpicking styles, you’ll have zero trouble being heard if you’re dishing out the cowboy chords with one of these things, even without amplification.

Plugged in – in this instance through a Marshall AS50D acoustic guitar amp – this guitar sounds like an amplified version of itself, which is a good thing and not always a given with budget or intermediate level electronics.

Significantly, the D-X2E now features Martin’s own E1 acoustic guitar pickup and preamp system. Past X Series guitars have been fitted with Fishman MX/Sonitone systems, which – although perfectly fine – are not renowned for being enormously inspiring. Fishman has also dominated the pickups at the affordable end of the electro-acoustic guitar market for quite some time, making the E1 a welcome point of difference,

Where the MX only had Volume and Tone controls, the E1 also features a Phase switch – a thoughtful addition for anyone who has ever found themselves battling to regain control over feedback in a tricky live situation.

Verdict

Overall, the D-X2E is an impressive instrument. Beyond the fancy HPL patterning, Martin has upped its game in areas that really matter – like playability, comfort and amplified sound.

The nagging question for some will be: Can you hear that the back and sides aren’t made of real wood? Well, yes and no. To be honest, the answer to this question will vary from person to person, depending on their experience and frame of reference.

Sure, in a straight shootout with a D-28, anyone with ears is likely to be able to pinpoint some key differences in complexity and character. But this is missing the point by some distance.

Does the D-X2E sound good? Yes. Will it get the job done? Absolutely.

It’s also worth noting that Martin makes an even more affordable X Series dread – the D-1XE – which has an HPL top as well as HPL back and sides. The D-X2E is going to feel more lively and responsive than this, so for only £/$100 more, I think it’s an investment worth making.

MusicRadar verdict: It’s tough to find serious fault with the D-X2E. Although a bit more personality wouldn’t go amiss, it's comfy to play, built to last and sounds suitably massive. While it might not be the vintage D-28 of your dreams, this is a Martin you can be proud of.

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• Best Martin guitars: Classic tones for all budgets from the famous acoustic guitar brand

Some subjects divide guitar players down the middle. You daren’t bring them up in polite conversation. Everyone has something about the guitar and the ephemera around it that gives them the ick. Johnny Marr? It’s a satin neck.

Why, you might ask – what’s wrong with a satin finish on a guitar neck? It’s smooth, right. Some of those glossy necks can gum up on a player, particularly those unfortunate players who turn into Albert Brooks on Broadcast News as soon as the stage lights are on them. With a satin neck, the hand just glides up the fingerboard.

But Marr isn’t having it. In a recent interview with Guitar World, the former Smiths guitarist explained why his new signature Martin guitar has not only seven-strings, with an octave string on the G, it also has an old-school full thickness neck profile and a gloss finish.

“I have to try and talk about the neck without sounding offensive or angry. Satin finishes: why? No need,” he said. “You’re really playing that fast that you need to have a satin neck? Really?”

Marr suggests that the tastes for satin-finish necks fresh from the factory has meant gloss has gone by the wayside, and this is more the pity. That’s how they used to make ‘em. But then, isn’t the satin finish really just a way of replicating that super-smooth worn-in feel that you get on a vintage instrument, acoustic or electric guitar? Sure, but Marr argues – and in jest, don’t write in – you should do the hard work yourself and play the thing.

“Like, a beautiful glossy neck, that was on all the old guitars since time immemorial – your technique is so dazzling, or you’re so uncomfortable putting your hand on that gloss, or you’re so affronted by it, that we’ve had to have years of really bad finishes on necks?” he says. “No need. Wear it down yourself, you lazy sod!”

Or, as Frank Zappa would say, ‘Shut up ’n play yer guitar’.

Accordingly, if you pick up Johnny Marr’s signature Fender Jaguar, or pony up for this stunning new M-7 high-end Martin (or its six-string equivalent), you’ll find gloss nitro lacquer on the neck – which admittedly wears in a little easier than the gloss poly finishes you get on some more affordable models.

From experience, you just have to play those ones a little more before they lose that sheen.

Speaking of Marr’s M-7, it looks looks like the platonic ideal for anyone wanting an acoustic with more harmonic intrigue going on but doesn’t want to commit to the full-on physical realities of a 12-string guitar.

You can read more about it here and get more details over at Martin Guitar. In other Johnny Marr news, the red 1984 Les Paul Standard with Bigsby that he spec'd up with Gibson's Made To Measure programme to replicate the Les Paul he used from circa Meat Is Murder onwards, goes on sale tomorrow (21 February), with 20 of these hand-signed instruments going to support the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Ask any vintage collector and they will tell you that there’s something special about old guitars, their stories, the songs they’ve made – especially acoustic guitars, which age particularly well, sounding better as the years pass and the wood dries out.

But all that mojo stuff, and the power of legend? It doesn’t work every time and not on every player. In an interview with Revolver, Opeth frontman/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt revealed that he had recently had the chance to play Kurt Cobain’s “haunted” Martin D-18 at the Martin Museum, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and even as a Nirvana fan it didn’t strike him as anything special.

“It was very beat up,” said Åkerfeldt. “It didn’t feel that good. There was nothing special about it, other than it had belonged to Kurt.”

Åkerfeldt doesn’t mention it by name but it is most definitely “Grandpa” that he is talking about – a 1953 Martin D-18 that Cobain was given before the touring cycle for Nevermind, which is now one of the star attractions at the Martin Museum.

As the story goes, Nirvana were yet to blow up, and money was tight. Cobain needed an acoustic for their upcoming tour and his friend, the Boston-based indie-folk artist Mary Lou Lord, could help him out, giving him her guitar, Grandpa, for the tour.

Cobain took Grandpa out, the rest was history. Nirvana got big. The guitar was returned to Lord and then Elliott Smith played it when Lord went touring with him.

Åkerfeldt is right. This 1953 D-18 is beat up. That it made it through a Nirvana tour unscathed is a minor miracle in and of itself. The wear and tear on both sides of the soundhole is something you don’t see every day but that’s what happens when it has been played hard by a left-handed guitarist in Cobain and by right-handed guitarists Lord and Smith – not to mention the decades of playing before those two got their hands on it.

That Cobain and Smith died young, some people took on a ghoulish fascination with Grandpa, as though it was cursed. Åkerfeldt was nonplussed by all that.

“Someone told us that guitar was haunted, like people who had that guitar had accidents,” he said. “I’m a Nirvana fan, but it was just a regular guitar to me.”

Åkerfeldt is no stranger to Martin guitars. He started using them with Opeth around the Damnation era, when the Martin replaced his old Seagull acoustic. He used to work in a Stockholm guitar shop that specialised in Martin guitars, making repairs to them, and because the shop was quiet Åkerfeldt would spend his time practising on acoustics.

“I was playing a lot and writing a lot for our second album [Morningrise] and developing my technique as an acoustic guitar player,” he told MusicRadar in 2010. “That’s something that made a lot of difference to me as a songwriter, guitar player and musician overall. The years in that store helped me to develop our sound.”

He might have been unmoved by Cobain’s Grandpa. But he tells Revolver that visiting the Martin HQ was like “visiting the Holy Land” – and there was one Martin he was so old – so valuable – it gave him the heebie-jeebies.

“I played a guitar from the 1800s,” said Åkerfeldt. “I got scared. They held it up to me and I kept backing away. It’s invaluable, you know? I don’t know what the value in money would be, but it’s an artefact. I get nervous around those kinds of things. But I did play it.”

Grandpa is one of the most famous acoustic guitars in the Martin Museum. But how much it would be worth is hard to say.

Cobain’s most famous Martin is the 1959 Martin D-18E that he played on Nirvana’s 1993 MTV Unplugged, which in 2020 became the most valuable guitar ever sold at auction. Australian businessman Peter Freedman, owner of Rode Microphones, paid a $6,010,000 for it.

NAMM 2025: Martin and Michigan-born bluegrass phenom Billy Strings have joined forces for a pair of signature acoustic guitars, both based off his holy grail 1940 D-28, both with a modern twist, and each arriving at very different price points,

For those looking for a high-end acoustic guitar that offers a contemporary reimagining of a pre-war model, there is the Billy Strings D-28.

It is built for bluegrass, with a shorter 25” scale length that Martin says is all about reducing string tension “for fast, intricate playing and expressive bends – perfectly suited for Billy’s rapid-fire licks”.

For the rest of us with a little less in the war chest (the pre-war chest?), there’s the Billy Strings D-X2E, which shares the same shorter scale length as its more upscale counterpart, and pairs a sold spruce top with a Brazilian rosewood pattern HPL (high-pressure laminate) on the back and sides.

When Martin approached strings, there was no question which model he wanted to work on. It had to be a D-28.

“If you think of just the word ‘guitar,’ I think of a Martin D-28,” says Billy. “Some people might think of a Stratocaster or a Les Paul, but to me, it’s just so American – it’s like baseball or something.

“They all have this overall thing that is ‘the Martin sound,’ and that is the sound that has captivated bluegrass guitarists for as long as it’s been around – and every other genre as well. But specifically, these Dreadnought guitars for bluegrass music – you gotta have one.”

String’s D-28 has a few other updates to give it a bit more zip, with a wider nut and a Modified Low Oval neck shape. It pairs solid spruce with solid east Indian rosewood on the back and sides and the build is top-shelf, with nickel enclosed gear tuners (a Martin exclusive), ebony fingerboard with abalone inlay, herringbone trim, aged white binding and lacquer on the top to nail the look.

It could be anyone’s dream acoustic. But Strings wanted an affordable option, and the D-X2E is that. This acoustic guitar is under $/£1,000 but it has the same neck shape, the custom nut width to give you a similar kind of ride.

The Grammy-winning songwriter hopes it presents a young up and coming player with their first serious acoustic to learn on.

“There’s so many kids out there that really want to learn how to pick, and they need access to a good instrument that they don't have to take out a loan for,” says Strings. “That was important to me – to make sure that there was a guitar that people could get their hands on. To have a Martin that you can actually acquire and learn how to pick on... I mean, that’s like the first one I got, and it’s great. It’s a fully badass guitar.”

It also has Martin E1 pickup and preamp and onboard guitar tuner. Priced $899, the Billy Strings D-X2E is available now. His D-28 is $3,799. See Martin Guitar for more details.

Joe Bonamassa and Martin are working on another super high-end acoustic guitar, and this one really is a holy grail, with the blues guitar superstar teasing a 000-45 prototype built with Brazilian rosewood.

Bonamassa was sparing with the details. He didn’t give us much to work with, except a couple of photos on his Instagram account, including a peek inside the soundhole to confirm the model name. “Look out!! Coming in hot! What an honour of a lifetime!!” writes Bonamassa.

From this vantage point, it looks a lot like his latest signature guitar with the Nazareth, PA brand, the replica of his 1941 000-45 that was unveiled in November. Again, that looks like Adirondack spruce on the top. There is the faux tortoiseshell pickguard, and a generous splash of abalone detail on the purfling, rosette and the “Style 45” snowflake inlays on the fingerboard. The fingerboard and bridge are ebony.

That, too, was what you would call a unicorn. It still had the original ticket on it when Bonamassa handed it to Martin’s luthiers for reference. It also had quite the story behind it, with the sale of this pre-War rarity allowing a woman to keep her home.

“I don’t collect guitars, I collect stories,” said Bonamassa. “I don’t collect instruments because I want a deal on them. I want to collect instruments because I want to help a family out of financial trouble, and they have this one item that could be sold for lots of money... It was the last thing of value that she had, so it saved her house, and I got a wonderful guitar and a hell of a story.”

That 1941 reproduction retailed at a cool $19,999, but collectors will surely have to dig a bit deeper on this forthcoming model. You will find Guatemalan rosewood on Bonamassa's 1941 000-45; swapping that out for Brazilian rosewood – which for many players it is the ultimate acoustic guitar tonewood – is a not going to come cheap. Brazilian rosewood has all but been consigned to the history books, only rarely popping up when a company has found existing stocks of it.

Once upon a time that’s what you found on Martin acoustics, pre-CBS era Fender, and on Gibson fingerboards – both electric guitars and acoustics. Owing to its scarcity, Martin stopped using it in 1969.

In 1992, it was added to CITES and was only allowed to be used if it had already been harvested before then or proven that it had fallen naturally. A lot of paperwork was and is needed to prove it, and players need to be extra careful if considering touring with an instrument with Brazilian rosewood on it.

Will we see this Joe Bonamassa Martin at NAMM 2025? It might be too early for an official launch but if you are visiting Anaheim in January, check out the Martin stand. The prototype might be on show. For more details on Joe Bonamassa’s 1941 000-45, see Martin.

Martin and Joe Bonamassa have teamed up to bring you a limited edition replica of one of the most-stunning pre-War acoustic guitars from Nerdville, a 000-45 based on the blues guitar superstar’s 1941 original.

This limited run (they’re only making 45 of ‘em) is Martin’s Nazareth, Pennsylvania factory showing off, applying all of their know-how to bring the 21st-century guitarist an instrument that looks and feels “just as it came off the workbench” some 80 years ago, right down to the abalone “Style 45” snowflake inlays on its ebony fingerboard.

Bonamassa has had tons of signature guitars. But this is the first limited edition acoustic guitar to bear his name, and in effect it is a limited run of a guitar that was never made in great numbers. Martin says it only made 265.

The story behind Bonamassa’s original acoustic takes us back through three generations of one Southern Californian family, where this 000-45 had been kept for decades. It proved a sound investment; the sale of it saved a woman’s house.

“I don’t collect guitars, I collect stories,” says Bonamassa. “I don’t collect instruments because I want a deal on them. I want to collect instruments because I want to help a family out of financial trouble, and they have this one item that could be sold for lots of money... It was the last thing of value that she had, so it saved her house, and I got a wonderful guitar and a hell of a story.”

Anyone who can pony up the $19,999 asking price for this will get a heck of a guitar that will be worth holding onto, not least because it will surely appreciate in value. All the specs are top-shelf, with Guatemalan rosewood on the back and sides, Adirondack spruce on the top, braced with X-pattern scalloped spruce.

In keeping with the time machine vibe, Martin has applied its VTS (Vintage Tone System) to age this wood, giving it that extra warm, resonance and detail that you get from a premium vintage acoustic.

The guitar has been judiciously decorated with abalone. You’ll find it on the fingerboard, headstock, top inlays and the rosette. Even the bridge pins have a little shell sparkle to them.

As for the vital statistics, we have a 24.9” scale, a mahogany neck that has been matched to Bonamassa’s original. When Bonamassa turned it over to Martin’s luthier’s, in mint condition, the 000-45 still had its original ticket on it.

In 1941, it cost $225. And yet it is a guitar that most players will never have the good fortune to play. Hence why Bonamassa and Martin are producing this run. This is not the sort of super high-end acoustic guitar you can mass produce, but Bonamassa promises an exact replica for the lucky 45 who get their hands on one.

“It's really important to me that the new guitar stayed true to the old one, because there's no other reason to do it,” he says. “It gives people an opportunity to feel what it's like to hold a Golden Era 000-45... I'm not redesigning a Martin guitar. I'm just sharing 45 times over a glimpse into a guitar that I own, that most people will never get to play, or see.”

There is one modern update to the 000-45. But purists, relax. It’s an adjustable truss rod. Who could complain about that? You will find JoBo's signature on the soundhole label, and there is a certificate of authenticity, a vintage hang tag, and a period-correct hardshell guitar case to keep this guitar mint.

Martin's Joe Bonamassa signature model comes hot on the heels of a pair of Johnny Marr acoustics, the M7 and M6, the former equipped with seven strings, with an octave G to give you some of the indie guitar icon's trademark jangle

The 000-45 Joe Bonamassa is out now. See Martin for more details.

Johnny Marr and Martin have teamed up for a signature seven-string guitar, and if that sounds wholly radical on the face of it, the instrument itself could not be more on-brand for Marr’s trademark acoustic sound.

That’s because the M-7 Johnny Marr acoustic is not your typical seven-string. Its seventh string is an octave G, and by doubling up on that G string he has some extra midrange jangle, which can give his chord work some of the textural qualities of a 12-string, or that illusion that the guitar is multi-tracked.

Marr believes that the M-7 offers him some of that studio magic wherever he goes.

“I’ve now got my own signature guitar that makes me sound like in the studio when I've put this really great old compressor on it with a great mic and a little hint of the high string in there,” he says. “All of these things that I do on record using a few guitars, I’ve all got it in the one guitar that I can carry around with me, and if I go play with a pal or go and guest with someone, I sound like me.”

The M-7 has a Grand Auditorium body that has a spruce top, solid East Indian rosewood on the back and sides, scalloped X-pattern bracing under the soundboard. Multi-stripe inlay adds a decorative touch to the back of the guitar’s body.

Marr has gone for a standard taper mahogany neck with a full-thickness profile. Again, great for chords, and that is a non-negotiable with Marr’s style. The neck is topped with an 16” radius ebony fingerboard. The pickguard is faux tortoiseshell. The look is classic Martin.

An industry-standard LR Baggs Anthem acoustic guitar pickup system gives him the option of running it through an acoustic amp. Martin has also launched a six-string version, with the M-6 all but identical – except of course you will find six open-gear tuners on the headstock, not seven.

Marr’s relationship with Martin goes way back. In 1984, he bought a 1971 Martin D-28 that become his number one acoustic during the Smiths days, using it to write There Is A Light That Never Goes Out and Cemetry Gates.

“To me, this guitar is synonymous with people like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bert Jansch,” he wrote in Marr’s Guitars, the 2023 book documenting his guitar collection and the stories behind them. “It was a conscious decision to feature acoustic guitars on the Smiths records – and have them loud wherever possible,” he wrote. “

There were other Martin guitars in his life. Marr owns a 1974 D-41. He used his 1976 D-28/12 to write Half A Person and Unhappy Birthday with the Smiths, and Get The Message by Electronic.

When playing with Jansch, Marr used his 1969 D-35. “It seemed appropriate as Bert was one of the reasons why I played a Martin acoustic in the first place,” he wrote.

The M-6 and M-7 Johnny Marr models are available now, priced £5,195/$4,999. They ship in a hard-shell guitar case with a Souldier guitar strap. For more details, head over to Martin.

Martin has unveiled an all-new acoustic guitar body shape with the launch of the O’ahu HG-28, a guitar that honours the pre-Golden Era early acoustic designs inspired by the popularity of Hawaiian music.

The brainchild of executive chairman Chris Martin IV, the O’ahu HG-28 features a 14-fret slope-shouldered dreadnought shape but with a shallower 000 depth, making for one very approachable instrument. 

And while this is very much a guitar for today’s player (c’mon, who among us doesn’t like the idea of a slightly more compact dreadnought with a similarly assertive set of lungs on it?), the inspiration for its design – and the O’ahu series – goes way back to the early acoustic designs of the 1920s and ‘30s.

This was a time when the craze for Hawaiian music saw luthiers pioneer new steel string instruments for slide, and for volume as players performed for larger audiences.

The O’ahu HG-28 is constructed of a solid spruce top with scalloped X-bracing, and solid flamed Hawaiian koa on the back and sides. “This choice of tonewoods not only delivers a stunning aesthetic but also ensures a rich, balanced tone with articulate highs and warm lows,” says Martin.

The series also introduces the “O’ahu” name to the headstock, and Martin promises that “anyone who picks up this guitar will instantly notice how comfortable it is” with a short 24.9” scale length and a Golden Era modified low oval neck profile to accommodate the fretting hand. This neck has left Martin’s Nazareth, PA facility with a satin-smooth finish. 

We’re clearly in for a tactile, super-smooth playing experience here, and unlike the early Hawaiian-spec’d acoustics, on which you might find nut extenders to set them up for slide, the O’ahu HG-28 is built for low-action and a easy ride.

It is not without vintage details. The herringbone trim and antique white binding is a nod to Martin’s earliest Hawaiian guitar designs, the faux tortoiseshell pickguard an evergreen brand signifier. And the nickel open-gear tuners look reassuringly 20th century.

As for the other essential details, the neck, as per Martin’s style, is “select hardwood.” The fingerboard is inlaid with Old Style 18 fret markers, and is ebony just like the bridge. A compensated bone saddle should be a guarantor of on-point intonation.

And while the neck might be satin, Martin has given the body a lick of glass lacquer to reveal that Hawaiian koa out in all its glory. The guitar ships in a soft-shell hemp guitar case to keep that finish pristine. 

The O’ahu HG-28 is a sibling to the Custom K-1 Major Kealakai, which was launched in February and named for the great Hawaiian musician Major Kealakai, who was the guitarist and composer for the Royal Hawaiian Band.

The Custom K-1 Major Kealakai is a modern-day replica of the custom acoustic that Martin made him in 1916, which featured a longer body than the 000 and was an evolutionary step toward the design of the dreadnought.

Available now, the O’ahu HG-28 is priced $3,599. See Martin for more details, and check out the video above in which Chris Martin IV shares the historical perspective behind the guitar's design, and why this febrile moment in acoustic guitar design caught his imagination.

Martin has teamed up with David Crosby’s estate for a special artist edition D-11E acoustic guitar supporting the pro-democracy Rock The Vote organisation and one of his the late American music icon's favourite causes. 

The D-11E Rock The Vote features original artwork from Robert Goetzl, and some very interesting specs.

Of course, the big talking point with this guitar is the body, which is really going to cause some debate in acoustic circles with its dreadnought shape but slimmed down 000 body depth.

Then you have the the strings. Oh, goodness, the strings. It ships with a set of Luxe by Martin Kovar acoustic guitar strings, which are designed around Martin’s Superior Performance core and a Kovar wrap wire. 

Some might argue that Kovar offers a refreshingly alternative to the ubiquitous phosphor bronze, others may be of the belief it’s a little shiny and new for them. But that’s okay. It’s good to agree to disagree, and that is the spirit behind the guitar – and the message behind its design. And of course it is that artwork that's going to be the conversation piece. That's the idea.

Rock The Vote is a non-partisan non-profit that was set up to get young people to register to vote participate in elections at local, state and federal levels, and in the past three decades it has helped register more than 14 million voters.

Voting was a big passion of Crosby’s. In 2020, Crosby and Martin collaborated on a Rock The Vote D-16E. This new model could be seen as a sequel, or a continuation of those efforts to get the young involved and engaged with the democratic process. 

Martin’s executive chairman, Chris Martin IV, says the guitar is a fitting tribute to him and his legacy. “David was a patriot,” says Martin. “He believed deeply in this great experiment of ours, and his passion for voting is something we wanted to honour and continue.”

The guitar itself is priced for the masses at $1,649. Not a cheap date, per se, but a serious guitar in many respects – we particularly like the soundhole mounted M80 acoustic guitar pickup from L.R. Baggs. Martin is only making 47 of them, on account that the 47th presidency of the United State will be settled by this coming election.

You’ve got satin-finished sycamore on the back and sides of the instrument, and a gloss spruce top – all the better to show off Goetzl’s artwork. Martin submitted a $5,000 donation to Rock The Vote as it unveiled this guitar, and Chris Martin IV reiterated the message behind the guitar.

“I believe it’s our responsibility as citizens to participate in our democracy,” says Chris. “It's important that you register, it’s important that you vote.” 

For more details on the guitar, head over to Martin. You can read more about youth electoral participation at Rock The Vote.

NAMM 2024: One of the most striking guitars on display at NAMM 2024 isn't a shiny new model, or a feature-laden iteration of a big-name line. It's, essentially, a pile of broken wood. This is the vintage Martin acoustic that Kurt Russell destroyed during the filiming of Quentin Tarantino's 2015 western epic, The Hateful Eight.

It wasn't supposed to happen, and it's fair to say Martin Guitars, who had loaned the 145-year old instrument to Tarantino's production wasn't best pleased. "We were informed that it was an accident on set," a spokesman said when the acoustic met its if not untimely, then definitely uncalled for end. 

"We assumed that a scaffolding or something fell on it. We understand that things happen, but at the same time we can’t take this lightly."

The scene in question saw Russell's character rip the acoustic from co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh's noodling hands, declare "music time is over" and absolutely welly it into a nearby column. We've all been there, but at this point, the 1870s parlor was supposed to have been swapped for a replica stunt double. 

“There were six doubles made,” the film's sound mixer Mark Ulano revealed in the aftermath. “The guitar was from the 1870s and was priceless. What was supposed to happen was we were supposed to go up to that point, cut, and trade guitars and smash the double.”

Russell himself says he was unaware of the planned switch and simply following orders: “On that day, I said, ‘How far do you want me to go?’ [Tarantino] said, ‘Just go until I say stop... “I said, ‘So if you don’t say stop I smash the guitar?’ He said, ‘Yep, great, just keep going.’

“I just kept going and going and going, and I took the thing and I said the line and I said, yeah, he wants me to smash it, so I smashed the guitar.”

“Then we cut and [Leigh] was… ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’ I was like, ‘What?’ She said, ‘You just smashed the real guitar.’”

Oops.

In a statement, an irate Dick Boak of the Martin Guitar Museum said, “All this about the guitar being smashed being written into the script and that somebody just didn’t tell the actor, this is all new information to us. We didn’t know anything about the script or Kurt Russell not being told that it was a priceless, irreplaceable artifact from the Martin Museum.”

Sources put the compensation received by Martin at $40,000, but Boak stressed the cash wasn't important. "It’s not about the money. It’s about the preservation of American musical history and heritage.," he said. “Upon inspection of the pieces, we realized that the guitar was beyond fixing, It’s destroyed."

“We want to make sure that people know that the incident was very distressing to us. We can’t believe that it happened,” he continued. “I don’t think anything can really remedy this."

Leigh said she was also bereft at the failed switch-out. “I was heartbroken about the guitar, because I was quite in love with it,” she told Billboard. “I got to actually take it home with me, and I played it every day. It had the most beautiful, warm tone.”

In the years since music's-over-gate, there's been speculation about the guitar's ultimate fate. Had it actually been restored? Was it, as one source claimed, autographed by cast and crew and hanging in the Martin offices?

Well, now we know.

Guitar Center has put together an exclusive run of limited edition acoustic and electric guitars to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, and among them are a trio of signature Martins for Slowhand himself.

To launch the collection, Guitar Center’s Michael Doyle dropped in on Clapton to present him with a pair of Martins to get his seal of approval. First up was a D-28 with a build inspired by Clapton’s 000 signature guitar; Sitka spruce on top, Indian rosewood on the back and sides, herringbone rosette and purfling, ebony fingerboard with diamonds-and-squares inlaid in abalone pearl, and Clapton’s signature inlaid in MOP at the top of the fingerboard. 

They’re only making 60 of these, each priced $4,499. The sight of has Clapton recalling his long love affair with the storied acoustic guitar brand, and how they were like an “exotic creature” when he first laid eyes on them.

“It was a D-28 way back in the early ‘60s, and someone said, ‘I’ve got a Martin. Do you want to see it?’ And a group of people formed a circle to look at this thing.”

Next up was a real high-end acoustic guitar, a D-45 with Madagascan rosewood on the back and sides. A limited run of just 25, it is the D-45 replica of the ’68 model that Clapton played onstage with Derek and the Dominoes legendary charity gig on 14 June 1970. It comes with special hard-shell guitar case stencilled with “Eric Clapton Group. Delicate electronic instrument. Handle with care.” 

Clapton recalls that Lyceum gig coming around just as he was warming to a change of pace post-Cream and performing with a little less volume onstage.

“That gig was a charity event, and it was just an excuse to take what we’d been mucking around with," he says. "And I had fallen in love with the whole idea of playing acoustic onstage, having been part of Cream where it was really loud, and two 100-watt Marshalls behind me. Unbelievable. And I’d have one of them one and the other one off, but I’d turn the other one on for the solos. What was I thinking? A 100-watts extra for the solo! [Laughs] So playing acoustic, I fell in love with Martin.”

This D-45 has all the finery bestowed upon it. There is the slightly rounded headstock edges, the abalone rosette and purfling, the abalone ‘hexagon’ inlays, period-correct gold Grover tuners, with Madagascan rosewood on the headstock facing. Clapton has signed the label on the inside of the guitar. It costs $15,499, and Eric Clapton is a big fan of it.

“Lovely. Lovely tone. It’s great actually,” he says. “Beautiful. Nice neck. Great action. Yeah, that’s all right with me. Yeah, this is fantastic.”

All approved. What we don’t see in the video, however, is a one-of-one Martin D-45 with Brazilian rosewood. A truly high-end guitar for the collector’s market, it was listed at $74,999. 

You can’t have a special Clapton release without a Fender Stratocaster, and Guitar Center has also hooked up with Fender for a couple of signature Strats to mark the occasion.

Again, we’ve got high-end and then very high-end options. The Eric Clapton CRASH Stratocaster is the more affordable at $3,499, and takes its name – and design – from NYC street artist John “CRASH” Matos. 

Limited to 60 instruments, it has an alder body, a bolt-on V profile neck, vintage frets, a blocked synchronized tremolo as per Clapton’s preference, and a trio of Vintage Noiseless Strate single-coils. There is a custom-engraved Crossroads neck plate and it ships in a custom tweed case.

Now for the Custom Shop Strat, a guitar put together by Fender Master Builder Todd Krause. Finished in Blu Scozia, this is limited to 25, has the soft V profile neck, the Noiseless pickups, and once more the vibrato unit is blocked. But there are some differences. 

The build quality will be off the charts, of course. There is also an active mid boost control that can add up to 25dB, so no need to be running that second Marshall head for the solos. The COA is signed by both Krause and Clapton. As Strats go, this is a latter-day holy grail and is priced accordingly at $14,999.

Rounding out the collecting is a PRS Private Stock Carlos Santana 1, which comes with a personal letter from Santana himself, and the suspicion that this could well be the original that Paul Reed Smith built the electric guitar icon back in the ‘80s. It has a pre ’85 spec. There’s Brazilian rosewood on the fingerboard. 

There’s custom abalone Santana OM inlay on the truss rod cover. The maple top is a work of art. And there are only 10 of these worldwide. Priced $14,999, they are available exclusively from Guitar Center, which is where you should head for more information and to order.

A portion of the proceeds from these guitars will go to the Crossroads At Antigua addiction recovery centre. The Crossroads Guitar Festival 2023 is also in aid of the centre and takes place on 23 and 24 September, with Clapton performing on both nights and joined by the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Gary Clark Jr, Cheryl Crow, Samantha Fish, Eric Gales and more. See Crossroads Guitar Festival for more details.

Martin has launched a quartet of new acoustic guitars with a pair of unorthodox but unquestionably high-end models to celebrate the 20th anniversary of John Mayer’s OM-28JM signature guitar.

The internet caught wind of these John Mayer models a while ago, and to the surprise of no one, they ain’t cheap, with the OM-JM priced at $3,999, and the judiciously more ostentatious OM-45 a second mortgage job at $18,499. But Martin has some good news for those of us with more modest budgets in the shape of an all-mahogany D-15E dreadnought and the all-sapele SC-10E-02.

Let’s look at this SC-10E-02 first, because for all the argent and aluminium spent on the design of the OM-45, this SC-10E-02 remains one of the most radical – and successful – instruments in the Martin lineup, offering a playability and feel that is more what you might expect from an electric guitar, with its Sure Align neck system freeing up the top end of the fingerboard that is largely inaccessible in most non-cutaway strummers. 

With its offset body shape and that cutaway, the SC-10E-02 is certainly a conversation starter. Here we’ve got sapele all over on top, back and sides, inside of which is braced by Martin’s Tone Tension X bracing pattern.

The High-Performance Taper neck is made from select hardwood – which typically means Martin can switch up the materials depending on availability and quality, and is topped with an eco-friendly Richlite fingerboard. 

We are big fans of Martin’s SC-13E so it will be interesting how this more affordable sapele version compares. Martin says the tone is “ warm, yet crisp”. This sapele model is similarly equipped with a Fishman MX-T pickup and preamp system, and it is priced $999.

The D-15E is a 14-fret dreadnought with an Indian plantation mahogany top, sapele on the back and sides. There is non-scalloped X pattern bracing, a select hardwood High-Performance Taper neck, Martin E1 electronics, and a katalox fingerboard with Diamond and Squares Short inlays. It is priced $1,299.

Now for the Mayer signature models. Feel-wise, both 20th anniversary models should be familiar. There is the same 42.9 nut width, the Standard Taper mahogany necks and 25.4” scale. 

Both come in Gray Sunburst. The OM-45, however, has all kinds of finery bestowed upon it, with the aluminium border of the original Mayer models now silver and extended to the ebony pickguard.

Mayer has signed the label on the inside, and the inlays on the ebony fingerboard are a little more ornate, and there was clearly a little more abalone budget for the purfling. 

The OM-45 has satin-nickel Waverly tuners, the OMJM’s tuners are open-gear nickel.The back and sides of the OM-45 are made from Guatamalan rosewood, with the anniversary OMJM using Indian rosewood. 

These acoustics are all available now, with the Mayer anniversary models only being produced in 2023. See Martin for more details.

Here is a little something to give all the guitar collectors and high-end acoustic guitar aficionados out there a serious case of GAS – a rare sighting of a 1930 Martin OM-45 Deluxe in the wild, in pristine condition.

The 1930 Martin OM-45 Deluxe is the stuff of legend, principally because for all intents and purposes it is a legend. Accounts on exactly how many were made vary. When Martin released a historic accurate reissue in 2015, the figure was quoted as 11, and Martin duly made 11 of the 2015 reissues, each of them priced a cool $99,999. Other sources at the time said 15 OM-45’s were made in 1930.

But Matt Swanson, the collector lucky enough to own this one, puts it at 14, all made when Martin fulfilled a custom order for for the Sherman, Clay & Co music store in Oakland, California. And according to Swanson, only nine are now known to exist currently (surely someone somewhere has one in the attic), and he dropped by Blackbird Studio in Nashville to show his off to the studio owner John McBride for a video segment on the excellent Inside Blackbird YouTube channel.

It really is a peach. Adirondack spruce on the top, book matched Brazilian rosewood on the back and sides. Martin stopped using Brazilian rosewood in 1969, and looked to India for alternative sources.

“You can find little bits here and there but not that looks like this because what they really prize is the straight grain,” says Swanson. “And a lot of it now is very swirly, and I am not saying that’s bad, I don’t know if you can hear a difference, but it’s rare.”

The neck is mahogany, V-profile. Swanson says it is the tone woods allied to Martin’s search for perfection that make these instruments so special.

“Martin made these guitars in this era and they didn’t know it,” he says. “They didn’t know at the time they were making the greatest guitars in the history of the world, because they were just on this path of making improvements. These were handmade, limited production, and they are a feather – this guitar weighs like three-and-a-half pounds. It is super light.” 

And then there’s all that binding and extra inlays. The 1930 OM-45 Deluxe could never be accused of being under-dressed, and yet it wears its livery well. 

There are 45-style diamond and snowflakes on the bridge, and then again, more snowflakes and diamonds counting out the frets on the ebony fingerboard. The pickguard is tortoiseshell with an abalone floral detail. 

The banjo style tuners are another talking point, finished in gold with solid MOP buttons, while the Martin ‘tortch’ inlay on the headstock really distinguishes it.

Its dimensions make it perfect for a fingerstyle player but whatever you play on it is going to sound like music. And if you want one, it’s going to cost you. McBride doesn’t want ask but there’s no getting around it. If a 2015 reproduction was priced $99,999 straight out of Nazareth, PA, what would a 1930 original cost?

“John, I’ve got this insured for a million dollars,” says Swanson. “These are the Stradivari of guitar collecting.”

To think that these once sold for $225. But then, that was big money in 1930. The most famous of all 1930 Martin OM-45 Deluxes belonged to a young man by the name of Leonard Franklin Slye who picked one up second hand for $30 bucks. He would become Roy Rogers, of film, stage and screen, and Rogers' OM-45 Deluxe would sell for near on half-a-million dollars in 2009.

Martin released a 2006 commemorative edition of Rodgers’ OM-45 Deluxe. You can find them on Reverb listed for over £17,000, which all things considered, seems cheap for any version of the 1930 Martin OM-45 Deluxe – a holy grail, if ever there was one.

When you think of legendary acoustic guitars, chances are, you’re thinking of one of the best Martin guitars. Going back nearly 200 years, Martin is a company steeped in heritage. It's a family-run business that has grown to be one of the most popular and sought after guitar brands in the world.

A huge range of artists have turned to the best Martin guitars over the decades. Everyone from John Lennon, Bob Marley, Joni Mitchell and David Crosby to the likes of John Mayer, Shawn Mendes, Lewis Capaldi, Maisie Peters and beyond have looked to this legendary guitar brand for unbeatable tone, playability and reliability.

Whether you’re writing folk tunes in your bedroom, or playing songs on huge stages, a Martin guitar could be the tool you need to get the job done. Martin makes a huge range of models, covering most budgets so you don’t have to be a touring pro to get your hands on one.

We’ve picked our favourite models that cover all bases, and have included some buying advice below to help you understand the brand a little better and get the most for your money.

Best Martin guitars: Our top picks

The best Martin guitar depends what you’re after, and of course your budget. With plenty of cash to spend, we’d probably go for the Martin D28 Standard. It’s a classic model that delivers an incredibly rich tone that’s well balanced and is suited to all kinds of music. For those that want a great Martin guitar without spending thousands, check out the Martin D-10E. It’s an all solid wood Martin dreadnought, for a great price.

Players just starting out, or those who struggle with full size guitars might like the Martin LX1E. It’s become one of the go-to guitars for learning on, gigging and busking.

Best Martin guitars: Product guide

The Martin D-28 may well be the quintessential acoustic guitar. Look at a list of classic albums over the last 50 years, and chances are, a good chunk of them feature either a D-28, or its big brother the D-45.

The D-28’s dreadnought body shape gives you a powerful bass response, paired with a beautiful, clear and very present top end, leaving room for vocals to sit in the middle. This is one of the reasons why so many singer-songwriters have turned to the D-28 over the years. The classic combination of a spruce top and rosewood back and sides yields an articulate sound, very rich and bright – this is a guitar you’ll be heard with!

This guitar is incredibly dynamic. If you’re using a pick, then you can drive the top to get a lot of volume; however it also responds well to flatpicking and fingerpicking, so essentially, it can cater for all playing styles. There really are plenty of reasons why the D-28 is one of the most iconic guitars of all time!

The D-10E is a great introduction to the world of all solid-wood Martin guitars. It’s priced really well, and gives those who have maybe hankered after a D-28 or D-45 a chance to own a proper Martin dreadnought without spending thousands. This gives you the classic Martin dreadnought sound – big and bassy, with lots of detail and clarity. It sounds nice and rich, with great top end clarity and has been made with a solid spruce top and solid sapele back and sides.

The body has a satin finish and the neck has been hand-rubbed so it has a sort of worn-in feel to it (but still feels new), which makes it instantly comfortable. There’s also a great pickup on board – the Fishman MX-T – and even a sound hole tuner so there’s no need for clip-ons or a pedal. All of these features make the D-10E one of the best Martin guitars for players that want a good sounding workhorse guitar to take on the road or to the studio.

The 000-15M is a fingerpicker’s dream. Built from all solid mahogany, it has a very rich, warm, mellow and dry tone. It’s really well balanced, making it a great recording guitar. Because of the dry sound, you get good note attack, without much complexity or overtones, so if you’re playing quick passages of music then you’re going to hear each note with lots of clarity. It works well for fingerpicking, but it’s also a great strumming guitar too.

These guitars are so much fun to play. They’re super comfortable to sit down or stand up with and the satin finish makes it feel like it has been yours for years already. It also comes in at a fairly reasonable price, considering how much solid wood you’re getting.

Read the full Martin 000-15M review

The Martin LX1E has become a legendary guitar. Even without the fact that Ed Sheeran used this religiously in the early days of his career, it’s been one of the go-to choices for a wide range of guitarists – from beginners to pros for years.

The compact size means that it’s a great guitar for travelling with. Whilst it is small, it doesn’t suffer too much from the boxy sound that normally accompanies a guitar of this size. It’s nice and balanced, and throws out a surprising amount of low end. It’s equipped with a fairly standard pickup, but that means it’s suited to playing live.

Its size also makes it perfect for smaller players or those just starting out. It’s got a 23” scale, so the notes on the fretboard are closer together – meaning you don’t have to stretch as far. For players used to a full-scale guitar, it’s not so much of a shift that it’s unplayable though – five minutes in and you’ll get used to it. Overall, one of the best value acoustic guitars out there, really versatile and certainly one of the best Martin guitars.

Read the full Martin LX1E review

John Mayer’s second and more accessible (though it’s still expensive!) signature Martin is exactly what you’d expect from a collaboration between one of the most revered guitar brands in the world, and one of the most successful songwriters and performers. The Martin OMJM is an incredible instrument that sports an Englemann spruce top and East Indian rosewood back and sides – a classic combination that yields a powerful but versatile sound, with plenty of sustain.

Martin’s OM body shape helps the guitar produce a very balanced tone, so expect rich and warm lows and crisp, articulate and shimmering highs, with enough of a punchy mid presence too. The onboard electronics are also very good – the Fishman/Martin Gold Plus Natural 1 pickup system, which helps project the guitar’s natural tone through an amp. The guitar works really well both fingerstyle and with a pick – you can get some volume out of it with heavy strumming, but it’s also going to sound really full and rich when you’re using a softer touch.

Make no mistake, this is a professional-level instrument, so expect to pay top dollar for it. But, it sounds wonderful – certainly one of the most versatile and best Martin guitars available.

Building on the success of its predecessor, the 00-X1E, this reasonably priced concert sized Martin electro-acoustic guitar proves to be a viable option for guitarists that might find themselves fingerpicking just as much as they would strumming with a pick.

It doesn’t have the bottom end or power of a dreadnought, but it is very versatile. If you want something that’s got punch, clarity and allows you to control dynamics easily then this is likely to tick some boxes. It’s got a solid spruce top, so you can expect a nice, bright tone that’s well balanced. There’s a nice pickup fitted too – the Fishman MX – which means you can turn up to gigs or open mic nights and just plug in and play.

The 00-X2E is one of the best Martin guitars for players looking to upgrade to something with a solid top that can cater for a wide range of music and playing styles.

This is a more recent take on a classic Martin dreadnought. The D-18 Street Legend is a brand new guitar, with a worn satin finish, inspired by some historic models found in Martin’s museum. Not only does this give the guitar a unique and retro look, it also makes it feel worn in and instantly comfortable.

With a solid spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides, the guitar has plenty of articulation in the top end, and power in the bottom. It’s also got a nice presence in the midrange too, thanks to the mahogany. On the underside of the top there’s scalloped bracing which helps contribute to the guitar’s volume – this thing can really project when you drive it, though the top will react very well to softer playing too.

If you’re after a classic looking guitar, with the legendary dreadnought sound, then this is a great Martin guitar to go for.

This is something completely different for Martin and it shows that it is not a company stuck in the past. This is a modern take on the acoustic guitar, but it still retains a lot of the Martin character that players have loved for nearly two centuries.

The SC-13E is super easy to play and is perfect for those that like to utilise the entire fingerboard. Lead players will find that access to those highest frets is probably easier than it is on most other acoustics. The neck profile aids this, with it getting thinner and more ergonomic as you go higher up the neck.

The Koa back and sides complement the spruce top, resulting in a modern take on the classic Martin sound. It projects really well and has fantastic note clarity. The Fishman MX-T pickup ensures you get a great sound plugged in, but also the slightly offset body shape of this also means you can push the volume and gain a little more before it starts to feedback.

Read the full Martin SC-13E review

Best Martin guitars: Buying advice

How to choose the best Martin guitar for you

Martin has been around since 1833. Starting out as a family business, and remaining so to this day, Martin has grown to become one of the biggest and most influential acoustic guitar manufacturers in the world. It is credited for a number of innovations, including the creation of the dreadnought body shape, scalloped bracing, and – even though there isn’t proof – it’s thought the company came up with the idea for X-bracing in the 1840s/’50s.

It’s safe to say that Martin really helped drive the instrument forwards and help make it what it is today. The Martin guitars that are available to us now are a reflection of this heritage and allow you to own a small part of that history.

Today, Martins are made either at their headquarters in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, or in its factory in Navojoa, Mexico. The more budget-conscious models are made in Mexico – so that’s the X Series, Backpacker Series, Road Series and Dreadnought Junior. These instruments are made by skilled individuals to a high standard, so rest assured, these are still top quality guitars. The models above this are made in the US, and usually bear a higher price tag.

Martin embraces the handmade nature of guitar building, but doesn't shy away from technology when it believes that it’s beneficial to the guitar. Some machines are used to make Martin guitars, but they’re still mostly made and assembled by human hands. Each instrument gets a lot of love and attention poured into it.

How we choose the best Martin guitars

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides.

When choosing what we believe to be the best Martin guitars available right now, we combine our hands-on experience, user reviews and testimonies and engage in lengthy discussions with our editorial colleagues to reach a consensus about the top products in any given category.

First and foremost, we are musicians, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to feature set, ease of use and durability to come up with a list of what we can safely say are the best Martin guitars on the market right now.

Find out more about how we test music gear and services at MusicRadar.

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Martin has unveiled a quartet of acoustic guitars ahead of Summer NAMM 2022. The Nazareth, PA, brand digs deep into its trick bag for the D-18 Authentic 1937, D-28 Authentic 1937, 000-16 StreetMaster, and the GPC-13E Burst.

At the top end of the budgetary scale there are Authentic 1937 models. The archetypical high-end acoustic guitar, these reference a golden year for Martin’s guitar making, and replicate two of the most-storied models in the archive.

The 000-16 StreetMaster, showcases a distressed finish similar to those found on the 2017 solid mahogany 15 Series, while the GPC-13E Burst looks every inch the cutaway electro-acoustic for the jobbing singer-songwriter – priced as an upscale workhorse.

For many players, the GPC-13E Burst would be the one, not least because at $1,549 it is more fiscally accessible. It has a Grand Performance cutaway body with a Sitka spruce top and ziricote fine veneer on the back and sides, and scalloped X-bracing. The neck joins the body with a mortice and tenon joint.

The proportions and feel should be familiar to any player who has experience with contemporary Martin, with the neck carved into a Performing Artist shape and a High Performance Taper, and a 1.75” nut and 25.4” scale length.

The GPC-14E Burst is equipped with a Fishman MX-T pickup and preamp, with the controls mounted discretely in the soundhole, including a tuner that shows mercy upon your audience by auto-muting your amplified signal when tuning up. 

The Authentic 1937 models don’t come cheap but then for many players these are the acme of acoustic guitar building, and the D-28 the pick of the bunch. It has a solid Adirondack spruce top, Guatemalan rosewood on the back and sides, forward-shifted hand-scalloped X-bracing, a mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard. These are even more period-correct than previous D-28s, with an updated dreadnought body profile. 

To make it sing like a pre-war acoustic, Martin has treated the top and bracing with its Vintage Tone System, or VTS for short, which is a torrefaction process that removes water and breaks down biopolymers, leaving the wood drier, more solid, and a guitar that has the magic sparkle and definition of a vintage instrument.

The D-28 Authentic 1937 has custom ’37 profile and a Standard Taper, a 25.4” scale length and a 1.75” nut width. It’s the details and the vintage gloss finish that will loosen up retirement funds across the world for this; the 1937 Diamonds and Squares long pattern abalone fingerboard inlays, herringbone binding, the tortoiseshell ‘guard, the Waverly nickel open-back tuners with butterbean buttons, the Zig-Zag Authentic back purfling. Simple, classic. And a lot of guitar at $7,499.

The D-18 is even more simple and classic, with Brown Tortoise Pattern binding, losing that bold stripe of decoration down the centre of its back, and switching up the tonewoods to complement that Adirondack spruce top with solid mahogany on the back and sides. 

Again, we have the VTS treatment, the hide-glue fit, the ebony fingerboard and the dimensions – including that updated body profile – are similar to its sibling above. It is priced $6,299.

Finally, the 000-16 StreetMaster arrives with a distressed look giving the Adirondack spruce top and East Indian rosewood back a lived-in distressed look. This has also been given the VTS treatment for that time-machine sound. It has scalloped X-bracing under the hood, a 25.4” scale length and 1.75” nut width. Its neck has a satin finish and is carved into a “Modified Low Oval” and has a High Performance Taper. 

Of all the guitars here, it looks the oldest – the multi-ring rosette looks as though it has disappeared over time. That’s very much part of the StreetMaster’s charm. There are of course no electronics – just stick an L.R. Baggs soundhole pickup on it if you want to go amplified – and the Golden Age Relic nickel tuners with cream buttons look the bee’s knees.

The 000-16 StreetMaster is priced $1,999, and like the others listed above, it will make its public debut when the doors open to NAMM 2022 this coming Friday. In the meantime, head over to Martin for more details.

Well, President's Day is upon us and with it brings a whole range of deals. We've seen discounts on everything musical, from woodwind and brass to electric guitars, guitar amps, accessories and more - and there are no signs of it slowing down. If you're on the hunt for a killer saving on a new acoustic electric guitar, then we think we've found the deal for you - with $100 off the Martin 000-X1AE and the same discount on the Special Dreadnought X1AE.

Martin has been crafting some of the planet's most sought after acoustic instruments for close to 200 years, and although some of their instruments are the same price as a house deposit, not all Martin acoustic guitars need put you in debt. The X Series is Martin's more budget-friendly series, and while their price point is lower, the quality is still impressively high. Expect to obtain all the sweet, resonant tone you'd get from a pricey model - but all for under $500. Sounds good, eh?

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