Martin Guitars Custom Shop 000-28 – Highly Flamed Koa

Sonic Evaluation

After about 1.5 seconds of playing this Custom Shop 000-28, I involuntarily let out a hushed, reverent "Oh, wow...wowwowwowwow." Sometimes, when you're in the presence of greatness, reverence is the correct attitude, and this serial is in the pantheon of acoustic greats. The pairing of Adirondack spruce and koa may seem incongruous in a traditional guitar like the 000-28, but they make musical magic together. Overall, it has a pleasing fusion between the classic booming Martin voice a beautiful lush, sparkling top-end that chimes like a wooden church bell when you dig in. The attack is quite sturdy, so you can flog it quite hard with the notes breaking, and the tone stays as round as the Round Mound of Rebound in his heyday with the Sixers. It has a lot of volume on tap, and its voice changes depending on your input, making for a marvelously expressive, dynamic playing experience.

The lows have a surprising amount of oomph, so much so that this 000 can do a pretty convincing impersonation of a dreadnought. The mids also pack a broad, woody punch, and the fundamental comes through with tons of power. That strong fundamental means that lower and midrange notes have a lovely warm, vintage-style woody tonality, which complements the overtone-laden trebles beautifully. Speaking of which, the highs are truly gorgeous: laden with crisp, sweet overtones that create an almost atmospheric sense of three-dimensionality when you play a big chord.

The one word that I keep coming back to with this guitar is sculpted. When I first sat down with it, I marveled at how well the different harmonic responses in different parts of the fretboard complemented one another. Everything is in the right spot, and it makes it easy to get lost in this guitar's lush, expressive voice. I have no doubt it will make some luck acoustic adventurer whisper about it in hushed, reverent tones, too!