Martin Guitars Custom Shop 00-28

Sonic Evaluation

It really says something profound about a particular guitar's ability to inspire when it makes you forget your surroundings lose yourself in the sound, especially in a loud, fast-paced environment like Wildwood, but that's exactly what happened while I was playing this marvelous Martin 00-28 from their Custom Shop. The FedEx truck pulled up, and I was blissfully unaware when my coworkers unloaded our shipment--sorry, guys, but no mere mortal can put this guitar down!

What makes it so inspiring? Well, it has a jaw-dropping overtone presence that coats every note in a rich sheen, making chords sound lush and single-note lines meaty and fat. The low-end is surprisingly deep and powerful, the midrange is quite robust for a rosewood-bodied acoustic (perhaps because of the small 00 body size), and the trebles have a gorgeous sparkle and chime. On a scale of bright to warm, it's near the middle but leans on the bright side, and that sunny tonality forcefully compelled me to smile every time I struck a chord. It's quite well-balanced and articulate, too, with excellent note separation.

As a fingerstyle guitar, this 00-28 is an absolute stunner, but it also works beautifully as a strummer if you're looking for a janglier tone with a little less boom (not a lot less, though--that low end is P O W E R F U L!). I have no doubt it will cause you to miss all sorts of things because you're too lost in its tone just like I missed that FedEx truck!