Martin 000-28 12-Fret Golden Era Limited Edition

Made in 1996 by Martin guitars, this is one of a total 367 limited edition series. A close-to-exact reproduction of the pre-1934 12-fret slothead 000-28 herringbone except for a few things: It has East Indian rosewood back and sides, an adjustable truss rod, Brazilian Rosewood peghead overlay, and spruse top with vintage-aging toner (Beautiful!!!!) . This is the guitar that is responsible for the recent revival of slothead guitars. As I mentioned, issued as part of a limited edition run of 'golden era' acoustic guitar designs in 1996, the original list pice of this guitar was $4000. If you were to have one of these classic designs built by the Martin Custom Shop right now, be prepared to spend about twice that! But it is an absolutely stunning instrument - a timeless study in understated beauty. On the side of the headstock are repro nickel Waverly tuners, and then there's the fossil ivory nut which measures 1 13/16". The bridge contains a double pyramid in ebony and the bridge pins and saddle are also fossil ivory. All bindings are grained ivoroid, the top is as fine and close-grained a piece of Sitka as is imaginable, with much crossgrain. It has no pickguard. The back and sides are rich Indian Indian rosewood which looks so deep and dark that you'd swear it was Brazilian (especially the sides!). 19 frets, abalone diamonds and squares inlay.In the center of the back is a style -45 backstripe of multi-colored wood marquetry. The label inside is personally numbered (this one is number #245) and signed by the president of Martin Guitars. None of this prepares you for the sound. The sound is wonderfully balanced with a beautiful treble which just sings. The bass is profound. It comes set up with light gauge strings and, with it's modern version of a v-shaped neck-mahogany-gloss-(but 1/32" slimmer than prewar) plays effortlessly. Martin never made a lot of l2-fret 000-28 herringbones, yet these are considered by most players to be one of the optimum designs of this century in a traditional acoustic guitar. One last thing - the Geib-style hardshell case is wonderful in itself to behold. The inside is a rich green velvet and the handle is a lovely padded and stitched anatomically-perfect all-leather work of art.

As I said: The sound is wonderfully balanced with a beautiful treble which just sings. The bass is profound! I compared the 000-28 Golden Era with my 1999 Martin D-42, and my early Adamases by Ovation (model #1687)
This is in detail what I found:

1). Tonal characteristics: Tone is the quality that makes guitars from various makers sound different. Here the case is clear! Both guitars (D-42 and 000-28 GE) are unmistakably MARTINS! They share the same tonal characteristics. When you set a string into motion, the string has a fundamental vibration, as well as many smaller vibrations, called overtones. Most guitars share some fundamental tones and overtones. That's what makes them all sound like guitars. But they each have their own unique combination of fundamental and overtones also. That's what makes guitars sound unique. In this case, the two guitars differ. Though they mostly share the same fundamental tonal characteristics, the 000-28 GE has distinct overtones that the D-42 lacks. Overall the 000-28GE has more (is richer) rings and bells. Both made from Rosewood (back and sides) give a soulful, dark sound. The rosewood of the 000-28
is of better quality and it resembles brazilian, especially on the sides. The spruce top of the 000-28 is darker than the 1999 D-42. It is gloss finish with aging vintage toner.

2). VOLUME: Volume is how loud the guitar is. Not just as measured by a decibel meter, but also how loud the guitar "seems". This is directly related to the quality of the top wood, the top bracing, and the rigidity of the back and sides. Heavier strings are louder, because they vibrate the top more than lighter gauge strings. Larger guitars are generally louder, since they have more top to vibrate, and a larger sound chamber. In this case though, the 000-28 which is a smaller body guitar, and even shallower, has more volume than the D-42. Both guitars have light strings.
000-28GE: 10 D-42: 7.5

3). PRESENCE: Presence is a psychological factor that is very subjective. It is a gauge of how full your guitars sound is. A good measure of presence is how satisfying the guitar sounds when you play it softly. A strong presence means that the tone quality does not deteriorate with less volume. The efficiency of the guitars top plays a large part in the perceived presence. The 000-28 again has a stronger presence as compared to the D-42. It sounds fuller, even when played very softly.
000-28GE: 10 D-42: 8

4). BALANCE: Balance is the relationship between the high and low notes in point of fullness and volume. In a balanced guitar, the notes have equal authority throughout the entire range of the instrument. Guitars that are over-balanced toward the bass are called boomy (like my early Adamases 1687). Flatpickers and folk singers prefer this type
of balance. Fingerstyle guitarists usually prefer a guitar that is balanced toward the high strings (000-size 12-fret) . Balance is usually directly related to the size of the guitar. Balance is also
affected by the body woods (Rosewood is boomier than Mahogany), and the size of the soundhole (a larger soundhole usually balances the guitar toward the high strings). In this case both guitars are very well balanced. No way I would call the D-42 "boomy". the D-42 is not
boomy at all, yet the 000-28 GE has stronger trembles and even better bass response! Amazing. It is like the 000-28 GE is the dreadnought and vise versa. The 000-28 is definitely the dream of the fingerstyle
guitarist. Real PRE-WAR sound! How do I know? I have played a lot of pre-war Martins.

000-28 GE: 10 D-42: 7.5

5). SEPARATION: Separation is the ability of the guitar to express simultaneously played notes so that they are perceived distinctly and individually, rather than as a homogeneous whole. In other words, when you strum an open E chord, is what you hear more like one glob of sound or six separate ingredients? Separation is related to the quality o

The action was a bit high, the way Martin usually ships them out. A few adjustments on the saddle and neck and ready to go. Otherwise: woods, neck, bridge, bracing (pre-war!!!!), tuners, finish, everything Flawless! Real Class!

This guitar is made to last. What it needs is to be well played and taken care of (right humidity, cleaning, light strings always, after playing put it back in its beautiful case!). I can totally depend on it. I would not take it on a gig though. This is my home baby. The Adamases are for the gigs. No electronics or straps on this one!

Though I've never needed them, whenever I called them for info they were always very polite and kind! Nice people.

I have been playing acoustic guitars over 30 years now, and I have a large acoustic guitar collection, mainly early Ovations, and Adamases, but other makes too. Martins are special guitars. Especially this one. It is very special to me. It is just perfect. A modest, simple, guitar with the best sound you can imagine: deep, mellow, sweet, perfect! if it were stolen i would try to find and buy a similar one. if not the 1996 limited edition, then the martin 000-28VS, which has similar specs.
Hey, fingerpickers (and not only)! Don't waste time. This is the guitar you need!