Review: Martin D-28 Modern Deluxe
 

Greetings AGFers! I've waited a little over a week to post my thoughts on this guitar. Surprisingly, I have a lot to say about a guitar that isn't very different from any of the other guitars I've owned.

Those who know my posts will not be surprised to read that I have adopted another Martin D-28 variant. Since I was able to afford my first Martin, at age 35, I've been smitten with them. I've played and enjoyed lots of other guitars from builders like Taylor, Guild, Yamaha, Huss & Dalton, Collings, Larrivee, Eastman, etc. But, the Martin dreadnought has always been the one I come back to. That said, I limit myself to only a few guitars at one time for personal reasons. So, in came this one, and out went a different one.

A "modern" guitar that looks and sounds like something from the 1930s?

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Well... This is really a head scratcher. It's an exercise in contradictions. On one hand, Martin wanted to produce a guitar that sounded like a vintage Martin dreadnought. On the other hand, they wanted something new, different and special that deviated from their current recipe - a trend in the guitar business with other builders like Taylor. In order to explain what I think Martin has done, allow me to digress a little and compare it to what their primary competition, Taylor, has done.

Modern Tone?

In the past few years Taylor introduced V bracing in their guitar line. It's a deviation from the Martin proprietary X brace recipe. The benefits from their design are real. The new Taylor guitar sounds louder, more fundamental, offers more sustain, and sounds more in-tune. They evidently get this result by stiffening the bridge area, specifically, while retaining flexibility in the other parts of the sound board. Lots of players really like this "modern" and cleaner sound. Taylor indicates that more energy is transferred from the hands to the strings, and into producing the fundamental notes themselves. While it might not be your cup o' tea, it sounds different and pleasing to my ears. But, the downside, to my ears, is less present low end in their recipe, which is not my cup o' tea.

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Martin started experimenting with a subtle change to their recipe in the past few years. They are proud of the X brace and don't think it needs re-inventing. They don't think they've been eclipsed. But, I think the work of modern builders like McPherson and others, who caught Taylor's attention by trying new shapes and materials for their bracing, also caught Martin's attention. While Taylor modified their bracing and focused a lot of attention onto a much larger wood bridge plate sandwich to offer stability, Martin did something even simpler. They just changed the material for their bridge plate and used the rest of the recipe from their golden era (GE) designs. If you want to know more about the GE bracing used in the Modern Deluxe and past models like the D-28 Marquis, watch this video from a less bearded and younger Tony Polocastro. Notice the smaller size of the GE bridge plate.



So, how can a little reinforcement piece like the bridge plate be so influential? Well, I would argue that it might be the most important ingredient in the new recipes for Taylor and Martin. All of the advertising and media attention for Taylor have been on the shape of the bracing. But, to me, much of the real tone magic seems to be in the bridge plate changes. Martin kept the dimensions the same for their new carbon fiber sandwich bridge plate. In fact, they seem to have used one of the smallest of their available dimension options. The new Martin bridge plate is stiffer and lighter. And, that seems to have resulted in some of the same benefits that Taylor realized with V brace. The guitar is louder, the fundamental notes are more pronounced, there is more sustain, and they sound more in tune. However, the tone is still unmistakably Martin. They didn't seem to take anything away from Martin tone, they just added more fundamental punch and sustain to each note. It's really hard to describe without sounding like a cork sniffer. The other factors that make it more vintage sounding are the torrefied top, GE bracing pattern and use of protein glue. These are well known features.

How does it sound?

Spoon Phillips worked with Maury's music to produce a very good video showing the differences between the standard HD-28, the Authentic, and the new Modern Deluxe. To my ears, the Modern Deluxe has much of the vintage tone. However, they used a different recipe that may make for a longer lasting, sturdy, and light weight instrument. My suspicion is that in 10 years we will see people repairing their Martins with carbon fiber sandwich bridge plates adhered with fish glue.



Other Stuff

I'm a tone guy, but I still appreciate some of the other changes they've made with this model. For one, I appreciate the aesthetics. The new maple binding is one of my favorite features from other builders like Taylor and Larrivee. I enjoy having that on my new Martin. The abalone inlays look nice, but they don't move me much, so I could take it or leave it. The neck is something that I was prepared to dislike. I usually do not like skinny necks. But, I do like this skinny neck. I won't bore you with Martin's marketing explanation. But, I'll just say that it feels really good and let's me reach chord formations and inversions that I can't on other necks. The EVO fret wire feels different than other necks. It feels more solid. I was also prepared to dislike the liquidmetal bridge pins. But, again, I don't. They work. I'm not sure if they would work well on guitars without the carbon fiber bridge plates. But, I tested the guitar with bone, tusq, plastic, and ebony pins out of extreme curiosity. The bass and trebles sounded more powerful with liquid metal. I purchased another set of these pins to use with my Marquis when the stock bone pins wear out. They are soft and chip away with every string change, so it won't be too long. The titanium truss rod may be helping the tone a little. I've usually avoided skinny necks because they seemed to rob tone and dampen vibrations because they need more tension from the truss rod to prevent twisting like a pretzel. This one doesn't seem to do that. Go figure? One area that is causing me some minor irritation is pickups. I'll have to test a few of them to see what works best with the carbon fiber bridge plate since I use sound board transducers. I'm using a Lyric right now out of convenience. It sounds OK to "good." This is one area where Martin really needs to start innovating if they want to catch Taylor. The Fishman and LR Baggs systems are fine, but they rely on under saddle transducers, which are also not my cup o' tea.

NGD Stuff

So, there you have it.

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Thanks for the review. So Martin makes a larger bridgeplate in the 70s and the crowd cringed. Today they make a large bridgeplate and the crowd goes wild. Hmmm. I’m confused.

Not quite. Martin made a large rosewood bridge plate in the 70s. People didn't like it. They returned to smaller maple plates since then. Taylor makes a larger (maple?) bridge plate with their V brace. Martin made the bridge plate small (like golden era guitars) but made it out of a different material for the Modern Deluxe.

Thanks for the clarification. My reading comprehension isn’t on point today. It looks like Taylor made the larger bridge plate .

Thanks for the review.
I'm happy with my D18.

Nice review Dave. is it ok to say that to my ear in order of preference, Authentic, HD, and then Deluxe? The Authentic and HD are very close but the edge goes to the Authentic IMO

Mrbirdog

Of course! These guitars are like different flavors of ice cream. We all have different taste buds and ears. :-)

You're welcome. What's not to like about a D-18? :-)

That was an outstanding, comprehensive and concise review; very enjoyable to read Dave! I'm eager to try a Modern Deluxe, but none in my area yet. Thank you Dave for sharing and look forward to hearing your thoughts on this as you spend more time with this guitar... congrats!

eric

Hey, thanks for taking the time to post this nice write up and review. I look forward to trying out the OM-28MD as it has the wider string spacing at the bridge.

Thanks for a thorough review. The Modern Deluxe sounded best to my ears in the Spoon Phillips video.

Most useful review. Thanks for focusing on a part of the guitar that isn't talked about as much.

Awesome, well written review!

The D-28MD still eludes me. I've played the other 3, with the OM-28MD just this past weekend at the Philadelphia Expo show. Recall that the OM-28MD is the only one of the four that has the wider taper neck at the 12th, and it really makes a BIG difference in perceived feel to those like me who prefer a meatier neck. I don't like the PA taper combined with the shallow MD neck, but on the OM-28MD the neck felt thicker and deeper. I'd like to measure the depth top to bottom in the upper frets to know for sure if all four are the same there or if the OM-28MD neck really is deeper too.

Anyway, it was a GREAT sounding and playing guitar.

I’m claiming Martin ignorance. Where does the reimagined series fit into this? What’s the difference?

When Martin “reimagined” the Standard Series, they incorporated many features from their “Vintage” models then discontinued them. For example, a reimagined HD28 is for all intents and purposes an HD28V with the modern neck. This left a natural void in their lineup between the Standards and the much pricier Authentics. The MDs can be viewed as hotrodded Standards. It’s a factory option package, like buying a Z06 instead of a standard Vette. Same bones, more performance. That said, some people don’t like stiff suspensions and forced induction engines.

One important note about the 000-28 model....Have you ever tried to find one with 1/4” scalloped bracing? For some unknown reason, Martin braces the Standard 000-28 like a Dreadnought (5-16”). The 000-28MD, with 1/4” VTS-Adi, GE Scalloped bracing bonded to the top with protein glue is the lightest braced 000-28 in the modern era.