NGD: Martin 000-28 Custom Shop Authentic

[Methos1979]

That's a beauty - congrats! I want to play one of these but I'm really afraid to!

I think the burst ones with level 1 are incredibly gorgeous. I'd even go level 2.

[CopyCat]

Great guitar and great story getting it. You chose well. Martin really hit a sweet spot with the CA 000-28 (the dread version as well).

[martingitdave]

For those of us lucky enough to get our hands on this series of guitars, you definitely picked the right one. Play it in good health and know you don’t need to look for another 000.

[jontewright]

That is a lovely looking 000-28.
Congratulations and a nice story too.

With this and your scissortail you're all set!

[Pura Vida]

Beautiful guitar! Congrats on finding the one that's perfect for you. I hope it brings countless hours of playing enjoyment.

[jmjohnson]

Cheers to the new 000! Great choice you’re sure to enjoy a loooong time!

[Goldscalpel]

You are so fortunate to find your dream guitar. I have the Sunburst version and love mine.

[vanceen]

I bought a 000-28 MV from Slim at Fuller's. Great guy and great guitar, with a 1 13/16" nut width.

I later sold it to buy a Steve Kinnaird custom build.

[rollypolly]

Wow congrats! Looks like a truly amazing guitar!

[vashondan2018]

Absolutely gorgeous and GAS promoting. May she serve you well.

[blindboyjimi]

Great guitar. Play it in good health.

[TJNies]

When I was looking at the Custom Authentic guitars, the local dealer had every combination (D, 000 / sunburst, natural) EXCEPT the 000-28 Aged Natural.
I came thinking I'd get that one, but totally in love with my Amberburst 000-28 CAA. I could have waited for one to arrive, but like you, may have found it didn't quite sound as good.

I never imagined EIR would sound so good, having been told other RWs are so much better.

[negriljerry]

Originally Posted by cc132

I apologize for the long post. I don't really have anyone in my life that I can talk this enthusiastically about guitars with, so I'm giving you folks the whole story.

I've been planning on buying myself a really high-end instrument at some point this year. This isn't exactly a small purchase for me, so I wanted to be very intentional and careful in my selection. My original plan was to either go vintage or custom-built, but I wanted to play everything I could get my hands on while making a decision.

I've been really lucky in my life to have owned some really great guitars from builders like Collings, Gibson, Martin, and Greven, among others (a lot of these were bought and sold 10+ years ago, when you could occasionally catch these builds for under $2,500, which certainly isn't true today). The only guitar I've owned for the last few years is a Waterloo Scissortail, which is a terrific guitar in its own right.

I had a work function in Houston last week, so I decided to pop into Fuller's Guitars. They have a world-class selection of instruments, and I was lucky to be able to play some really great guitars from Collings, Santa Cruz, Preston Thompson, and Gibson. All very nice, but none that really grabbed me. I had heard really good things about these Authentics and knew that they had a few in stock, so I asked to play an aged, sunburst 000-28 they had. As soon as I played it, my body filled with a combination of endorphins and nausea. The endorphins were because I had never in my entire life heard a new guitar this good, and the nausea was because I realized I was about to spend $6200 on a guitar.

The guy working at Fullers was a terrific gentleman by the name of Slim, who happens to be an incredible guitar player who loves John Fahey and the Delta Blues as much as I do. He has his own artist series Gibson and National guitars. He was incredibly patient and sat with me for a quite a while, and was kind of enough to play some Fahey for a while so I could hear the guitar for the other side. It was enchanting. I told him I would need to think it over, but I left and went straight to the bank to get the cash. I drove around for a while thinking over my decision, and went back about an hour before they closed.

When I went the second time, I noticed that they had a natural top version as well, so I asked if I could play it. It made me dizzy. It was somehow just as good as the sunburst (they also had a non-aged sunburst, which was a fine guitar, but didn't grab me). The tone between the two was subtly different, and I literally could not make up my mind. Another employee was kind enough to sit with me while I A/B'd the two. We agreed that there were slight differences, but that they were equals. It was overwhelming. I literally couldn't make a decision, so I decided to sleep on it for a few days.

The next day, I found out that a shop in Austin also had two in stock - one non-aged sunburst, and one aged natural. I snuck out of work to go play both of them. They were both perfectly good guitars, with the natural top being quite a bit better out of the two, but neither were as good to my ears as the two extraordinary ones I had played in Houston.

I realized while laying in bed that night that, if I were to go vintage or custom, my best case scenario would be ending up with a guitar as good as the two in Houston. Realistically, I couldn't possibly expect a guitar to be any better than those were. That's when I decided to go back and buy one.

I took the afternoon off work and drove back to Houston (roughly a 300 mile round-trip). I A/B'd them again, and asked Slim to play me a little Fahey on both. He enthusiastically obliged. While I could have been happy with either of them, and despite the fact that I really wanted to like the sunburst, my gut told me that the natural top was the one. The difference in tone was very subtle, but to my ears, the natural top was just a little more dry-sounding, which is what I prefer. The second employee who had helped me on my first trip told me that he knew I was going to buy that guitar the second I started playing it based on my body language. He was right.

The end result of this is that I now own what I truly believe to be one of the best guitars I've ever touched in my entire 20 years of playing. The tone of it is absolutely extraordinary - I find a lot of Martins to be tonally overwhelming, with too much bass and too many overtones, but this one is perfectly balanced. It has incredible presence, unbelievable note separation, fantastic playability, and looks amazing. It has an unusually present midrange for a Martin. It's haunted with tone. The kind of guitar that just knows what it's supposed to sound like. I was a little skeptical of the aging, but Martin did a really tasteful job with it. Many of the guitars that I played on my search were more expensive than this one, but none of them really came close tonally to my ears.

My current dilemma is whether to have it set up or not. It has a glued-in thru-saddle, which means that it will need to be sanded from the top. Since it's aged, I'm concerned that having bright-white freshly exposed saddle might look out of place. It also sounds so incredible that I'm hesitant to make any changes at all to it. The factory setup isn't too much higher than what I'm used to, so I think I'm going to give it a month or two to see if I can adjust. I'd appreciate any advice you folks might have on this.

I haven't been able to stop playing it since it came home. I couldn't be happier. I never would have imagined that this journey would end in me buying a new, off-the-rack Martin, but here we are. They knocked it out of the park with these. I just can't imagine a guitar being better than this.













PS - if you're on the hunt for one of these, this is the one I was A/Bing with the one I ended up buying. It's just as extraordinary as mine, and the folks at Fuller's couldn't be better to buy from. Someone is going to be very happy when they bring this one home.

Great post, big smile. Way out of my range (by choice I guess, since I sold my '65 Gibson ES-335 a few months ago and could go nut) but my dream ax is a perfect 000.

Setup? Time is on your side, just keep on pickin' her as is and you'll know if any tweaks are required. Congrats!

[383roller]

I do want to try one of these, reviews are all great. That’s a peach for sure. I know the comfort of that size far outlasts the D allure.

[colins]

Congratulations! Great story and great guitar. You make me want to go out and try one.