Custom Martin 00-28

[FeliceTaylor]

I a having a custom built through Music Villa - sanded thinner than the norm with a thinner finish as well. I chose swiss spruce as a topwood, and EIR as the back and sides - other aesthetic details include fine herringbone trim, vintage toner, and a triangle pearl rosette (identical to the look of Mark Knopfler's signature Martin but on a significantly smaller bodied Martin). the build is full scale, with no inlay or binding on the fretboard, ivoroid binding on the back and front of the body, and mother of pear inlay "CFMartin & Co. established..." on the unbound headstock.

I just signed the build sheet papers today and paid 1/2 down. Now, while I would love to say that I have played many martins before arriving at the decision to use these particular tonewoods for this custom build, I cannot; that is just not the case because 1 - I'm a lefty, and 2 - I just don't have the time to travel to guitar shops all over the place so as to find lefty guitars. As I'm sure many lefties can attest, we often have to go the custom route if we have our hearts set on any particular specs that fall outside of Martin's standard series - and when we commission such builds, we have rarely played a similar guitar prior to signing the contract.

So i am posting here to ask anyone who cares to comment what they think of this wood combination on a grand concert sized Martin. I still have a small window in which I could change the tonewoods i have specified. I talked a great deal to the guys at the store over the phone - Paul and Chad - truly lovely lovely men who have been incredibly helpful in every respect; this is the third Martin Custom that i have commissioned but my first time working with Music Villa (I chose them due to the thinner nitro finish and thinner sanded topwood option that they advertise as a means of achieving a more responsive guitar - we will see. Does anyone have a guitar with Swiss spruce and EIR who can comment on what they think of the combination?