2024 Martin Custom Shop 000-28 Authentic 1937 Stage 1 Aging Acoustic Guitar- Used

Martin’s recent Authentic Series models are almost always impressive, both sonically and in visually, but now and then we see one that enters the WBV category (code for “Why Buy Vintage?”). This very recent 000-28 Authentic 1937 gets that assessment from everyone here who plays it, and adds the “why do you want to play a long-scale OM?” question into the equation. If you tend to judge guitars by how they sound this one has it all, with warmth, balance, and lots of headroom (unless you use alternate tunings that drop the 6th string well below D, there’s no benefit to the longer OM scale compared to this example). The playability is equally impressive, and as you’d expect there’s no fret wear or signs of repairs or alterations.

A few details on this particular Custom Shop example that we should note:

It has Level 1 aging, which appears to be mostly some crazing lines in the finish on the top and a nice job of aging the bone saddle and nut.

The Adirondack top is NOT torrefied (which Martin calls VTS).

There’s an adjustable truss rod in the neck, unlike standard Authentic models, and body binding is antique white, not grained ivoroid.