Martin has recently upgraded its Standard Series. Gone is the ‘Reimagined’ moniker but retained are all of that range’s upgrades, plus many more that are significant for looks, playability and tone.
”One of the key updates,” says Martin, “is the use of Sitka spruce Golden Era [GE] top bracing, as featured on the Modern Deluxe Series. It offers a more vintage, ‘breathy’ tone with enhanced sustain.”
Along with this comes a GE modified low oval neck profile, “optimised for vintage appeal with minimal increase in total mass”. Other playability enhancements include a thinner fingerboard with comfort bevelled edge, and more smoothly contoured belly bridge with bone (or sometimes ebony) pins.
Aesthetic updates include a long diamond volute, angled bone nut and a sleeker-looking heel.
A big usability hike is that the jack socket, end-pin and flip-top battery compartment are mounted on a plate at the base of the body. So no more scrabbling around trying to fish out that dead battery.
The OM-28’s staple ingredients remain, of course, such as Indian rosewood back and sides, Sitka spruce top, ‘select hardwood’ neck, an ebony ’board with abalone ‘diamonds and squares’ inlays, ebony bridge, herringbone purfling, rosewood headstock overlay, and gold transfer decal. Tuners are Waverley-style open gear.
LR Baggs’ renowned Anthem system combines a studio-quality condenser mic with Baggs’ Element pickup to provide a transparent tone that’s good enough to plug directly into a recording desk or to supply a brilliantly balanced out-front sound.
While Martin’s 000 and OM models share the same body shape and size, the OM’s scale length is 645.2mm (25.4 inches) compared with the 000’s 632.5mm (24.9 inches).
Fingerstylists love OMs for their clarity and projection, plus the wide 44.45mm nut. But they remain great strummers, too
That extra half an inch provides a slightly tauter feel, for a snappier tone with strong lows and mids but plenty of top to cut through. Fingerstylists love OMs for their clarity and projection, plus the wide 44.45mm nut. But they remain great strummers, too.
The thinner, bevelled-edge ’board and lower action, plus all the other little tweaks that Martin has applied, leave the smallest ever quality gap between these instruments and Custom Shop models costing way more. While four grand is no snip, this is everything one could want in a top-grade electro-acoustic guitar.
- The Martin Standard Series OM28E is out now, priced $3,899/£4,099. See Martin Guitar for more details.
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
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