New offerings feature unique tonewoods, custom colors and finishes and anniversary models.
Martin has announced a slew of Special and Limited Edition acoustic models to be unveiled at the 2019 Winter NAMM show. Among the guitars are the GPCX1AE 20th Anniversary, celebrating two decades of Martin’s X Series; the Sailor Jerry artwork-adorned D Homeward and D True Love; and the DXMAE 30th Anniversary, celebrating Martin’s Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico, manufacturing plant’s three decades of operation. The full lineup of models is below.
From the company:
GPCX1AE 20th Anniversary
In 1999, Martin broke into the world of alternative materials and created a whole new class of high-quality guitars: the X Series.
In the 20 years since, the X Series has evolved to include multiple design changes and alternative materials.
This Grand Performance model, featuring a solid hardwood neck, pearl pattern fingerboard and rosette inlay, and Morado fingerboard and bridge, harkens back to the earliest days of the X Series.
DXMAE 30th Anniversary
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The year 2019 represents a milestone in the history of Martin’s Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico, manufacturing plant—30 years of operation.
In that time, Martin colleagues in Mexico have produced world-class guitars and strings, and helped put affordable, high-quality instruments in the hands of countless musicians.
Custom artwork from Robert F. Goetzl on the DXMAE honors these employees and features elements of Mexican national symbols on a custom HPL Dreadnought.
The model also includes Macassar HPL back and sides, laminated birch neck, and a Richlite fingerboard and bridge.
D Homeward
Martin celebrates famed American-style tattoo pioneer Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins in this special edition Dreadnought guitar. It features elements of Collins’s work, titled “Homeward Bound,” inlaid with seashell and hand-selected wood species on the headplate, fingerboard, and body.
The artwork takes shape in a multitude of rich, earthy colors using a combination of pearl and natural wood tones. The wood tones are enhanced using a technique called sand shading.
In addition to the custom artwork, this guitar features flamed koa back and sides with quilted bubinga binding and a custom inlaid koa headplate.
The top is heavy bearclaw Sitka spruce and features non-scalloped, forward-shifted bracing found in Martin’s recently reimagined Standard Series.
D True Love
This special edition Dreadnought guitar features elements of Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins’s work, titled “True Love,” inlaid with seashell and hand-selected wood species on the headplate, fingerboard, and body.
In addition to the custom artwork, this guitar features figured East Indian rosewood back and sides with flamed koa binding and a custom inlaid East Indian rosewood headplate.
The top is heavy bearclaw Sitka spruce and features non-scalloped, forward-shifted bracing found in Martin’s recently reimagined Standard series.
OMSS 2019
This special edition Auditorium-style guitar features an Adirondack spruce top with a multi-striped, abalone pearl rosette and quilted sapele back and sides with European flamed maple binding around the body and fingerboard.
It is adorned with ultra-modern appointments, including a carbon fiber pickguard, carbon fibre and titanium open-gear tuners, and red dot Liquidmetal bridge pins.
CEO-9
This 00 14-fret slope-shoulder acoustic guitar exhibits a curly mango top with a gloss mango sunset burst finish, paired with highly figured curly mango back and sides.
Other features include antique white binding and heelcap with multi-stripe border, a compensated bone saddle, Liquidmetal bridge pins on an ebony bridge, and an ebony fingerboard with Style 42 snowflake inlay.
The look is completed with vintage open-gear tuners and a stylized script logo on a faux tortoise headstock plate.
The model also comes with a modified V neck for fast finger work.
Each model includes a label signed by Chris Martin IV and numbered in sequence.
This limited edition custom 42-style Dreadnought features a Carpathian spruce top with aging toner, East Indian rosewood back and sides, and European flamed maple binding with multi-stripe border around the body, fingerboard, and headplate.
It includes forward-shifted X-bracing, a high-performance neck taper for easy playability, nickel open-gear tuners, and an abalone rosette with multi-stripe border and abalone fingerboard inlay.
This model is limited to 50 instruments.
The OMCE Shadow was inspired by Martin co-workers who were enamored of some dramatic finishes found in the solid body electric guitar world.
This Orchestra-style model is the successful result of experimentation with various finishing techniques. It features a Sitka spruce top and quilted maple back and sides with silver binding and a unique translucent black sunburst finish.
The top is accented with a multi-stripe abalone rosette with a multi-stripe border, and it features Martin’s high-performance taper neck for easy playability.
This model is limited to 50 instruments.
The OMCE Blaze was inspired by Martin coworkers who were enamored of some dramatic finishes found in the solid body electric guitar world.
This Orchestra-style beauty is the successful result of experimentation with various finishing techniques.
It features a Sitka spruce top with a translucent blaze sunburst finish and quilted maple back and sides with a mahogany burst finish.
The top is accented with an abalone rosette with a multi-stripe border, and it features Martin’s high-performance taper neck for easy playability.
The headplate is adorned with an abalone stylized script logo to complement the rosette. This model is limited to 50 instruments.
Other new models include a D-45 Excalibur, a collaboration with inlay artist Harvey Leach that features a custom inlay of a dragon intertwined around both a custom rosette and a custom back purfling, and a Size 1 De Goni Authentic 1843 that celebrates the very first Size 1 model and the earliest X-braced guitar ever documented.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
