2016 Martin CEO-8.2E Jumbo Flattop Guitar

Well, this is a cool Gibson J-200 Martin, huh? Martin's CEO models seems to have issued a number of Gibson-inspired designs over the last decade. This one's one of the more recent builds and it's very much a Martin-i-fied J in its shape, design, and sound. Like all jumbos of this persuasion, most of its volume punches out in a big, balanced rumble that you don't hear so much from behind. Compared to a maple-backed J-200-style guitar, though, this mahogany iteration sounds a little thicker and less glassy. It's an excellent chordal beast.

A consignor sent this in -- he'd purchased it recently but is forced to feed the money fire at the moment. All I had to do was unbox it and give it just a few tiny adjustments to the setup. This is the "E" version of the 8.2 and that means that it has a Fishman acoustic magnetic pickup installed (a lot like a Baggs M1 in vibe).

If you're pushing this pickup through an acoustic amp or mixer board with flat settings, it has a good, balanced, clean sound that's very resistant to feedback and so makes a perfect choice for "rock band" use. To further that "rock band" aesthetic, if you switch this into an electric amp and crank the gain on it, it really does perform a lot like a nice jazzbox pickup and can get downright snarly, bluesy, and nasty. I sort-of think that's the point of a modern soundhole pickup -- use an A/B box and switch it between amps and you have a dual-purpose instrument -- acoustic for banging chords or playing sweet and electric for leads/fills and rawk.

It seems to be wearing Martin Retro (monel) strings in gauges 54w-12. I'd imagine that the pickup would work fine with phosphor bronze which would give the guitar a much more crisp, punchier vibe. I like the Retros but they are definitely their own thing and lend a very "vintage" voice to the tone.

Scale length: 25 3/8"
Nut width: 1 3/4"
String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"
String spacing at saddle: 2 1/8"

Body length: 21"
Lower bout width: 17"
Upper bout width: 12 5/8"

Side depth at endpin: 4 7/8"

Top wood: solid European spruce
Back/sides wood: solid mahogany
Neck wood: mahogany
Fretboard: ebony

Neck shape: 16" radius on the board, slim C rear

Bridge: ebony

Nut: bone 

Saddle: bone

Condition notes: it's as-new save a few minor scuff/dings at the very top edge of the headstock and only the most minor usewear on the pickguard.

It comes with: its original, hard, TKL, Alumin-X case and original registration/sales information.