1969 Martin 000-18 Flattop Guitar

There's no denying a good 000-18. They have a "folk guitar" feel in size and a "bigger guitar" sound. This one does it -- those lower-mids are sweet and delicious. I usually favor 00-size Martin instruments because I feel like they respond faster for my playing and so I perceive that as more cut, but this guy snaps right-off. The shorter scale gives my left hand a more-relaxed experience and the tone a little more chunk, too -- something I always appreciate from the 0-to-000 Martins.

This box is here on consignment and while it came into the shop relatively clean visually, it did need a bit of effort to get it playing right. Now that work's done it's got a good, tall saddle and it plays fast and easy.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, replacement pickguard (to replace an earlier replacement), saddle slot widening and a new bone saddle to solve intonation issues, repairs to two of the original Grover tuners, minor cleaning, and setup.

Setup notes: action is spot-on at 3/32" bass and 1/16" treble at the 12th fret. The neck is straight and it's strung with 54w-12 standard lights.

Scale length: 24 7/8"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"

Body length: 19 1/4"

Lower bout width: 15 1/4"

Side depth at endpin: 4 1/8"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Fretboard: rosewood

Bridge: rosewood

Neck feel: slim-medium soft V/C shape, ~14" board radius

Neck wood: mahogany

Weight: 3 lb 13 oz

Condition notes: it's all-original except for the saddle and replacement pickguard. It had a (bad) replacement guard on it already. This one is just slightly oversize because of that. The (new, bone) saddle and its slot had to be widened due to Martin placing the bridge 1/16"+ off target when the guitar was made. There's minor playwear and usewear throughout with a couple of "dulled" spots in the finish on the back-lower-bout and back of the neck, but I couldn't even get them to photograph. It's hard to notice these things. There are no cracks but there's the usual weather-check/aging to the finish as you'd expect for its age. I had to solder two of the Grover tuner covers back into place (the cover-mount posts tend to break on these) so there's a little bit of solder at the cover/plate joint right near the lower mounting screws on them. The fretboard extension dips down a hair from the rest of the board a little (reverse of "ski jump" problem).

It comes with: a Fender-branded hard case.