2000 Martin OM-28V Flattop Guitar

Update 2022: my friend Ed bought this guitar last winter and has been loving it. He found a similar but slightly different Martin and so this one's back here for sale. In the meantime, the center-seam on the lower-bout had opened-up a bit from dryness so I cleated that and filled it and it's good to go -- I've taken new photos and added them to the post. Now back to the original writeup...

Well, dang it, if it doesn't have, that sound.! It's that ker-plunky, stone-in-the-water, lower-mids, clean bass thing. It's that woody plunk when you hit the EAD strings nice and hard. That's what I associate with a good, rosewood-bodied 000-size guitar. It's a clean plunk that sounds like the guitar on so many old country songs.

Anyhow, this Y2K Martin is a "vintage series" model and that means it's built (internally) along the lines of the original '30s OM-28 models. That's scalloped bracing, herringbone trim, true long scale, ebony fretboard and bridge, long (glued-in) through-slot saddle, and open-backed tuners. It sounds a lot like an oldie and I'm sure the 20+ years under its belt thus far have helped it along that path as well. This one has a good, strong, punchy, fundamental tone, too -- it's not too complicated and so I think singers would have a good time vocalizing over it.

It's here for consignment and I didn't really need to do anything to it save restring it, clean it up a little, and adjust the compensation on the top of the saddle just a hair. It's been stable in service, that's for sure, and it's ready to go. Recently, however, I had to cleat the center seam and seal it on the lower bout -- it had dried-out a bit and separated over winter.

I love that the top wood has turned buttery-yellow and that the rosewood on the back and sides is a rich, coffee-like brown with distinct striping to the grain. It begs for cream and sugar!

Repairs included: restring, setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid Indian rosewood

Bracing type: x

Bridge: ebony

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights

Neck shape: medium C/soft V

Board radius: ~14-16"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 25 3/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 15 1/8"

Body depth: 4"

Condition notes: it's quite clean throughout with just a little weather-check to the top finish on the grain as you'd expect. There's one white scuff on the sides (pictured) and a couple of small scuffs on the headstock corners and one little chip-out to the finish on the top that was hard to photo. There's also a little rubbing at the edges of the headstock's top. Someone also installed a strap button into the heel cap and there's a pearl dot covering where the screwhole used to be. The frets have so little wear I didn't need to level and dress them -- they're good -- but I don't mind doing that if desired by the next owner. The saddle has a little over 1/16" extra height over the deck on the low/high Es and a bit more in the center, just like the factory setup on a '30s Martin. Note that the center seam on the lower-bout had separated but is now glued-up with cleats and filled/sealed.

It comes with: an original TKL hard case.