$600-$899AcousticGuitarsMartinUsed Gear

Martin Custom D Classic Rosewood

Hey there! Today I’m going to be reviewing my Martin Custom D Classic Rosewood guitar. And folks, she’s a beaut!

The Martin Custom D Classic Rosewood is a Made in USA guitar. That’s right! The good ol’ US of A! She’s constructed using all solid wood with a Sitka Spruce top, mahogany neck, Indian rosewood sides and back, and a rosewood finger board, and in a a satin finish. The body has a tortoise shell binding, and the neck has pearloid dot inlays.

OK, so I know what you’re thinking. “Where’s the high gloss finish? What about the beautiful Martin bindings and inlays? How am I supposed to look cool playing such a plain looking guitar?” I got more bad news for you, the Martin logo on the headstock I’m pretty sure is gold foil tape. And when you run your fingers across it, you can feel it’s raised. *cringes*

When it comes down to it, looks don’t matter. It’s about the sound and the tone. This thing can project in a room, and if you can strum in time and carry a tune, you’ll turn some heads. It really does sound great, so don’t let the guitar’s ‘no frills’ look fool you. It’s got the personality of a classic Martin guitar, and that’s why this guitar shines. Hats off to the guys at Martin for stripping their high end guitars down to the bear bones and getting a simple and affordable option out to the masses.

Strings – I play my Martin Custom D Classic Rosewood guitar with D’Addario .012 – .053 Light Gauge Phospher Bronze strings.

Picks – It varies. I like Fender Heavies for my electric guitar playing, and sometimes when I’m flatpicking. Usually I’m just strumming and banging on this thing though, so most of the time I’m using a Clayton USA .38mm rounded triangle pick.

Custom D Classic Ratings (- out of 10, 10 being the best score)

Action – 6. Out of the box, the action on the strings was a bit high. I removed the strings, inspected the bridge saddle and found the saddle was not glued into place. I removed the bridge saddle and sanded the back of the saddle VERY carefully. Once I had removed about an eight of an inch, I put the saddle back. The guys at Martin did a great job making the slot in the bridge for the saddle, because when you put the saddle back in, you can hear it *click* into place. Now the action is fantastic, and the guitar plays easily. I’d give it an 8 or a 9 in it’s current condition, but I don’t want to mislead you when you pick up your first Custom D off a wall or out of a box. I’m giving the, “as received from the factory” action a 6.

Overall Sound – 8. Even before I lowered the action, this guitar sounded great. The guys at Real Guitars in San Francisco worked with me on the price, and for $868, this guitar cannot be beat. I mean it. It sounds incredible. An 8 out of 10. As of this writing, this is the best Made in USA acoustic guitar I’ve heard for a $1,000 or less. Now, if there were a D18 or D28 in the room, I’m not sure I would stick to the 8/10 rating, but those guitars are also 2.5x or almost 3x more expensive. If I’d paid 2.5x more for a guitar, I’d expect it to sound better too. Take a listen, and let me know what you think in the comments. I recorded the following sound bite using Presonus Studio One Artist 4, Presonus’s AudioBox iTwo, and a Shure SM7B microphone.

Recorded using an SM7B Microphone

Modifications: LR Baggs Anthem Pickup

Yeah, I’m a sucker for modifications. If I could, I would never tinker with my toys, but good golly Miss Molly I just can’t stop that itch. I took this guitar to Gryphon Stringed Instruments and asked them to install an L.R. Baggs Anthem pickup. The L.R. Baggs Anthem comes with an element pickup and a tru-mic and allows to you mix between the two sounds. I’ll elaborate on this pickup more in a later post, but if you play live, this is a great acoustic guitar pickup. The parts and the install cost $460. So now my mods and the guitar costs add up to a grand total of $1328. It’s still more than $1,000 cheaper than a D18 or D28. So if you’re on a budget, do not pass up this guitar. Here’s a preview of how it sounds plugged in!!

LR Baggs Anthem – Tru-Mic

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