Martin Custom Shop 000-42 Guatemalan Rosewood - USA 2019

Some guitars are made to be played and some guitars are made to be looked at. This very special Custom Shop Martin 000-42, with looks that are only matched by its tone, is designed for both.  

The 000 style guitars by Martin are legendary. The 000-style guitars date back all the way to 1902. It was the biggest guitar Martin had made at the time. While not as big as the later dreadnought instruments by Martin, the bigger body projected a big, full sound, capable of delivery a good balance of low end to bring out the low E and A strings. The 14-fret join 000 style Martins appeared in the late 1930s. This design has become one of the most common in modern iterations of the guitar.  

The more you look at this guitar, the more beautiful it gets. Martin are truly in a league of their own. And this, the top tier model of the 000-style guitar is a clear testament to this fact. The guitar drips with abalone and highly figured Koa binding throughout. Your eyes wander about the binding like a maze, constantly picking up more and more of the impressive woodwork only a select few guitar makers are capable of.  

The back and sides of this guitar are a light coloured Guatemalan Rosewood, the colour of which matches the Ambertone grade 7 Sitka Spruce top. Two abalone snowflake inlays adorn the ebony bridge.  

The sound of this guitar is big. A wonderful warm, woody resonance comes forth making you want to hold every chord and have the resonance wash over. It makes you want to slow down and appreciate every note – truly the mark of an excellent instrument. The neck is quintessentially Martin. A wide and flat slab of ebony with a 14” radius and 46mm width at the nut. Not too big, but plenty of real estate to aid in articulating chords and single note passages.  

For the right guitarist, this guitar is ‘it’. There are no better, just different from here on out. A joy to play, equally enjoyable to look at and would be the pride and joy of any lucky enough to own it.  

Specs: 

Scale length: 24.9” 

Fretboard Radius: 14 

Action at 1st fret: 0.4mm 

Action at 12th fret: 2.25mm 

Neck depth at 1st fret: 21.1mm  

Neck depth at 12th fret: 23.5mm 

Nut Width: 46mm 

12 fret width: 57.6mm

Weight: 3.97lbs / 1.77kg 

Neck material: Mahogany with ebony fretboard 

Fretboard inlays: Martin Abalone Diamonds and Ovals  

Body: 000 with 42 wood and abalone binding 

Body size at lower bout: 385mm 

Tuners: Grand Tune openback 

Pickguard: Dark tortoiseshell 

Bridge: Ebony with Abalone inlays 

Electronics: N/A