PricePaid: 2650 USD (New) Purchased From: Sweetwater Model Year: 2004Features: [9] This is the 00028 Eric Clapton model from the Vintage Series.
Back and sides are made from East Indian Rosewood and the top is Solid Sitka Spruce. The neck is Mahogany with a V shape. It's a small scale guitar at 24.9" with 21 frets.
Machineheads are Gotoh Nickel open geared w/ butterbean knobs. It comes with a 533 Geib Style case that has a stunning green velvet finish. One thing worth mentioning about the case is the handle is excellent, well made and soft. So unlike many high end cases with molded handles. It's a pleasure to carry around. Sounds: [10] Great for blues and in particular fingerstyle which is what these things are made for ;) but is also responds well to a pick.
The sounds this produces are exactly what I want from an acoustic. i.e. nice rich and sweet tones. With something of this quality and using great woods it will surely improve with age too. Action, Fit & Finish: [9] Looks absolutely stunning and brought a smile to my face when I opened the case for the first time.
The rosewood back looks simply stunning and you can tell you have a high end guitar in your hands. I can still smell the finish when I take it out of the case months after I got it. Reliability & Durability: [10] So far so good. There's not really alot that can go wrong as there are no electrics to worry about. I do handle it with great care and it's not really a gigging guitar - I have a couple of preamp enabled acoustics for that.
It looks like it is coated with cellulose which will never be as tough as poly but this will age with character.
It's a Martin - you know it's well made!
Overall Rating: [9] As mentioned above I have a couple of other acoustics but I really wanted something of quality with the vintage feel. I also wanted something that would last the rest of my lifetime and also age well. This is the result of my search. I'm not a particular fan of signature models but this had everything that I really wanted.
These Martin 00028 bodies are just lovely to play. |