Martin Guitars - Custom Shop 0-18

C. F. Martin & Co. has reintroduced a brace in its Custom Shop 0-18 model that the factory no longer produces as standard: the hand-crafted X-Brace GE-Scalloped, made from solid Adirondack spruce. This lightweight design allows the sound to resonate freely rather than dampening it, a choice that harks back to pre-war instruments.

The 0-14 Fret / Concert body shape draws on a classic brand design, with a back and sides made from genuine mahogany finished in Vintage Gloss. Faux tortoiseshell binding frames the top, and the matching pickguard carries this same colour from the edge of the body right up to the neck.

The solid mahogany neck, featuring a GE Modified Low Oval profile and a Vintage Gloss finish, glides smoothly under the palm without any snagging. The ebony fingerboard has 20 frets and features Old Style 18 abalone inlays, a design inherited from Martin’s very first catalogue.

The ebony bridge, in the GE Modern Belly style with a removable saddle, transmits the vibration of the strings to the top without any unnecessary steps, supported by a bone nut that distributes the tension across the six strings. The open-back nickel tuners with oval buttons maintain tuning, and the Authentic Acoustic Lifespan 2.0 Phosphor Bronze Light strings come factory-fitted, ready to play.

Each instrument undergoes a PLEK adjustment, a digital process that aligns the fingerboard before it leaves the workshop in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The model is available in a left-handed version, comes with a hard case, and is included in the 2026 catalogue with a limited lifetime warranty.