With the Martin 00-18 Standard Series, the American manufacturer Martin presents a traditional 00-14 fret acoustic guitar with finest materials and an extremely tasteful look. For a well-balanced sound, the manufacturer uses selected woods that are carefully matched to each other so that the tone can develop particularly easily and completely even at the slightest touch. A solid neck construction ensures easy playability in all registers and, together with a carefully crafted nut and bridge inlay, a clean intonation over the entire scale length. The simple appearance of the Martin 00-18 Standard Series is decorated with subtle ornaments that perfectly match the tinted woods and have hardly changed since its first edition, giving the acoustic guitar the impression of holding a real piece of history in your hands. The scope of delivery includes a sturdy Ply-Hardshell-Case and a warranty card.
The choice of the top material in particular is fundamental for a fast and perfect sound development. Therefore the manufacturer relies on the North American Sitka Spruce, which has been used for decades for the construction of the finest musical instruments due to its fine structure and high vibration behavior. Thanks to a Scalloped-X-Bracing and a wafer-thin varnish, the high quality spruce wood can move freely and produces a fast responding tone, which gives the instrument a powerful expression in the mid- and high frequencies and fades out long lasting in the overtones. An aging toner finish allows the observer a deep insight into the even and tight grain of the wood, which is gently emphasized by a simple faux-tortoise binding, a corresponding faux-tortoise pickguard and a filigree Old-Style-18-Multi-Stripe rosette.
In order to give the entire sound of the Martin 00-18 Standard Series a warm saturation, a body of high-quality mahogany wood is constructed for the 18 Standard Series, which creates golden reflections depending on the angle of view and lighting conditions. Because of its even structure, the tropical wood colors the sound in the middle frequencies with a gentle warmth that gives the entire sound a soothing note and perfectly complements the bright frequencies of the top wood. The right varnish also plays an important role in the thin back material, as it allows the raw material to vibrate freely and promotes a fast and powerful response. A thin Style-18 backstrip divides the opened back wood almost imperceptibly and emphasizes the symmetry of the fine grain in a very aesthetic way. In combination with the dark binding it creates a soft transition between the individual components of the entire body.
For a high level of playing comfort, the manufacturer uses a Select Hardwood neck equipped with a modified low oval profile. Thanks to a meticulously crafted bone saddle with a width of 44.45 mm and a compensated bridge inlay, the neck not only intonates perfectly over the entire 632 mm scale length, but is also easy and clean to play up to the highest of the 20 frets. A noble ebony fingerboard with Old-Style 18-Abalone inlays perfectly rounds off the neck construction in its function and value and harmonizes optically perfectly with the other materials of the body. The characteristic Martin headstock is equipped with open nickel tuners, which in combination with the venerable Script Old-Style overlay are a subtle reminder of the company's almost 200-year history and enable the player to tune precisely with their smooth-running Butterbean knobs.