Special 28 Style Orchestra Model VTS Acoustic Guitar

This exclusive Special 28 Style Orchestra Model VTS acoustic guitar couples vintage sound with modern playability and craftsmanship. This guitar was designed to target the highly-collectible vintage sound and tone of Martin’s Golden Era, the 1930s.

Orchestra Model
Martin invented the Orchestra model in 1929 for a world-famous banjo player named Perry Bechtel. During the 1920s, the banjo was the most popular stringed instrument. As the Roaring 20s died with the Great Depression, Perry Bechtel realized people didn’t feel so "roaring," and that the sound of the banjo was dying. If he was to survive as a musician, he needed to go in the direction of the new sound, and that was the guitar.

So, in early 1929, Perry took his banjo to Martin, and said, "Can you build me a small-bodied guitar with a long neck." Martin experimented, and eventually created the Orchestra Model. To create this new guitar, Martin used their auditorium body, brought the shoulders of the guitar in, and joined the neck to the body at the 14th fret. (Prior to this OM, acoustic guitars were joined to the body at the 12th fret). When Perry heard that Martin had created him a new guitar, he could hardly wait to play his instrument. And as many of you know, the Martin OM re-defined the acoustic guitar, by being the first acoustic guitar to have 14-frets clear of the body. This 14-fret design became so popularity with players that Martin integrated into their dreadnought models in 1934.

Vintage Tone System
With Martin’s revolutionary Vintage Tone System, they are able to target the sound of Martin guitars within a ten-year period. Martin’s VTS is a proprietary temperature aging process that allows Martin to target the sound of their vintage acoustic guitars within a decade. Martin has honed this process by benchmarking some of the finest examples of their 182-year history, found in their Nazareth, PA museum. Once they have aged the top to the correct moisture content and look of the period, it is ready to be placed on only the finest custom and authentic models. With this Special 28 Style Orchestra Model VTS acoustic guitar, they select a premium-grade of Sitka spruce for the top, and temperature age it to target the sound of the 1930s. They then combine this VTS top with the precision and playability of a modern custom OM-28, to create an auditorium guitar that has an extraordinary sound, with the playability of modern precision and technology.

The Special 28 Style Orchestra Model VTS acoustic guitar has a clear, defined treble and midrange tone, with a very balanced, punchy bottom end. It's very expressive, with a lot of volume and tone.

USA-made in Nazareth, PA. Comes with a 3-ply hardshell case.