1932 Martin OM-28

A fantastic, well-preserved pre-war Martin OM-28! This guitar sounds GREAT has a gorgeous aesthetic with a solid Adirondack Spruce top, Brazilian Rosewood back/sides, and gorgeous herringbone binding throughout. It features a well-done neck reset, a refret, a replaced saddle & bridge, a professional top refin (no evidence of shaving,) and other partial refin work on the back of the neck. In great overall condition with finish checking, and minimal/blemishing considering its' age. An excellent example from Martin's golden era! Reach out for more info! Includes hardshell case.

Check out the feature from our luthier Tyler in the ECG Newsletter:

"The OM is another Martin model that was begrudgingly designed, just to go on to become one of the best-selling and most copied instruments of all time. The idea of a 14-fret acoustic guitar had been brewing in the marketplace for some time come the late 20s, but Martin was insistent on the superiority of their 12-fret 000.

In a 1927 letter written by a dealer to Martin, a customer request was made for a 000 sized guitar with extended access to the higher frets. Their response? An abject denial of this request and further insistence that modifying the shape of the 000 would result in an inferior instrument which Martin could never make available to the public in good conscience. When former banjo-celebrity-turned-guitar-virtuoso Perry Bechtel visited the factory two years later and made a similar request, CF Martin III fortunately gave a different answer.

The OM-28 is an exceptionally rare instrument, total production numbering well under 500 for its entire prewar existence. Of those, only 50 were built in 1932. Rare even among the rare. We may be inclined to think earlier is always better, but many modern features we know and love today were incubated in the early OMs, in many cases making the later guitars much more enjoyable to play.

OMs built prior to April of 1930 were fitted with rectangular pyramid bridges. While aesthetically pleasing, the high tension of steel strings proved problematic for such a limited gluing surface, and thus the modern belly bridge was designed in its stead. The earliest OMs came equipped with banjo-style Grover tuners, another feature that fell to the relentless pull of steel strings. Even the pickguard became larger in order to better shield the finish from errant pick wear. All good things.

This particular OM-28 has undergone some tasteful finish work on the top, but remains at full thickness and sounds exactly as it should. A bar-fretted cannon from the brightest point in Martin’s golden age."