Martin D-28 Standard Series

Martin’s “refreshed” take on its iconic rosewood dreadnought is a fabulous guitar.

April 9, 2025

At last January’s NAMM show, Martin announced what it calls a “refresh” to its Standard series (check out our video with product specialist Mike George from the show!). Sometimes overshadowed by the company’s various vintage-style models and special editions, the Standard series is the foundation of Martin’s line, models that in most cases have been in continuous production since the 1930s. But all Martin models have evolved over time, and at this point, the company has a large set of variations that they can combine into different versions of its popular models. The new Standard series now includes several elements that were previously reserved for vintage-style editions. We recently had a chance to check out the new versions of the D-18 and D-28. In this video, San Francisco Bay Area flatpicking master Jim Nunally and I demonstrate the D-28, and we’ll take a look at the D-18 in a separate demo.

The D-28 is the most influential flattop steel-string guitar of all time. Its design, based on a dreadnought body built with rosewood and spruce and a relatively consistent set of appointments, hasn’t changed since the model was introduced in 1931. But myriad changes in construction have been implemented by Martin at different times in the model’s history, giving a distinct character to some eras of the D-28. It would take a fairly eagle-eyed Martin aficionado to distinguish the new Standard D-28 from its immediate predecessor on looks alone, and yet, the “refresh” is significant. Let’s start with what hasn’t changed. The guitar is built with very attractive Indian rosewood back and sides and a tight-grained, fairly even-colored Sitka spruce top and it includes black-and-white purfling as well as a standard style-28 rosette and position markers, etc. However, rather than the non-scalloped X-bracing that had been standard, the new guitar now has Golden Era–style forward-shifted and scalloped X-bracing. This is without a doubt the biggest change in the new D-28 (and other Standard series models), as it brings a style of bracing that had been reserved for various vintage-style models to the more affordable Standard series. The guitar also has a new “Golden Era modified low oval” neck shape, which, while not as chunky or V-shaped as on some previous D-28 variations, has much more of a vintage feel than earlier Standards. Other updates include a more vintage-accurate and longer “diamond” volute at the rear of the peghead, a modified vintage-style heel shape, a smoother nut angle, a thinner fingerboard with gently beveled edges, and bone bridge pins.

Just holding the guitar, it’s immediately clear that its vibe is more akin to some of Martin’s vintage-style D-28s than to recent Standard series guitars. Our lightweight demo guitar had a beautiful finish, and the craftsmanship was at a very high level. But even more importantly, it sounds fabulous. Jim commented that the guitar sounded just like what he expects from a D-28 (as someone who has played a 1944 D-28 for many years, he’s got high standards!), which mirrored my own impression. The guitar has the punch, volume, and rich low-end that you hope for with a D-28, and the scalloped bracing and light construction provide the large dynamic range you’d expect from a high quality dreadnought. Jim and I found the neck very comfortable, and its width of 1¾ inches at the nut makes for a slightly roomier feel than on some D-28s. Listening to Jim give the guitar a flatpicking and rhythm workout, I couldn’t help but think that this is a guitar with an exceptional cost-to-performance ratio.

Players looking for a great D-28 have a lot of choices these days, both within Martin’s own catalog and with similar guitars built by other makers. But there’s no doubt that for just over $3,000, you’d be hard pressed to find a better D-28, and this new refreshed Standard series will likely give much more expensive vintage-style dreadnoughts a run for their money.