Martin celebrates 100 years of its lacquer finishes with a limited all-koa Custom Shop model

Martin is celebrating a mighty milestone with its new all-koa Custom Shop model, and there are, rather fittingly, only 100 of them available.

The new Custom Shop 0-18K2 CFM IV honours a whole century of the brand using lacquer finishes in pursuit of durability, beauty, and efficiency. When Martin began using lacquer finishes in 1926, among some of the first to benefit were its Concert-sized all-koa models.

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The guitar is built with a 0 12-fret body crafted from solid flamed koa, and joins the Martin O’ahu family of instruments, which honours the Hawaiian music craze of the 1920s and early ’30s and its lasting influence on modern guitar design.

It further offers hand-shaped Golden Era (GE) scalloped X-bracing, a GE Modified Low Oval neck, a 24.9” scale length, and an ebony fingerboard with Old Style 18 abalone inlays. Other vintage-inspired details include an ebony straightline bridge and a slotted headstock with Golden Age brass tuning machines.

Lacquer went on to become valued for the way it supported an instrument’s natural resonance due to its thinness, allowing the wood to vibrate freely. Still used across Martin instruments today, it remains an important part of the company’s craft.

The new Custom Shop 0-18K2 CFM IV of course has a vintage gloss finish to celebrate the origin of this game-changing practice for Martin. Closely based on what it introduced a century ago, it lets the natural figuring of the koa shine through. Completing this limited model is paper label signed by Chris Martin IV and a hardshell case.

In other Martin news, Guitar.com recently reviewed its new Super D-18 model. The guitar joins Martin’s USA-made Standard series, and was previously only available as part of its Custom Shop lineup. This version makes it more widely available. We rated it a perfect 10/10, and described it as a “super by name and super by nature” model that will make you rethink what a standard-tuned guitar is capable of.

The Custom Shop 0-18K2 CFM IV is limited to 100 instruments and will be available through Martin dealers. Find out more via the Martin Guitar website.