The Martin Custom Shop 0-18 is a very cool new addition to the Martin lineup, bringing the classic 0 body size together with some seriously high-end Custom Shop ingredients. This 14-fret Concert-size guitar features a solid Adirondack spruce top, genuine mahogany back and sides, hand-shaped Adirondack Golden Era scalloped bracing, and a vintage-inspired gloss finish. It's a small guitar in the physical sense, but there is absolutely nothing small about the materials or craftsmanship that went into it. The Custom Shop 0-18 includes its original Martin hardshell case and Martin's Limited Lifetime Warranty.
The 0 body size has been part of Martin's story for well over a century, and there's a reason these smaller instruments have remained part of the lineup. Where a dreadnought is all about volume and low-end authority, an 0 is about intimacy, clarity, balance, and responsiveness. This Custom Shop version takes that traditional concept and gives it a serious upgrade with Martin's hand-shaped Golden Era bracing and premium tonewoods. It's a fantastic platform for fingerstyle, songwriting, recording, and anyone who appreciates an acoustic guitar that responds to a lighter touch rather than demanding that you wrestle a cannon into submission.
The neck is genuine mahogany with Martin's GE Modified Low Oval profile and High-Performance Taper. The 24.9" scale length gives the 0-18 a relaxed, comfortable feel, while the 1 3/4" nut width provides plenty of room for fingerstyle playing without making the neck feel unwieldy. The ebony fingerboard has 20 frets and beautiful Old Style 18 abalone inlays, and the combination of the shorter scale and modified low oval neck makes this a particularly inviting guitar to play. Martin also Pleked this instrument, adding another level of precision to the fretwork and setup.
The body is where this Custom Shop 0-18 really starts to separate itself from a standard 0-18. The solid Adirondack spruce top gets Martin's Aging Toner and vintage gloss finish, while the back and sides are genuine mahogany finished in Dark Mahogany. Adirondack spruce brings plenty of headroom, clarity, and dynamic response, while mahogany keeps the voice focused and punchy rather than overly complex or boomy. Inside, the hand-shaped 1/4" Adirondack spruce Golden Era scalloped X-bracing is designed to let the top move and respond, giving this little guitar an impressive amount of color and nuance. Add the faux tortoise binding, pickguard, Style 18 rosette, ebony bridge, and East Indian rosewood headplate, and you've got a beautiful blend of traditional Martin aesthetics and Custom Shop refinement.
There are no electronics here, and that's exactly how we'd want this particular guitar. The Custom Shop 0-18 is about the acoustic voice first and foremost. The ebony bridge uses Martin's GE Modern Belly design with a drop-in bone saddle, while the nickel open-gear tuners and bone nut keep the hardware firmly in vintage Martin territory. Plugging this one into a PA isn't the point—the point is hearing what that Adirondack top, mahogany body, and Golden Era bracing can do when you put a pick or your fingers on the strings.
If you've been waiting for a small-body Martin that doesn't feel like a compromise, this one deserves a serious look. The Custom Shop 0-18 is compact, sophisticated, extremely responsive, and packed with some of Martin's best materials and construction techniques. Come play it and hear what a little Martin can really do.
