Each year at the NAMM show, we collaborate with the Martin Custom Shop to select tone woods and create exclusive guitar designs for Telluride Music Co. Each TMC Exclusive is a one-of-a-kind custom guitar that can only be found at 8,750 ft elevation. Infused with the spirit of Telluride and crafted by the skilled artisans at the Martin Custom Shop, these guitars transcend the ordinary.
The story of this Custom Shop Martin involves a fun word and a stunning wood set.
- Fun Word: Ever heard of "chatoyance"? Also called the cat's eye effect, chatoyance is when light interacts with certain types of wood, creating a shimmering that makes the grain appear to change as you move it around.
- Wood Set: At the 2024 NAMM Show, the Custom Shop had a strong supply of Wild Grain East Indian Rosewood. While digging through the stacks, we found an especially gorgeous set. There were other nice-looking sets, but this was the only one that had both a nice match and a subtle 3D effect, unlike anything else in the pile. We knew we had to build a guitar with this as the back.
We chose a Dreadnought because we wanted to use as much of this wood as possible. From there, we specified an Adirondack Spruce top and scalloped, 5/16" Adirondack Spruce braces. While the Custom Shop lets you get as fancy as you want, we intentionally avoided pearl to show off the natural beauty of fine woods. This Dreadnought has understated Style-28 details that are all wood—Maple biding with wood purling, a Maple-fiber Herringbone rosette, Maple end piece, and a wood-fiber back strip.
This Custom Shop D-28 produces a bold, powerful voice with intense clarity and definition across the register. A good D-28 does some things better than others, but it does everything well. This guitar is an absolute stunner, but the nuanced sound it produces is what will make you want to pick it up every day. Inside the soundhole, the exclusive "Telluride Music Co." label lets you know this is a special guitar, only available at 8,750 ft elevation.
Check out this video to see us select the wood:
Here is the spec sheet as listed in the included Custom Shop Handbook:
- Serial Number: 2866704
- Back/Sides Material: European Flamed Maple
- Bracing: Adirondack Spruce, Scalloped, 5/16"
- Bridge Pins: Liquid Metal, Bone with Red Dot
- Bridge Material: Black Ebony
- Bridge Style: Modern Belly
- Adhesive: Modern Adhesive
- Electronics: None
- Fingerboard Inlay: Golden Era Diamond and Squares Long with Reg
- Spacing: 1-3/4" x 2-1/8"-2-5/32"
- Fingerboard Material: Black Ebony
- Finish Package: Gloss Body w/ Satin Neck
- Headplate: Decal - Old Style Gold
- Neck Profile: Modified Low Oval
- Nut Material: Bone
- Roestte Style: 3 Ring Bold Herringbone Black Maple Fiber
- Scale Length: 25.4"
- Top Material: Adirondack Spruce Standard
- Top Color: Clear