Grand Auditorium Goodness!
The Martin GPC-16E Mahogany acoustic-electric is a beautifully designed Grand Auditorium with a smooth, deep cutaway that makes it a wonderful option for a variety of styles and endless exploration. The GPC-16E features a solid Sitka spruce top with mahogany back and sides — a legendary tonewood pairing known for its blended high and low end and balanced midrange. A select hardwood neck with ebony fingerboard offers exceptional playability and response — ideal for finger-picking and flat-picking alike. And the onboard Fishman Matrix VT Enhance NT2 pickup system amplifies stellar acoustic tone when plugged in.
Optimized playability
The GPC-16E Mahogany’s neck is carved to Martin’s Modified Low Oval profile with High Performance taper that was designed specifically with performing guitarists in mind. For your playing pleasure, the ebony fingerboard is buffed to silky smoothness and the frets are dressed to perfection using a Plek Pro machine for optimized playability. Typically reserved for top-dollar custom guitars, this process levels the frets with pinpoint precision, providing you with the most playable fretboard you’re likely to own.
Proprietary electronics
Martin and Fishman have been working together for over 30 years in an effort to build the best acoustic-electric guitars on the market. And they recently teamed up again to create the Matrix VT Enhance NT2 pickup system that you’ll find in the GPC-16E Mahogany. This system consists of Fishman’s popular Matrix under-saddle pickup and an advanced Enhance element that can be blended into the signal separately via the soundhole-mounted controls. The Enhance function lets the natural sounds of the guitar come through, which is ideal for players using techniques such as body tapping.
Comfortable Grand Auditorium body style
The forward, balanced tone of the GPC-16E Mahogany comes from its Grand Auditorium body style. This body style provides excellent projection and focus with a warmth that is never booming and detail that is never harsh. This sound is popular for both fingerstyle nuance and full-chord strumming. The Grand Auditorium size gives you more low end and projection than the 000 models but is still supremely comfortable to sling over your shoulder for marathon gigs.
The same body shape at a new depth
When you play the GPC-16E for the first time, you may notice that the body feels different from other Martin Grand Performance guitars. It retains the same cutaway shape but is slightly thinner than normal. Instead of the traditional body depth of 4-1/2-inches, Martin opted to give this guitar the depth of a 000 — 4-1/8-inches. This change affects the guitar in two notable ways. First, the thinner body reigns in the boomy bass response for cleaner recording. Second, it helps the guitar to create a more mid-forward response. Don’t fret, even with its new body depth, the GPC-16E retains the same room-filling power that you expect from a Martin guitar.
Features:
- Beautifully designed Grand Auditorium with a smooth, deep cutaway that makes it a wonderful option for a variety of styles and endless exploration
- Solid Sitka spruce top with mahogany back and sides — a legendary tonewood pairing known for its blended high and low end and balanced midrange
- Gloss top with satin back and sides
- Select hardwood neck with ebony fingerboard offers exceptional playability and response
- Onboard Fishman Matrix VT Enhance NT2 pickup system amplifies stellar acoustic tone when plugged in
- Neck is carved to Martin’s Modified Low Oval profile with High Performance taper that was designed specifically with performing guitarists in mind
- Body style provides excellent projection and focus with a warmth that is never booming and detail that is never harsh
- Scalloped, forward-shifted Sitka spruce X bracing for enhanced resonance and support
- Nickel open gear tuners look classic and keep you in tune
