Martin OM-28 Acoustic Guitar - Natural with Rosewood Reviews

Even tho the guitar wasn't my cup of tea I wanted to leave a review on my experience w sweatwater and the process as a whole. They make it as seemless asp,even for extremely picky customers like me. I've found that I just need to buy in person.so,lesson learned. Ryan is an amazing sales rep and the rest of the team as well. Thank you sweat water and happy holidays!!!

Beautiful guitar, looks, plays, and sounds great.
This is my 4th Martin, I love them all.
My salesman is Roq, he is always helpful.

I bought this guitar 3 years ago and it completely changed my guitar playing. Absolutely mesmerizing tone and feel. Best investment I've ever made ! Big shout out to Ed Nystrom for his fantastic service and support !

I bought the Martin OM28 from Sweetwater a year ago. It is outstanding. It's by far the guitar I play the most. I know it is pricey but if you are thinking about it, I don't think you will be disappointed. I did spring for a set up and am very pleased with it as well.

It is the first guitar I ever ordered on line so I was a little hesitant about doing it. Sweetwater did an excellent job. The guitar came when promised with no issues from the delivery.

I was hesitant to buy a high-end acoustic guitar without seeing and playing it in-person, and in the Winter and through the
mail". My assigned Sales rep, James Masterson provided all kinds of assistance that helped me get over all of my concerns.

The result is that I now have an amazing guitar that arrived in perfect condition and setup as I requested and also with my fav strings. So all around an excellent experience!

Thanks much James and the SW fulfillment team.

It was my first martin which has great sound, I did return it to get D-41 instead because I wanted to have something more fancy but OM-28 had no flaws.

I own over a dozen guitars and this OM 28 is the best guitar I've ever played. I've been performing for over fifty years with various other Martins, Gibsons, and Taylors but this instrument in my go to ax.

After mulling it over a few years I finally pulled the trigger on an OM-28. I'm so glad I did! I'm amazed at the power and punch this guitar has for a small bodied guitar. And that familiar woody Martin tone is what I was after!! In addition it handles alternate tunings very well! I tuned low E down to C# with no flub and no intonation issues! The guitar is comfortable and strums as well as it does fingerstyle. Ed Nystrom is the best! I've been working with Ed for many years at this point and he is always helpful, knowledgeable on multiple product lines, and just generally pleasant to work with! I want to thank Sweetwater for the detailed 55-point setup....this thing was dialed in right out of the case, and smelled great too! Thanks again for the quick delivery and the candy in the package!

It is always a pleasure and a great experience working with Sweetwater and my go to guy Chris Nunley, I can't say enough great things about this guitar. The action, response, playability and overtones are just perfect! Chris even got me with two day shipping so I could have it before Thanksgiving Big time A+++++++ here!

This is my first non-dreadnought acoustic, and I am amazed at how wonderful it sounds. It is perfect for fingerpicking, strumming, and is surprisingly loud for a smaller bodied guitar. The craftsmanship is spot on, and the wood they chose is beautiful. It makes a great companion for my D18! As for Sweetwater, they have an amazing sales crew that will help you out when you need it. Thanks for the help, Ben!

Having played a Martin D-28 for some time now, I really wanted a smaller OM body to extend my playing time and pleasure. The OM-28 is everything I wanted. It has a smaller sound, when compared against the D-28, but the clarity of sound and the quality of construction is pure Martin. Like other items I've purchased from Sweetwater, this was ready to use right out of the box.

I couldn't be happier with this purchase. Sometimes you pick up an instrument and it just "fits" you in a way that's difficult to describe - that's my experience with the OM-28.

My Martin guitar collection is complete!
At least for now :)

This is the fourth Martin guitar I've purchased (the others being a J40, an HD35 and a D21) and it is everything I've come to expect from Martin. Beautiful to look at, easy to play and that AMAZING Martin tone. With this guitar, who needs meditation for stress relief? Just strum a chord, and enjoy the tone as it slowly fades away... Rinse, lather, repeat.

I bought this guitar for fingerstyle playing and it totally delivers. I love the smaller body size (I started with classical and play sitting down) and it is more comfortable than a jumbo or dreadnought style body while still delivering a lot of sound. I'm not sure about the sound when really digging in with a flat pick but that might be due to the lighter string gauge that came with the guitar. I don't really care because that's what I use the dreadnoughts for.

My only (very minor) criticism of this guitar is that I don't know why Martin chose to not include the fret marker at the 17th fret. Obviously, this is a cosmetic issue that doesn't affect the music. This is probably based on their historical design of the OM model. Still, It just looks like something is missing given that some of their OM models have the fret marker at the 17th fret.

In the end, this is an amazing fingerstyle guitar and would also be a chord strummers dream. Very highly recommended.

This guitar is the best thing I’ve ever bought. Affordable in the description? Um, ok....no... But I came in not even really wanting to spend half what I paid and put it on like of credit a month later after I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Literally got a bit misty playing it, there is something about it. Writing this 6 months later because I couldn’t imagine not buying it. I have 3 kids now.

I purchased this classic Martin back in early March 2019. Only a Martin "rings!" This guitar has such a traditional look to it with its smaller teardrop pick guard, antique cream colored binding, open gear tuners that keep this guitar in tune for a long time. the 1.75" nut width is perfect for strumming and fingerstyle. I was concerned the nut would be too thin, coming off of a classical guitar, but just after a few hours of playing it was perfectly comfortable! Such a versatile guitar, as mentioned, it is perfect for strumming bluegrass style and fingerstyle. I mainly play in church and was worried it would not be loud enough , not using any electronics. No way! This guitar booms!! Nice deep base, midrange and very bright highs- altogether produce that classic loud Martin ring! It also plays very comfortable. The OM body shape is very comfortable.

It's a great! Guitar. I've always catered tward dreads and jumbos. At first I was unsure about this guitar but after sitting with her for a while the not sure feelings went away and it's hard to put it down. If you can swing the payments for one of these you won't be disappointed. And don't let the fact that it had no pickup shy you away that can always be installed down the road or just run an extra mic if your playing out or recording. There's something magical about a om body shapes sound

Upfront: I LOVE Martin Guitars.
To me, they are what an acoustic guitar is all about.
These new Martins, like the OM-28 are just superb!
They look great, play great, and most importantly, sound GREAT!
I have an OM-28 in Ambertone, just a beautiful guitar. SO fun to play, I really enjoy the OM size for
fingerpicking, but it strums well too. This model has a beautiful, well balanced tone, and the neck is SO comfortable. The OM shape fits nicely to my body and can be played for hours without fatigue.
I highly recommend this Martin OM-28. For a guitar in this price range, I think it's a great value that will last a lifetime. I had a K & K Pure Mini acoustic pickup installed, which I also love.
Sweetwater is the best to buy from, and offers their own 2 year Warranty along with the Limited Lifetime Warranty from Martin. Buy this guitar...you'll never put it down.

Note: I waited a few weeks before writing this review to have more time with the guitar.

Some background:
I bought a DX series about 5 years ago from another vendor - I couldn't resist getting a Martin for under $. It's a very nice guitar but as time went on I dreamed of having a US made Martin. I ordered a DX-16 a couple years ago but ended up trading it for a Gibson J-45 Studio which I liked better and saved a few hundred dollars but still dreamed of getting a higher end Martin. After quite of bit of research I decided on an OM-28. It is about 2x the cost of the DX-16 that I didn't keep and after having it for a couple weeks I believe it's worth it.

It was backordered and after waiting a few weeks it arrived. Opening the box and case the first thing I noticed was it was actually in tune even after traveling across country for 5 days. This speaks to the quality of the instrument and to the 55 point inspection by Sweetwater. It's a subtly beautiful guitar - not flashy like the higher end D35-42-45's. I prefer the subtle look to the fancier styles. My first impression of the sound is that it's crystal clear and well balanced with a very pleasing voice. The smaller body still has plenty of bass and power but feels more responsive when not pushing it too hard. Holding it is very comfortable compared to dreadnoughts. Intonation is perfect which is really obvious when using a capo. Even with a capo on the 7th fret the intonation is spot on. Martin really knows how to build guitars. The action may be a tad high but I'm going to leave it as-is for now. The more I play it the less I think about the action. The neck is like butter.

There are a couple of nit-picky things I don't like. The pick guard comes to a very sharp point right near the middle of the sound hole and I actually poked my finger on it a few times. I'm not sure why they don't put a very slight radius on it? Also without neck binding I noticed a few fret edges that were not buffed enough and where the neck joins the body there are some teeny tiny white spots on the body which I assume is glue that seeped out. None of these are a super big deal but for the price of the guitar I expected all things to be perfect thus I didn't give it 5 stars.

I have to admit I wasn't ecstatic with my first impressions and was starting to have buyers remorse but the more I play it the more I like it to where it's now my favorite acoustic (I own 6 acoustics). Even in a short time it's feeling like an old friend.

Love the guitar.
However.....
For the price I would expect a more substantial case like my 2010 D28 and the 000-15m I bought a few years ago. The new plastic case feels cheap and flimsy.

I second what the other reviewer said about the point of the pick guard. The same thing is happening on mine; it stabs me and draws blood. This strikes me as a serious quality control issue that Martin needs to deal with. Unless the other guy and I are the only two customers who have experienced this, and if so, maybe we just got two lemons. I did write to Martin, and they will pay to have one of their authorized luthiers in my area fix it, but when you spend over 3 grand on a guitar you shouldn't have to deal with something like this that makes the guitar unplayable. Now, having said that, I want to also echo what one of the other reviewers wrote, and that is, this guitar has that unmistakable and gorgeous and unique "woody" tone that is uniquely Martin. I also love the neck; it is super comfortable. And it is a beautiful guitar.