Martin 000-15M StreetMaster 15 Series Auditorium Acoustic Guitar

The Martin 000-15M StreetMaster is the 15 Series with the lights turned down: all-mahogany, satin, no binding, and a Mahogany Burst colour that makes a brand-new guitar look like it has already earned a few stories. Underneath the understated finish is a full 000 Auditorium body, solid mahogany right through, and the plainest, most useful Martin in the catalogue. This is the one that gets thrown in the car because you would rather play it than protect it.

The 000 Auditorium body

Martin lists the shape as 000-14 Fret — the Auditorium, joining the neck at the fourteenth fret. It is a size with real presence in the room without the low-end bulk of a dreadnought, so it sits well under a vocal and stays balanced whether you are fingerpicking or driving it with a pick. Do not confuse it with the smaller 00-15M in this same batch, or with the dreadnought D-15M StreetMaster: this is the mid-size 000.

A worn-in look that is actually a finish

To be clear about what you are buying: the broken-in appearance comes from Martin's satin finish in Mahogany Burst, not from any distressing, relicing or ageing process. Nothing has been sanded back, dented or artificially aged — it is a deliberately low-sheen, darkly shaded finish over solid mahogany, and it simply reads as a guitar that has been played. The upside is entirely practical. A satin finish in a dark burst hides the scuffs and fingerprints that would show up glaringly on gloss, so the guitar stays looking right through the years when a shinier instrument would be looking sorry for itself.

Solid mahogany and a mahogany top

Top, back and sides are all solid mahogany. That mahogany top is the reason a StreetMaster does not sound like a spruce-topped Martin: it pushes the midrange forward, keeps the response drier and more focused, and puts a natural limit on how much shimmer piles up behind a chord. Words land more clearly over it, which is why so many singers end up with one. Bracing is a non-scalloped spruce X-brace at 5/16", and there is no binding anywhere — the woods meet directly, as they do across the whole 15 Series.

Neck and fingerboard

The neck is select hardwood in Martin's Modified Low Oval profile with Standard Taper, a 25.4" scale length and a 1 11/16" nut width. The East Indian rosewood fingerboard carries 20 frets and measures 2 1/8" across at the twelfth, with string spacing at the bridge also 2 1/8". It is a comfortable, mid-depth neck that does not fight you over a long set, and the Standard Taper keeps things familiar for players used to a standard Martin feel rather than the wider High-Performance necks.

Bone nut and saddle, aged nickel tuners

Nut and saddle are both bone, the saddle compensated on a 16" radius and dropped into a modern belly bridge in East Indian rosewood. Bone is what you want at those two contact points: it passes string energy into the top cleanly and holds up to years of restringing without deforming. The Ping aged nickel tuners round out the look — dulled rather than bright, so nothing on the guitar flashes at the audience. The fingerboard's abalone Diamonds and Squares short pattern is the only real ornament, and it is a good one.

Strings, case and delivery in Australia

It arrives strung with Martin Authentic Acoustic Lifespan 2.0 Phosphor Bronze in Light gauge, a treated set that keeps its brightness well past the point where an untreated string has gone dull. Included is a Martin softshell case rather than a gig bag: internal padding, waterproof outer and backpack straps, which is genuinely useful on a guitar built to be carried around. Shipping across Australia is easy enough, and it turns up ready to play.

Set up in-store by Guitar World Australia's techs before it ships to you, so it plays perfectly the moment it arrives.