Martin 000 Jr E Sapele Junior Series Acoustic-Electric Guitar

The Martin 000 Jr E Sapele Junior Series acoustic-electric is the all-sapele member of the Junior family — sapele on the top as well as the back and sides, which gives it a rounder, drier, more mid-focused voice than a spruce-topped guitar of the same size. Add the 000 Junior 14-fret body and a short 24.9-inch scale and you get an instrument that sits comfortably against your ribs and rewards a light touch. Martin E1 electronics come fitted, it arrives strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan 2.0 Phosphor Bronze Lights, and a waterproof softshell case with backpack straps is part of the deal.

The 000 Junior 14-fret body

Martin's 000 shape has always been the auditorium middle ground — narrower waist than a dreadnought, easier to hold, more even across the strings — and the Junior version shrinks it again without losing that balance. Scalloped spruce X bracing at a 1/4-inch brace size lets the top respond to a fingerpicked phrase as readily as a strum, so quiet playing stays articulate instead of disappearing. If you have ever found a full-size dreadnought a wrestle across the right forearm, this is the body shape that fixes it.

Sapele top, sapele back and sides

Sapele is the headline here, and it is worth being clear about: the top is sapele, not spruce. That single choice reshapes how the guitar behaves — the attack is softer and less percussive, the midrange sits forward, and the whole instrument compresses a little as you dig in rather than getting spiky. It suits singers who need the guitar to sit under a voice rather than compete with it, and it is very forgiving of recording close with a single microphone. Satin finish across the top, back and sides in a natural stain shows off sapele's ribbon-like figure without a glossy layer in the way.

Short 24.9-inch scale and the High-Performance Taper neck

The 24.9-inch scale means less tension under the fingers than a long-scale flat-top, which makes chord changes less work and helps enormously if you are building calluses or coming back to playing after years away. The select hardwood neck uses Martin's PA Profile with the High-Performance Taper, 1 3/4 inches at the nut and 2 1/8 inches at the twelfth fret, so there is genuine room between the strings for fingerstyle without the neck feeling wide in the hand. It carries 20 frets and joins the body at the fourteenth with a mortise and tenon joint, and a hand-applied finish on the back of the neck keeps it fast rather than sticky.

Martin E1 electronics, installed at the factory

The E1 system is Martin's own, fitted before the guitar ships, so plugging into an acoustic amp, a PA or an audio interface needs nothing more than a cable. Because the guitar already leans warm and mid-forward acoustically, it plugs in politely — you are not fighting a harsh top end to make it sit in a mix. Left alone and unplugged it is still a complete acoustic guitar, which is exactly how most owners will spend most of their time with it.

Select hardwood board and bridge, PLEK-finished frets

Fingerboard and bridge are both select hardwood, with a Sloped Modern Belly Junior bridge, 2 5/32-inch string spacing and a white TUSQ saddle cut to a 16-inch radius over a white Corian nut. Every one of these goes through Martin's PLEK process, which levels the frets and cuts the nut slots to measured tolerances rather than by feel, and that is the difference between an instrument that plays low and clean and one that buzzes in the third position. Diamond and Squares faux abalone markers run the board with white side dots for reading the neck on a dim stage.

Open-gear tuners, ebony pins and a deliberately plain finish

There is no binding on this guitar and no top inlay — just a single fibre ring around the soundhole, a faux tortoise pickguard, and nickel open-gear tuners with black plastic buttons that suit the stripped-back look. Ebony bridge pins without dots and a Brazilian Rosewood HPL headplate carrying the script ink logo round it out. It is a working guitar's aesthetic, and a left-handed version is available as a separate model if that is what you need.

Softshell case and Lifespan 2.0 strings included

It ships in a Martin softshell case — waterproof shell, internal padding and backpack straps — so getting it to a rehearsal, a beach house or an airport gate does not mean buying a case first. The factory strings are Authentic Acoustic Lifespan 2.0 Phosphor Bronze Lights, treated to resist the sweat and humidity that kill ordinary bronze strings, which is a real advantage in an Australian summer. Between the case and the strings you can take it home and start playing.

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