Martin GPC-16E Rosewood 16 Series Grand Performance Acoustic-Electric Guitar

The Martin GPC-16E Rosewood is the stage guitar of Martin's 16 Series: a Grand Performance cutaway body with a solid spruce top over solid East Indian rosewood back and sides, and Martin E1 electronics already fitted. It is handcrafted in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and it is built for the gig — the cutaway gets you up the neck, the plug gets you into the desk, and the rosewood gives you the depth and sparkle a mahogany guitar simply cannot. Of the three Martins in this batch, this is the flagship.

Grand Performance, with a cutaway

Martin lists the shape as Grand Performance 14-Fret at 000 depth — a modern outline that splits the difference between the 000 and the dreadnought, with the depth of the smaller body and a slightly broader lower bout. The cutaway is the C in GPC and is plain to see in the photos: it clears the upper frets so you can work above the twelfth without wrestling the shoulder of the guitar. Sitting down, standing up or leaning into a microphone, it is an easy body to hold for a full set.

Solid spruce over solid East Indian rosewood

Solid spruce top, solid East Indian rosewood back and sides — the classic pairing, and the reason this guitar sounds bigger than its footprint. Rosewood adds weight underneath the note and a glassy top end above it, while the spruce top gives you headroom to dig in without the sound collapsing. Bracing is a forward-shifted, scalloped spruce X-brace at 5/16", which lets the top move more freely than a non-scalloped pattern and opens up the bass response. It responds to a light touch and it takes a heavy one.

Martin E1 under the saddle

Martin's E1 system is fitted from the factory, so the guitar goes from case to lead to front-of-house with nothing else to buy. The point of a system like this is that it reports what the guitar is actually doing rather than imposing a generic amplified sound over the top of it — worth having on an instrument whose rosewood character is the reason you chose it. Practically, it means one instrument covers your acoustic set and your plugged-in set without a compromise in either direction.

High-Performance Taper neck and ebony board

The neck is select hardwood in the Modified Low Oval profile with Martin's High-Performance Taper, a 25.4" scale length and a generous 1 3/4" nut width, narrowing to 2 1/8" across the fingerboard at the twelfth fret. That wide nut with a tapering board is a fingerstylist's dream: room to place your right hand cleanly at the nut end, and a familiar feel further up. The fingerboard is ebony with 20 frets and Style 28 mother of pearl inlays, and the bridge is ebony too — a hard, dense, slick-feeling board that suits fast playing.

Appointments worth looking at

This is where the 16 Series separates itself from the plainer Martins. Antique white binding frames the body, a bold herringbone rosette with multi-stripe detail surrounds the soundhole, there is multi-stripe inlay on the top and a black stripe down the back, and the tuners are nickel open-gear with butterbean knobs. The finish is satin rather than high gloss, which keeps the whole thing looking crafted rather than lacquered — quietly smart, and it does not turn into a mirror under stage lighting.

Bone nut, TUSQ saddle and Lifespan strings

The nut is bone and the saddle is compensated white TUSQ, dropped into a modern belly bridge — a hard-wearing, consistent pairing that transfers string energy predictably into the top, which matters all the more with a pickup system reading what happens there. It leaves the factory strung with Martin Authentic Acoustic Lifespan 2.0 Phosphor Bronze in Light gauge, a treated set that stays bright long past the point most strings give up.

What it ships in, and getting it here

The GPC-16E Rosewood comes in a Martin softshell case — a proper case, not a gig bag, with internal padding, a waterproof shell and backpack straps, so a working guitar is protected on the way to work. Freight anywhere in Australia is straightforward and it arrives ready to plug in and play.

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