Martin 000 Jr Sapele review: “a guitar that could easily become a lifelong companion”
$749/£749, martinguitar.com
For nearly a decade now, the Martin Junior Series has quietly been one of the most compelling acoustic guitar offerings at the affordable end of the market. What started out as a slightly slimmed-down version of the venerable dreadnought has become an entire family of instruments that blend smaller stature with all-solid tonewoods to create an impressive bang for buck equation for those looking to get a ‘proper’ acoustic guitar for not a lot of money.
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For 2025, the Junior range has been overhauled – continuing the focus on improving that initial Martin experience that began with the Remastered X Series last year. Of course, unlike the sometimes-maligned X guitars, the Junior series was already very well thought of – blending as it does all-solid construction with classic looks and affordable Mexico build. So what’s new here?
Image: Adam Gasson
Martin 000 Jr Sapele – what is it?
The 000 Jr Sapele is very much what it says on the tin – this is a 14-fret 000-style instrument with top, back and sides all made of sapele. Sapele is often used as a mahogany substitute in more affordable instruments, because both tonally and materially they occupy a very similar territory.
As a result, this Junior has been stained brown in the tradition of all-mahogany Martins, and it certainly looks the part with this ultra-thin open-pore finish. Woodie Guthrie called his all-mahogany 0-15 “the people’s Martin” due to its affordability and stripped-down aesthetic, and this feels suitably in that lineage.
The body itself is a scaled-down version of the classic 000 shape – as seen previously on Martin’s Shawn Mendes signature. It’s closer in dimensions to a classic 0-size guitar in the flesh – 14 inches across the bottom bout and 18 inches from top to bottom, with a 3.1-inch depth – but still feels very much like a ‘real’ guitar in the hands. This is no travel guitar, and it’s all the better for it.
That grown-up feel is helped by the most notable new addition to this Junior series refresh – a full 24.9″ scale length compared to the previous 24 inches. This brings the guitar on par with a proper 000 in terms of scale, giving you a fair bit more room to manoeuvre.
The neck and fingerboard itself is Martin’s always frustrating ‘select hardwood’ – which could be anything from mahogany to cedar. Looking at the grain here, if I had to guess I’d say this was also sapele on this model, but part of the reason Martin uses that nebulous term is to enable them to switch out similar woods depending on supply.
This is an all-solid instrument with one exception – the peghead has a Brazilian rosewood-patterned HPL cap on it, and man, I wish it didn’t. It’s a minor thing, but the elaborate figure of the faux-Braz really does jar with the rest of the ‘people’s Martin’ vibe of the instrument.
While we’re up here, I’m not sure why on earth they decided to take the lovely open-gear butterbean tuners and slap some ugly black plastic buttons on them – aside from presumably wanting to make sure people can tell this is actually a cheap guitar. If this was my guitar I’d be swapping them out for some normal chrome button ones in a heartbeat.
Electronics are provided by Martin’s trusty E1 system, which has a built-in tuner plus a two-band tone control and phase switch.
Image: Adam Gasson
Martin 000 Jr Sapele – playability and sounds
Pulling the 000 Jr out of its case and the reputation of Martin’s more affordable guitars to leave a little to be desired on the QC side of things is at the forefront of my mind. Thankfully, this is a very well sorted instrument – everything is tight and clean and nicely executed. A gander inside with a phone camera shows that the spruce scalloped X bracing and internal purfling is all very neat and tidy.
If I was splitting hairs, I’d say that the fingerboard and bridge look like they’ve been baking in the Sonoran heat for a bit too long and desperately need a bit of lemon oil, but that’s mainly an aesthetic concern.
Less positive is the presence of a fair bit of glue residue around the frets themselves – quite significantly so on the top side 14th, 15th and 16th frets. Again, this is something that a bit of cleaning and gentle wire wool application will easily sort (and what the hell would you be doing up at the 16th fret on a 14-fret non-cutaway guitar anyway?), but really an instrument at this price point with Martin on the headstock shouldn’t be leaving the factory like this.
A first strum of the guitar is a much more reassuring experience, and it’s enough to make those QC foibles quickly recede into the memory.
Image: Adam Gasson
The High-Performance Taper neck is a nice crossover palmful for those more used to electric playing, and the string spacing is just about comfortable at 38.2mm at the nut and 40mm at the 12th fret.
It’s probably going to feel a little tight for those wanting to really lean into intricate fingerpicking, but for basic strumming, picking, and noodling it’s a nice balance that is clearly made to ease beginners into the world of acoustic guitar.
The action is similarly forgiving, low enough to not give your fingers undue punishment but without any discernible string buzz. It’s a really lovely guitar to have on your lap and idle your time away on – something that’s helped by the slightly more compact body size.
Of course, a nice playing guitar won’t count for much if it doesn’t sound good, but it’s here that the 000 Jr really makes you stand up and take notice.
The all-solid construction and ultra-thin open-pore finish have combined to make this an impressively lively and resonant instrument that belies its small size. While you won’t get the sparkling highs that you’d find from a spruce/rosewood instrument, it has an aptly sonorous low-end and rich midrange that you’d expect from a small-bodied all-mahogany Martin guitar.
It’s a guitar that probably suits pickers and gentle strummers more than it does full-on beaters – the Dreadnought Jr is probably a better fit there – but it remains an impressively versatile and sonically compelling instrument. The solid timbers mean it’s likely going to sound even better as it gets older, too.
Image: Adam Gasson
Martin 000 Jr Sapele – should I buy one?
There are so many options for anyone shopping for an acoustic guitar in this price point – plenty of which have better specs on paper at least. But what they don’t have is that Martin name on the headstock. And unlike the X Series guitars, which while being good sounding and playing instruments have always felt like a compromise, the Junior series somehow skirts that.
Maybe it’s the aesthetics, maybe it’s the solid woods, maybe it’s a combination of the two, but you really get the sense that far from being an entry-level instrument to be discarded in time, this is a guitar that could easily become a lifelong companion. There can be no higher compliment for any instrument.
Martin 000 Jr Sapele – alternatives
At this price point, take your pick – literally everyone in the budget acoustic guitar game is offering something compelling in its own way. If you want a proper all-solid mahogany guitar, you could do a lot worse than Fender’s Malibu Special ($735/£679) – which also sports a premium Fishman Flex Body preamp system. If your tastes veer a little more modern, then Taylor’s 24ce ($599/£499) – with mahogany top and sapele back and sides – is a really solid option. If you want a bit more brightness from your sound, Eastman’s E1OM ($699/£599) has a vintage-tinted spruce top paired with sapele back and sides.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
