Heads up, tone hunters: at the Guitar Summit in Mannheim, Martin just dropped something special: the OM Mikael Åkerfeldt. This isn’t your everyday signature model. Limited to 74 pieces worldwide (a nod to Åkerfeldt’s 1974 birth year), it’s a bold statement in wood, wire, and whispering resonance.
What Makes It Sing (and Growl)
- The top is torrefied spruce—Martin’s VTS magic at work—giving that vintage warmth without having to wait 50 years.
- The back is dramatic: a three-piece Guatemalan rosewood construction with an East Indian rosewood wedge. Yes, your eyeballs may wander while your ears feast.
- For the first time in a “traditional” Martin body comes the Low Profile Velocity neck (originally from their SC line). Translation: for players used to electric guitars, you get speed without sacrificing acoustic soul.
- Custom touches everywhere: ebony fingerboard with black mother-of-pearl Roman numerals, black Liquidmetal® bridge pins, European flamed maple binding… it whispers “class,” but with a darker edge.
- Internals are no afterthought—VTS-treated spruce and Martin’s Golden Era scalloped X-bracing bring a luxuriant sustain and dynamic responsiveness.
And in the legend department, Mikael himself didn’t hold back: “Is this the best guitar I’ve ever played? Including the ones in your museum? I believe so. … It just sings—the resonance, the clarity, the low end. Everything about it feels magnificent," he said in a statement.
Each guitar ships with a laser-etched stainless-steel label and a custom Harptone case (because what’s epic tone without epic packaging?).
Photo Credit Klara Rönnqvist Fors
