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Guitar Review: Martin 000-X2E

Guitar Review: Martin 000-X2E

James Galbraith
  • The feel to me straightaway is good. I know the neck's a hand-rubbed neck. Spruce on the front. I know it's going to be bright.

Worship Leader James Galbraith reviews the Martin 000-X2E*, which is reasonably priced at $649 and utilizes the popular 000 body style combined with Martin’s great sound.

Martin 000 guitars are a step bigger than 00 — they have a body length of 19.3 inches, a body width of 15 inches, and a scale length of 25.4 inches. Along with the Martin OM guitars, 000 guitars are the perfect guitar for recording and playing fingerstyle/fingerpicking. [source]

From Martin: “We took the 000X1AE and reimagined it. The result is the 000-X2E. This Auditorium sized model has a spruce top and figured mahogany pattern high-pressure laminate (HPL) back and sides. The new mother-of-pearl pattern inlay on the rosette and fingerboard lends richness to the 000-X2E, making it as impressive to look at as it is to play. With a Performing Artist neck, fingerboard, and bridge of select hardwood, the sound transfer of this model has been greatly improved. It is equipped with Fishman® MX electronics and strung with Martin’s Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 strings. With a new, soft gig bag featuring headstock, bridge, and endpin protectors, a durable water-repellent exterior, and foam padding, this model is ready to go anywhere.”

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More Martin Guitar Reviews

Compare Three Martin 000’s

Martin 000-18

Martin 000-15M

Martin 000-X2E

Price

$3,599.00

$1,499.00

$649.00

Body Shape

000

000

000

Top

Sitka Spruce

Mahogany

Sitka Spruce

Back & Sides

Mahogany

Mahogany

HPL Mahogany Pattern

Neck

Select Hardwood

Mahogany

Rust Birch Laminate

Fingerboard

Ebony

East Indian Rosewood

FSC Certified Richlite

Scale Length

24.9″

25.4″

24.9″

Nut Width

1.75″

1.6875″

1.75″

Frets

20

20

20

Electronics

None

None

Fishman MX-T

w/built-in soundhole tuner

Finish

Gloss (Top),

Satin (Back and Sides)

Satin

Hand-Rubbed

Features

  • Price: $649.00
  • Body Size: 000-14 Fret
  • Finish Top: Hand-Rubbed
  • Construction: Mortise & Tenon Neck Joint
  • Back and Side Finish: None
  • Bracing Pattern: X-Brace
  • Scale Length: 24.9″
  • Brace Shape: Scalloped
  • Fingerboard Width at Nut: 1 3/4”
  • Top Material: Spruce
  • Neck Shape: Performing Artist
  • Back Material: HPL
  • Neck Taper: High-Performance Taper
  • Side Material: HPL
  • Electronics: Yes
  • Electronics Options: Fishman® MX

About James

James GalbraithJames Galbraith is a dynamic and creative pastor whose passion for inspiring and empowering individuals to become the best version of themselves has made him a leader in his community. With a unique sense of humor and a gift for storytelling, James has a way of making complex theological concepts accessible and relatable to people of all ages and backgrounds.

Born and raised in New Zealand. James discovered his love for creativity at an early age. After traveling and helping build churches around the world, James landed in Nashville as a guitarist/songwriter for the band Here Be Lions, where he quickly became known for his innovative approach to ministry. Through creative and engaging pursuits, he was able to inspire people to develop a deeper connection with God and embrace their unique talents and interests.

Over the years, James has continued to hone his leadership skills, earning a reputation for his exceptional ability to connect with people on a personal level. Whether he’s delivering an inspiring sermon, organizing a community service project, or simply chatting with people after church, James has a way of making everyone feel valued and appreciated.

Today, James serves as the creative/worship pastor of Hope UC Nashville. His vision for building a vibrant, connected community continues to inspire and transform lives, and he remains committed to empowering others to be the best they can be, both in their spiritual and personal lives.

Transcript

Guitars a lot of the time are preferential. If we say- so I might go on to a guitar store and pick up a guitar off the, off the shelf and go, I love this. Someone else might go into that place and go, This is not my jam. Really, when it comes down to it, guitars are very personal and that’s what makes them so wonderful.

And that’s why you want to play as many as you can, because some just speak to you. Based on the one I played, the Dreadnought, I like this guitar better for me, and I think it’s a different price point. And- but that’s probably because the bigger guitars, it’s like a 000, which I like, it’s got a thicker neck, so it has a bit more warmth to it than the smaller dreadnought because the smaller Dreadnought, obviously, is going to pack a bigger punch.

So feel to me, obviously, is my number one thing. So the feel to me straightaway is like I like the neck, I know the neck’s a hand-rubbed neck. Spruce on the front. I know it’s going to be bright, but it has that- action is perfect for me. Right, right out of the, right of the box. The action for me is really great.

And by action, you know, if you don’t know, it’s just how high the, the strings sit up off the fretboard. So some people like the, the strings to be a little bit higher. But that means that you have to press your fingers down a lot harder to get those sounds. There’s different reasons for that. But I like my actions to be- to be as low as possible without causing what’s called fret buzz. Which means the strings are sitting on the frets and causing a them to buzz all the time.

And so, very easy to play. To me this is a very singer-songwriter guitar, which I love. It’s like I could take this out of the box. I could go to a coffee shop and I could set up my little rig. And again, it’s electric acoustic, it’s a hybrid. It’s got the tone control and volume control, so you can kind of mess with it how you want to and just be like, I’m just going to sing a song about my mum today and my dog.

You know, you can do whatever you want to do in terms of how you want to sing. It’s a great singer-songwriter guitar. I don’t need a full band with it. It’s got like that resonance that goes on really well, that’s because it’s based on the Dreadnought. It’s got a bigger body, so that’s got a lot more room to breathe. So that volume’s gonna go a little bit longer, which is, which is why I think, you know, singer-songwriter you’ve got a little bit more to play with in terms of volume and there’s a feel.

And it’s going to actually resonate a lot longer because it’s a little bit of a bigger body. It’s still a pretty thin, almost like borderline thin line. But that’s how those 000s are. And once again, it’s a bigger body, great travel companion where you can write songs on it. It can be punchy, but it can be really nice and mellow

if you want it to. Let’s do one. Depending on how you feel. And so it’s a really cool, it’s a really cool companion piece I think. It’s got the volume and tone features. Most of the time you’re just going to like I’m playing mostly in church capacities. I’m just going to roll those straight up and let the sound man do what they do best.

For worship songs, if I was playing any sort of worship songs, anything sort of upbeat, I would go for. It’s not going to have those super warm tones that I want for anything kind of downplayed. But if I grab this and I was like, you know, I want to play- Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise aloud. If I play the right chords! I wanted something to cut through the mix a little bit.

This frequency is going to cut through that for sure. I’m playing anything like, The T-shirt with this guitar that would probably go the best is like just one of those like Purple Rain Prince T-shirts. I think if that’s the kind of place that you’re into, you know, or something floral, I think you just can’t go wrong with floral.

Summer’s coming up Spring Bring a little sunshine. Oh, actually, that goes with any guitar. What am I saying? Just go Hawaiian. Okay, This is what I think of when I think of this guitar. And I don’t want anyone to take this the wrong way, which some of you will, because it’s, it’s online. I imagine a singer-songwriter girl with a hat on, like a cowboy hat, maybe, in a summer dress, walking through fields of daisies and she’s got this guitar and she’s singing that singer-songwriter life.

That’s the album cover, you know, it’s like the- this is over your back kind of thing. Like, this is how I imagined this guitar. And she’s like, Hey, y’all. And she and she and she sings this beautiful song. You’re like, Wow, that’s that’s great. If that’s you and or the guy who’s, who’s trying to date that girl, this is the guitar that he uses.

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