Supersonic!
Everything's getting smaller, if you haven't noticed. Stuff's shrinking, as it were. For every push to go bigger, take up more space, make a bigger statement, there's ten moves to minimize, streamline, and get every inch out of the least amount of space. Them's the breaks.
Sometimes you do "more" with a different approach, a different spin, a different angle. Other times, you build a bigger guitar.
This is the Martin Standard Series Super D-18 Super Dreadnought.
Super Duper
Introducing the Martin Super D-18 Super Dreadnought
The legacy of the Standard Series Super D-18, funnily enough, didn't start right here with this model. Martin's Super D-18 – if we skip the long, long legacy of America's oldest* musical name – actually began in 2022 with the Martin Custom Shop and their all-new Super D body style. The original Super Dreadnought body style debuted in the Martin Custom Shop as the brand's biggest body style. Save for a limited, oversized guitar inspired by a C.F. Martin Museum Collection model, the Super D made itself known in the Martin Custom Shop with a volume level bumped up approximately twelve decibels.
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Originally born from an innocent question around the Martin water cooler, inspired by a Black Sabbath Vol. 4 track, "Can the dreadnought company be the super dreadnought company?", from there, the path was set.
Today, the Super D makes its triumphant return for the first time outside the Martin Custom Shop line. Two Super Dreadnought models in specific – the Super D-18 and Super HD-28 – land with Martin's celebrated Standard Series production model line. Delivering on the big-bodied promise first made with the Custom Shop Super D all those years ago, Martin's Standard Series Super D-18 and Super HD-28 are marvels of Martin design.
Into the Woods
Martin Super D-18 Super Dreadnought Design
As we talk about Martin and their Super D-18 super dreadnought, we're dealing with a good amount of familiar material and terminology. Excuse us if we're stating the obvious or stating too much, but each piece of the Super D-18 is certainly worth mentioning, in our opinion. Let's talk some tonewoods.
Martin Super D-18 Super Dreadnought Materials
With the Standard Series Super D-18, we're kicking everything off with a familiar Martin tonewood combo. First, the upscaled Super D dreadnought body comes together with a match of solid spruce and solid genuine mahogany. A combo of woods to stand the test of time, as it already has frankly, the solid tonewood match summons a complex voice that plays boldly but familiarly. Spruce and mahogany follow up on their storied legacy in Martin guitars for a masterful meld of brightness and bass.
We'd be remiss to pass up an opportunity to talk about the "Super" in "Super D," here. This Martin Standard Series entry gets its superpowers from its bigger dreadnought body size. This size ain't just for show, you know! Martin blazes ahead with their Super D dreadnought body style with a noticeably increased scale that increases internal air volume by 20% over Martin's usual dreadnought size. This increase in size, bolstered by specifications like Martin's modern scalloped spruce forward-shifted X-Bracing pattern creates a formidable acoustic that really throws its voice around. More on this in a second.
From the Super D-sized body, this Standard Series brings on a satin-finished neck through dovetail neck joint construction. This smooth, slender neck makes for effortless trips from higher to lower registers. A dark ebony fingerboard matches this neck with classic, understated abalone Old Style 18 inlays. Throughout this model, Martin matches its large-and-in-charge Super D-14 Fret dreadnought body with the seamless and inspirational playability for which their other guitars are famous.
Superstardom
Martin Super D-18 Super Dreadnought Tones
The Super D-18 doesn't get its superlative for nothin', if you could imagine. An increased fifth of internal air volume and a possible extra twelve decibels on tap are nothing to sneeze at and give you quite a bit of acoustic muscle to swing with. The style's increased size is sure to automatically inspire you to strum big and strum hard – and believe us, we get it. A bumped up size already makes you want to make some noise. Take some full, dramatic strums out of the Super D-18 and you're sure to get the memo before long.
Martin's match of mahogany and spruce appears at the forefront of the Super D-18's tonal conversation. The classic match of genuine mahogany richness and spruce top-end chirp turns to something new with the Super D's increased air volume. A sizable strum full of oomph introduces interesting overtones as the spruce's bright treble "breaks up," almost as a tube preamp on an amplifier would. With more size, Martin's classic tonewoods have a little more space to explore, investigate, and stretch their legs as they ring out with classic resonance and complexity.
All the Small ThingsInterestingly enough, pointing its bat to the outfield before the pitch isn't the only thing the Super D knows how to do. The Martin Super D-18, perhaps counterintuitively due to its bigger size, handles the smaller-scaled notes and phrases just as easily. Martin's Super D body shape breathes great life into the smallest of sounds with as much finesse and character is it does its most bombastic chords. This is additionally facilitated by the fact that the Super Dreadnought body shape is very comfortable to hold and get up close with. In essence, all you couch-bound parlor players out there: Consider supersizing for a change?
Martin Super D-18 Super Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Final Thoughts
For Martin fans clamoring for an accessible spin with the brand's exciting Super Dreadnought body style, we can't imagine you'll be unsatisfied after a session with the Standard Series Super D-18. The Standard Super D-18 is an outstanding take on the Martin legacy that pays reverence to its historic dreadnought models while absolutely looking to the future. It all seems so simple, right? A bigger guitar? Well, yes and no. Martin's Standard Series Super D-18 is something to get excited and stay excited about as you navigate not only your established repertoire but see where the upscaled dreadnought body takes you.
Classically-trained actors talk about how "the outside informs the inside." How a physical movement or a costume piece can be infinitely informative about how to approach a character and how an actor might most truthfully walk a mile in that character's shoes. The Martin Super D-18 has something of that effect.
How do you make a musical statement larger than life? A big guitar is a good place to start.
