Martin D-18 Molly Tuttle Acoustic Guitar, Vintage Sunburst

A bright dreadnought for one of modern bluegrass's brightest stars, we've got the Martin D-18 Molly Tuttle in a warm Vintage Sunburst. Always keeping their finger on the pulse of one of America's oldest musical forms, the fine folks at Martin Guitar tap award-winning bluegrass guitarist Molly Tuttle for her take on a classic Martin D-14 Fret. This signature model assembles with some keen customizations straight from the guitarist herself for a dazzling dreadnought to keep the barn burnin'.

Molly Tuttle, a decorated bluegrass guitarist from a long line of musicians, has made a name for herself in both celebrated bluegrass bands and on her own as a solo artist. Crossing paths with the likes of bluegrass and country contemporaries Margo Price, Gillian Welch, and Billy Strings, Tuttle has a pretty stacked resume and a star-studded rolodex to her name, among her many accolades for her six-string skills. Today's Martin D-18 Molly Tuttle celebrates the guitarist and the classic American music style she calls home.

The Martin D-18 Molly Tuttle comes together with some classic Martin specs with plenty of exciting spins along the way. First, this signature model assembles with a Martin D-14 Fret body with mahogany back and sides and a spruce top. Wrapped in a gloss finish and sporting a Vintage Sunburst top color, this body carries with it generations of Martin dreadnought excellence. Within its iconic D-14 shape, there is some modern mojo afoot.

This Martin D-18 Molly Tuttle is fitted with Golden Era 5/16" scalloped spruce braces under its hood in a seldom-seen rearward-shifted X-Brace pattern. Golden Era braces, a more modern Martin development usually found in their Modern Deluxe series, help this dreadnought along for a bright and powerful projection alongside its rearward-shifted bracing position. Rearward-shifting, as opposed to the more common forward-shifting, moves the bracing positions farther from the soundhole, tightening trebles and placing less focus on bass response for an overall brighter-sounding instrument. This plays right into Tuttle's reputation as a masterful flat- and fingerpicker for her bluegrass stylings.

Reaching out, this Molly Tuttle signature features a satin-finished genuine mahogany neck in an Authentic 1941 profile with a Standard Taper in Martin's dovetail neck joint assembly. These elements combined make for a smooth and classic feel in the palm alongside an easy experience on the fingers with an ebony fingerboard. Twenty frets line up along this dark ebony with gorgeous custom Moon Phase Mother of Pearl inlays. Moving along the scale, Mother of Pearl makes up a lunar phase pattern, waxing and waning along the guitar's 25.4" scale length.

Backing up all these structural and elements are a robust hardware setup and aesthetic flourishes. For one, a bone nut lands at the headstock with nickel open gear tuning machines. At the scale's opposite end, an ebony Golden Era Modern Belly bridge features a drop-in compensated bone saddle matching for an incredibly solid intonation feel. This D-18 is decked with an Old Style 18 Multi-Stripe top inlay, Style 18 strip, and brown faux tortoise binding to add up to a rich, classy look on and off the stage. This Martin D-18 Molly Tuttle travels with an included Martin molded hardshell case.

For modern bluegrass's boldest and brightest, it only makes enough sense that she has a Martin to match.