The Martin OMC-15E is a solid mahogany body acoustic-electric with new Fishman Matrix VT Enhance Electronics.
Related Feature:
Best Mics for Recording Acoustic Guitars
This instrument is part of the company ever expanding line of acoustics, and was released alongside a number of other new guitars during the recently concluded 2016 NAMM Show.
Having had worked together for over three decades now, Martin and Fishman has formed quite the alliance. However, we all know that Fishman also supplies other acoustic guitar builders with their pickups, and so Martin wanted to have a Fishman built electronic system especially designed just for them. And so the proprietary Fishman Matrix VT Enhance pickup system was born, and is now being utilized in many of Martin’s new guitar offerings.
The Martin OMC-15E is among the acoustic-electrics that benefited in this new development. This pickup system retains Fishman’s popular Matrix under-saddle pickup technology, but adds in a new “Enhance” element. This Enhance element feature lets you blend in natural sounds that are coming from the body of the guitar, allowing for techniques like body tapping and percussive playing. And interestingly, blending the piezo and element sound is as easily done via controls mounted on the soundhole.
As expected from Martin, this guitar is not just about electronics, because this one comes with their usual impressive build and tonewood quality. The OMC-15E features an all solid-mahogany orchestra shape (000-14 with cutaway) body which gives this instrument warmer tones. The resulting sound puts more emphasis on the lower-middle frequencies, allowing the instrument to easily cut through a thick band setting. While it may not be as crisp and punchy as spruce top acoustics, it has a fuller and mellower sound that responds well even to small nuances of your playing.
The neck is crafted from mahogany and features an east Indian Rosewood abalone. It has a traditional scale length of 25.4″ and a nut width of 1.75″. It has a total of 20 frets and meets the body at the 14th fret. The modified low oval shape is designed for a more comfortable action, said to be ideal for regular performers.
The new Martin OMC-15E has a list price of $2,249, but it is currently being sold by online retailers for $1799, hardshell case included. For more information and the complete specifications, you can head over to Martin Guitar.
Related Articles:
