Martin Custom D Jr. 2A Sapele Dreadnought Junior Acoustic Guitar Natural

I have always loved the sound of a Martin and this is my intro to a beautiful instrument. I'm so excited and happy to play this instrument.

Great guitar. Love it's full sized brother a little more but great guitar

Nearing retirement, I decided to take a second shot at guitar playing following a 40 year hiatus. After trying some $200-$300 boxes in the local Guitar Center, I picked this up and it sold itself. Easy to play, sweet sounding, lightweight, it would be a joy to own even if the name inside said "Fred's Guitars". To be honest, I've dreamed of having a Martin for a long time. This was money well spent.

I tried a few before pulling the trigger on this one. Some where too big and some too small and cramped on the fretboard. The DJR 2a struck a great balance with size, playability, and rich full sound.The only difference I can see on the 2a vs 2 is the Black Headstock and Black Bridge pins. If you have to have the HPL Brown headstock the 2 is the only other way to get one of the DJR Sapeles. I have only seen the 2a at GC and MF. It may be a limited run designed to allow deeper discounts. The description inside the guitar reads "Dreadnought Junior Special" and "special" burned in where the serial number is. I like the more stark looking black of this one. I liked getting a discount as well. The 2 seems like the price never varies. I love the deep bass and warm loud sound this one produces. The extra wide nut and 24" scale works great for me.I would have preferred a 24.75 scale but this is much better than the much shorter travel sized guitars out there. I have had it for a few of weeks and the sounds out of this all solid wood guitar are just getting better. It is nice to have the Martin name and reputation behind it. Gig Bag a great addition. I wish that it opened fully instead of almost fully. It is more like a sleeve that the guitar kind of slides in. They could have done better I think on this one thing. Padding is pretty good and it was a throw in. No real complaints. GC had it on sale and I snapped it up. They then price matched the only competitor out there when it was offered at an even better deal. I love my local Guitar Center. They always treat me right,

Good little guitar to just grab and practice on the move

I assumed the sapele the less desirable of the D Juniors but I was wrong. I was set on getting the spruce top but since the Junior 2A was $75 off over Labor Day weekend I decided to give it a whirl. Maybe the guitar sounds more mellow on all the Youtube comparison videos but this 2A model (note this the 2A not the regular 2) sounded articulate and bright enough for me. But what really impressed me was the sustain. This guitar body just rings like a bell. The stripey sapele top and the super thin finish are my least favorite things about this guitar but it more than makes up for its looks when I strum it. Proof to me the people at Martin with their 180 years of guitar building experience really know what they're doing, with even a modest Mexican made guitar like this. Setup while not perfect was not bad either out of the box. I can't find a thing to fault in overall build quality. Its about as good as it gets in the sub $1000 range. Maybe someone out there can clear up the difference between the Junior 2 and this 2A. The 2A has the plain black head stock. I know. There are too many 5 star reviews. Maybe this really deserves a 4. But its somewhere around there.