Martin LXK2 Little Martin Koa Pattern HPL Top with Padded Gigbag

Bought this to replace my Washburn Rover as my beach/campfire/couch guitar. It's a much different animal than the Rover; much more refined sound with bigger body. I compared this with the Baby Taylor. Did not like the feel of the BT's neck. BT also did not seem as well intonated as the Martin. I have also heard that the Taylor tuners were not as good as the Martin. I tried a few whole step bends on both, and the Martin held pitch better. I also compared this to the solid topped Little Martin. I fully expected to prefer the solid topped, but this laminated one sounded much better. Much more balanced with nice note separation. I keep coming back to the intonation with this guitar; it was really good fresh out of the box, even in the higher registers. After tuning it with my Peterson sweetened guitar setting, the sound was amazing. I could go on and on about Peterson Tuners, but thay is a whole other review. Only thing I don't like is the nut has rather sharp corners. I may get it replaced with a bone nut (and bone saddle too). This guitar is a great buy (I got it at two-ninety-nine) as beater, travel guitar. But I find myself reaching for this over my D18 often times, simply because its size make is so convenient. And the decreased sound output make it less likely that I will disturb anyone, or wake any of the kids.

I have been playing the banjo and uke for a couple of years now and I've never really been comfortable holding a full size (acoustic) guitar. I wanted to find a smaller guitar I could play on the couch or porch and bring with me camping, I love to play outside. I researched and asked musician friends of mine and narrowed it down to this Martin, the Baby Taylor and the Ibanez GA2. I was able to play the Taylor and Martin side by side at a local shop and tried the Ibanez model at a Guitar Center a couple of towns over. The taylor was bright and beautiful but I didn't like the action. The Ibanez sounded good but the action was awful and the tuners were very cheap. The martin was just right. While it's not as brassy and clear as the Taylor, the action and overall feel for me is incredible. The tone is beautiful, very rich for a 3/4 scale, especially the lower notes. The volume is more than enough to keep up with my friends when we jam outside and while I haven't been to a large group jam with it yet (it's only been about a week since I bought it) I have no doubt it will do just fine later this summer when I have a sit down with the blue grass boys. If you're thinking about a 3/4 scale but not sure if this will keep up, you're going to be surprised. I'm heading up the river this weekend and the fact that I can carry my deering good times and this for a combined weight of 7 lbs makes it a no brainer. Overall, extremely pleased.

This is a fabulous little guitar. I bring it with me everywhere - pop it out of the case (it holds its tuning very well) and play it. Friends of mine try it, are impressed with how easily it plays and ask me who I had set it up, and I tell them that's how it came out of the box, because that is how it came out of the box: ready to go. It sounds great - a little small (of course), but it is very balanced and clear - really lovely tone. Well intonated, plays great all over the neck. And rugged - it's basically made out of Pergo flooring material and you can't scratch it. The only downside is it is a little bit head heavy - the head has nice, quality tuners and there is a lot of weight up there. This is a tiny downside, really. If you want a guitar that you can bring everywhere, that is a a delight to play, that seems to call you: "come play with me...." like a Siren, and that you'd have to run over with a car to break, then get this. And... it's a damn Martin for $300! What is there not to love?

I own several "real" Martins, but this is a great instrument to leave lying around for when I want to just pick it up and fool around. I think too much of the others to let them out of their cases unless I want to hear what I sound like on a really fine guitar (and I'm usually disappointed, not in the guitar but in me). This is cosmetically pretty nondescript, but it has a surprising good sound for its size and construction and the action is very good. I replaced the tuners with Grover Roto-grips from StewMac, so it's dead easy to replace the strings, and also replaced the gig bag with an SKB hardshell case for when I travel. It's not something I'd recommend unless you have more money than brains (I don't have that much money, but this would suggest I don't have much brains, either. Between the tuners and the case I probably paid 2/3 the cost of a new Little Martin.). Don't buy this if you're looking for a performance guitar. It sounds awfully good, but not that good. It requires medium gauge strings, but with the short scale, they're as easy to play as light gauge on a full-sized instrument. A note of warning: This guitar requires medium gauge strings, and Grover Roto-grips can't handle the medium gauge low E string (.056 gauge). I had a set of Grover Rotomatics that I'd taken off another guitar (to install Roto-grips), so I put one on the low E. Cosmetically it looks like the rest, and I can stand to tie one string off when I change them. Apparently Schaller and other locking tuners have the same problem.

Know what you're getting before you buy and you'll be happy. This is the kind of guitar Ed Sheeran built his career on as a busker. This is not the guitar he is currently using on tour, nor is it a good choice for recording. The version with electronics might be good for gigging, but the LXK2 does not have electronics so I can't comment further than that. This is a 3/4 size guitar. The scale is about 3" shorter than a regular guitar, which means you can tune up two notes (F#BEAC#F#) with regular strings without risk of snapping them. I've done this, and it was fun. I've also tuned down a couple notes (DGCFAD) and it didn't buzz or feel weird. For some reason, though, I have more issues when using a capo than I do on other guitars--retuning with the capo on is a must. The tuners are not too good. The ratio feels low, which isn't a probably for most of the strings but makes it hard to get the low E string dialed in. I'll probably swap them out for 18:1 Grovers. Projection is minimal, but that shouldn't be a surprise. This is a tiny guitar built to survive kids and/or road trips. For what it is, it sounds good and the volume across each string sounds even. The Martin strings it came with sounded awful and I immediately swapped them out for a set of D'Addario phosphor-bronze. Tone is balanced, but focused in the midrange. Fretboard feels perfect. Action was perfect out of the box. Finish looks nice--I'd describe it as semi-gloss (shinier than a matte finish, but not a glossy mirror). The materials are all laminated, and the "koa" is a photo finish but it looks nice and I don't see a seam or repeat in the pattern. Build quality is ROBUST and the finish will be hard to scratch. I've brought this a couple places and while the tuners aren't superb, it didn't seem to react to temperature changes like other guitars I've owned. This is a guitar I bought for the purpose of bringing to church for youth, and on youth group trips. I am totally comfortable letting the youth borrow it and carry it around without me sweating about it. So far, it's been well received, and it's worked well in our smallish worship circles. Very pleased with this, even with its flaws.

I've been playing steel string & nylon string guitar for over 18 years now and can honestly say that this little piece of work is so much fun to play and it has the bright, clean, even, crisp, clear, awesome tone, as it's bigger brothers five times the price !! Seriously couldn't be happier with the guitar. I played around for a few weeks at local shops and was skeptical about just buying one online but this little thing was built well and just sounds awesome !! It comes with a gig bag and it's so compact, you can just take it everywhere it's totally worth the 280 bucks !! It's a Martin, come on, virtually every other luthier tries to replicate them. It says it was made in Mexico and frankly who cares where it was made if it sounds good ?!? I give it five stars without question!

Very well packaged. I have been enjoying this guitar. Has a nice solid / heavy feel to it. Perfect travel guitar. I’ve been taking it every where with me (beach / camping / various trips) The second I pulled it out of the box my dog came over and slammed her paw/nails against the wood (go figure) but it didn’t scratch the vinyl! I’ve owned a number of 3/4 guitars and this is by far the best. My only issue is it doesn’t sound as good with hand strumming, it needs a pick for clear sound. But it’s still the better sounding 3/4 that I’ve owned.

This little guitar feels surprisingly heavy to hold and has a really nice sound. It comes with Martin's lifespan strings, and I really don't think they do it justice at all. I immediately put on a set of Elixir phosphor bronze with the nanoweb coating and it was like I was playing a whole different instrument. This is now my husband's full-time, go-to guitar. He has smaller hands and finds it so much easier to play than our big old classical guitar. I'd recommend this to anyone who's on the petite side or has small hands. While it's small, this guitar feels solid and I won't worry at all when traveling with it. How nice to have a high-quality instrument that fits well in the car. A neighbor has the same one and says he put it in the overhead bin on airplanes, too. Overall, I highly recommend!

ギター初心者でよくわからないですが とても良い音と響きな感じがします。 サイズも小柄な私にピッタリで 弾きやすくて丁度良いです。

I am totally in love with my little Martin! It has a sound that is so unbelievable for the size. It is so comfortable to hold. You can even sit in an armchair comfortably and play. I am so happy with it! The guitar came on time, it was well packaged and arrived in perfect condition.

非常好看，音色很棒！大小适合女性，小孩儿……手指小的人。 颜色非常非常非常漂亮，运输包装完美。 配有原装的袋子，也很方便。共振音色实在是很美好。 价格也合适，值得初学者购入。

The sound coming from this little guitar is amazing. I wanted a smaller guitar so both me and my son could learn to play and it's fantastic.

思った以上になりが良くてびっくりです。小さいギターでここまで出るのは他にはない？ 背の低い自分にはサイズ的にもピッタリで持ち運びも出来て気軽にギターを持ちだすことが出来るのは良いです。 どんなもんか不安もありエレアコタイプは見送ったけど買っても良いかな。