Mario Martin Guitars Alder & Rosewood S-Style w/ Arcane 61 PUs – 3-Tone Burst

Information

Brand New w/ Warranty. We are an authorized Mario Martin Dealer.

Like what you see? All photos are of the exact instrument you will receive.

Mario Martin guitars are hand built in Murfreesboro, TN just 40 minutes down the road from us! Undertaking the entire build process from cutting the body blank to spraying the final touch of nitro, Mario Martin achieves a level of guitar making well beyond partscaster builders who may look alike on the surface. These guys maintain one of the best collections of tonewoods around, and every neck/body/pickup combination is chosen carefully to amplify the personality of the guitar as a whole. Whether you crave an S-style guitar straight out of 1958 or the unique Tele-Strat mashup that is the Honcho, we are confident you’ll find what you’re looking for in a Mario Martin.

What Do We Think?

An Alder body strat under 7lb! We consistently say Mario keeps one of the best tonewood stocks around, and this guitar is proof. The acoustic warmth of the midrange on this one is particularly notable, a quality that shines through even when plugged in and the volume turned up. The low end is tight and spanky, and the top end is sweet and clear. We would even venture to say glassy in positions 1-3 (bridge, bridge/middle and middle).

The Arcane 61 Experience pickup set measures around 6.2k resistance and leaves lots of space for the tonal properties of the guitar to shine. They don’t push the front end of the amp too hard, but they do feed some delicious breakup when you turn up the amp gain or volume. Plugged into the higher gain input of an EL84-loaded Magnatone Super Fifteen combo, the neck pickup dishes out a throaty midrange while the bass stays incredibly tight and punchy.

The “in-between” positions are remarkable as well. In addition to the expected quack, they have a confident fullness that makes them play nice when switching from any of the other positions. And moving on, we love that the second tone knob is wired to the bridge pickup. Rolling it back to around 6 will give you a creamier bridge position that takes a bit of hair off the top end and holds up really nicely at higher gain levels.

The aged 3-Tone Burst finish on this guitar highlights the softer, more pastel-colored quality of early ‘60s burst Strats that Fender seems to have trouble replicating on their own reproduction instruments. It’s gorgeous. This one is a light-to-medium relic and features gold hardware and black 3-ply pickguard that really pop.

How Does It Play?

This S-Style features Mario’s Classic C neck profile and feels incredible. It has nice shoulder and a similar profile to the neck Fender is putting on the American Professional II Strat, which is to say a hair deeper and rounder than what the American Standard series was. But whereas the Professional II collects a bit of unwanted bulk behind the first fret that gets in the way chording your E and A chords, the Mario stays nice and slim right through to the nut. The 6125 fretwire is slightly lower than the 6105 “narrow tall” fret profile and feels very smooth under the hands when sliding up and down the neck.

Weight: 6lb 15oz

The Mario Martin Deluxe padded gigbag is included.

Specifications

Model: S-Style

Body: Alder

Neck: Maple / Rosewood

Nut Material: Bone

Nut Width: 1.65”

Fret Size: 6125

Fingerboard Radius: 9.5”-12”

Neck Shape: C

Top/Side Dots: Clay

Strings: String Joy MM Set

Tuners: Gotoh Staggered Vintage

Hardware: Gold

Pickguard: 3-Ply Black

Pickups: Arcane 61 Experience

Finish: Nitrocellulose

Body Color: 3-Tone Burst / Relic

Neck Color: Gloss w/ Vintage Tint / Relic

Accessories Included: Deluxe Gig Bag and Certificate of Authenticity / Dated & Hand signed By Mario Martin

Total Weight of Guitar: 6 lbs. 15 oz.

Serial Number: 322639

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