Martin’s Road Series models have long been favorites among players looking for an affordable entry into the brand. In addition, the line offers instruments that expand on Martin’s traditional designs, resulting in guitars that are popular with contemporary players. Earlier this year, Martin introduced ziricote back and sides on a couple of existing models. We already demoed the dreadnought-size D-13E Ziricote, and I was happy to be able to check out the GPC-13E Ziricote in the Peghead Nation video studio.
The GPC-13E Ziricote is based on the standard GPC-13E, which has been available with mutenye back and sides (check out our demo here). Using Martin’s relatively new Grand Performance body, the GPC-13E Ziricote is a mid-size guitar and includes a cutaway. It has a solid Sitka spruce top and, as with its dreadnought sibling, has laminated ziricote back and sides. A favorite with many custom builders, ziricote originates in southern Mexico and Central America and, with its distinctive coloring and figure, tends to be among the more dramatic looking wood choices. Tone-wise, ziricote is typically compared to rosewood. The GPC-13E Ziricote has standard white body binding and black-and-white purfling, a mother-of-pearl rosette, and fingerboard position dots similar to a style-28. The guitar is finished in gloss throughout.
Like the mutenye version of the guitar we checked out, the GPC-13E Ziricote has a highly versatile character. It sounds great strummed, and would work well in an accompaniment role, but it is also responsive enough to be fun when played fingerstyle. It has a balanced voice that avoids problematic boominess in the low end while still providing satisfying bass, resulting in a rich overall tonality. Setup and playability were excellent, and the cutaway allows easy access to the upper fingerboard region. Plugging the onboard Fishman MX-T electronics into a Fishman Loudbox Mini amp yielded very satisfying results, and the system’s soundhole-mounted tuner is a very useful feature, regardless of whether you use the electronics to amplify or not.
Overall, the GPC-13E Ziricote offers a lot of guitar for the money. Between the satisfying acoustic tone, solid electronics package, and great looks of the ziricote, there’s a lot to like!
SPECS:14-fret grand performance body. Solid Sitka spruce top with scalloped X-bracing. Ziricote laminate back and sides. Select hardwood neck. Richlite fretboard and bridge. 25.4-inch scale. 1¾-inch nut width. 2⁵/₃₂-inch string spacing at the saddle. Enclosed chrome tuning machines. Fishman MX-T electronics. Made in Mexico. $1,299 (street). Martinguitar.com
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