Removes the limitations of the conventional cutaway acoustic

Playing the Road Series SC-13E Special is a unique, yet comfortably familiar experience. Its offset S-shaped body fits you like a glove, while providing balanced output and effective feedback rejection. Its sloped bridge stays out of your hand’s way, whether you’re strumming frenetically or fingerpicking delicately. Its low-profile velocity neck shape allows for helical hand rotation to ensure that every hand position feels relaxed and natural. Its 13-fret design blends the tone of a long-scale instrument with the playability of a short-scale, and its heel-less Sure Align neck system gives you unfettered access to the SC-13E Special’s entire fretboard. And its low action, while maintaining the feel of an acoustic guitar, is sure to make electric players feel right at home. No matter what you’re playing, cowboy chords, jazz shapes, or rapid-fire leads, the SC-13E Special makes it effortless.

An acoustic guitar through and through

There have been numerous attempts at creating a comfortable acoustic that would appeal to electric guitar players. Unfortunately, the results are often less than mind-blowing — typically a super-thin acoustic instrument with equally thin tone. The Martin Road Series SC-13E Special eschews this type of thinking. While its comfortable neck and low action ensure easy playability, the SC-13E Special is an acoustic guitar through and through, meticulously crafted by a company with a 180-year history of building legendary acoustic instruments. Its spruce top yields the direct, punchy sound and broad dynamic range that the tonewood is known for, while its fine-tuned body with tailored X-bracing produces near-cannon-like levels of volume and projection. The SC-13E Special’s natural tone is stellar.

Amazing sound onstage

The SC-13E Special comes with LR Baggs’s popular Element acoustic pickup system, a favorite among acoustic guitarists. This system features a low-profile under-saddle transducer that enhances the coupling between the pickup and the guitar for a robust, lively, and natural acoustic sound with excellent dynamics and delicate high end. Combined with an onboard preamplifier and an unobtrusive volume control that’s mounted just inside the soundhole, the Element gives your SC-13E Special the amplification you need, with zero compromises for tone or convenience.

Stunning ziricote back and sides

While the standard SC-13E comes with koa back and sides, the SC-13E Special boasts gorgeous ziricote fine veneer for its construction to deliver a brighter and more articulate tone. Ziricote is famed for its close tonal relation to the rosewood family, producing rich overtones and a full-range sound that’s perfect for solo performers and singer-songwriters.