Martin D-28 Acoustic Guitar

Lore & Background

The Martin D-28 occupies a special place in the lineage of country and folk instruments. Introduced in the early 1960s as a simplified, more affordable take on Martin's earlier dreadnoughts, it quickly became the go-to workhorse for singer-songwriters who wanted a big, round, driving tone without the ornamentation of a premium model. Its solid spruce top and rosewood back and sides produce a sound that is simultaneously warm and punchy—exactly the kind of full-bodied strum that suits a barroom ballad or a stadium singalong.

In the Luke Combs world, the D-28 fits his philosophy perfectly. He has consistently gravitated toward straightforward, no-frills presentation: a plain tee, a worn cap, and a guitar that looks like it's been played a thousand times. The D-28's understated design—no elaborate binding, no exotic wood, just honest craftsmanship—mirrors that ethos. It's the instrument you'd expect a guy who grew up in North Carolina to reach for, the one that sounds like a porch, a pickup truck, and a Friday night all at once.

Fans have noted that Combs often plays the D-28 in its most basic configuration: open tunings, fingerpicked verses, then a full-throttle strum for the chorus. The dreadnought's volume and sustain let one guitar carry a melody, a harmony, and a rhythm simultaneously, which is why his solo or duet sets feel so complete without a full band. The guitar becomes a one-man band, and the audience leans in.

In Their Own Story

The house lights dim to a warm amber. No pyrotechnics, no video wall. Just one stool, one mic stand, and Luke Combs settling in with his Martin D-28, the spruce top catching the single overhead spot like a sheet of pale wood. He tunes the G string, gives it a quick pluck, and the note rings out with that unmistakable dreadnought bloom—round, a little woody, filling the space between the front row and the back wall. He doesn't say 'thank you for coming.' He just starts. The first chord is a slow, rolling D-major, and the room exhales. By the second verse he's fingerpicking, the rosewood back humming against his ribs, and you can hear the faint creak of the neck as he shifts position. The crowd is quiet enough to hear the pick scrape the strings. It's not a concert. It's a confession with a guitar in the middle of it.

Reader's Guide

If you've ever watched a Luke Combs live set, a studio session clip, or even a casual Instagram story of him strumming in a living room, chances are the guitar in his hands is a Martin D-28. Fans first started noticing the specific model in the early days of his independent releases and small-venue runs, when the stripped-back, one-man-show format made the guitar the visual centerpiece of every performance. The clean spruce top, the dark rosewood, the simple white pickguard—these became as recognizable as his cap or his voice.

What makes the D-28 iconic to the Combs brand is its honesty. In a genre where artists often reach for custom-colored electrics or signature models, the D-28 says: this is just a guitar, and the song is the point. That restraint resonates with the fanbase, which tends to value authenticity over spectacle.

Collector's note: Martin produces the D-28 in a standard production run, so it isn't a limited-edition item in the way a numbered signature model would be. However, because Combs' association with the instrument is so visible and consistent, fans sometimes seek out a D-28 as a 'play what the artist plays' purchase. Martin's Kalamazoo factory builds each one by hand, and the tonewoods vary slightly from guitar to guitar, so no two D-28s sound identical. If you're hunting one for your own porch sessions, the standard D-28 is widely available through authorized dealers, and the used market is deep. You won't find a 'Luke Combs exclusive' D-28 in a store, but you will find a guitar that sounds like the one he's been strumming for years.

Did You Know?

• The Martin D-28's dreadnought body shape was originally designed in the 1930s to produce a louder, fuller tone for bluegrass and folk ensembles, and it has remained a staple of those genres for nearly a century.
• Luke Combs is well known for his minimal, guitar-forward performance style, often playing solo sets where the D-28 carries melody, harmony, and rhythm all at once.
• The D-28's solid spruce top and rosewood back and sides are a standard tonewood pairing that gives it a bright, articulate attack with a warm, sustaining midrange—qualities that suit both fingerpicking and flatpicking.
• C.F. Martin & Company has been building guitars in Kalamazoo, Michigan, since the 1830s, making the D-28 a product of one of the oldest continuously operating guitar-making operations in the United States.