Certain instruments, like those in the violin family, tend to be standardized, with consistent sets of measurements and materials that have remained nearly unchanged for over 300 years. The relatively young steel-string guitar, on the other hand, is wildly diverse. It appears in many different sizes and shapes, which work for a wide range of styles and approaches.
Today’s guitar sizes developed as the instrument’s popularity grew and playing opportunities expanded in the early 20th century. Players sought more volume as the instrument moved from the parlor to clubs and bars, and guitar makers responded by developing broader and deeper guitars, ultimately leading to large models like the dreadnought and the jumbo.
The result of this development of acoustic guitar sizes leaves today’s players with a tremendous selection of shapes and sizes to choose from. Volume is no longer an issue—at least not for players who use pickups and microphones—thanks to advancements in amplification. Each size seems to offer players something unique, and these different strengths are one reason why many guitarists cannot be satisfied with just one instrument.
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This guide hopes to give you a general understanding of what the different guitar sizes are and what they may offer. It is organized using the most common styles: those pioneered by Martin and Gibson from the mid-1800s to the 1940s, which have been the benchmark for so many other makers big and small. Keep in mind that in order to find the size—or sizes!—that will work best for you, there’s no substitute for trying out the entire range.
Martin’s dreadnought is an icon, the acoustic guitar world’s most identifiable—and copied—shape. The dreadnought emerged in 1916 as a large-bodied 12-fret guitar with a wide waist and was made for Ditson, a prominent music publisher and dealer based in New York and Boston. The Ditson dreadnaught [Martin used this spelling until the early 1960s, when it changed it to dreadnought —
Ditson was sold in 1930, and the following year Martin began producing the dreadnought under its own name. The newly named D-18 and D-28 both debuted in early 1931. But the dread didn’t start to take off until 1934, when Martin shortened the body—giving its shoulders a squared-off look and moving the bridge a couple of frets closer to the neck block—as well as added a longer, 14-fret neck. This is the basic form that the dread has had ever since.
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At 15-5/8 inches across the lower bout and with a body that tapers from 4-7/8 inches deep at the endpin to 3-7/8 at the neck, the 14-fret Martin dreadnought is a large guitar. The instrument has plenty of power, volume, and bass response. While early adopters used the dreadnought in string band music, as it would not be drowned out by fiddles and banjos, it also found a home in rock, country, gospel, and nearly every style of popular music.
The dreadnought’s initial appeal was its great power and bass response—ideal for country and bluegrass accompaniment. It became especially prized by flatpickers for the presence it lends to single-note lines, bass runs, and strumming. Tony Rice was known for using an old, heavily modified D-28 previously owned by Clarence White, as well as his Santa Cruz Guitar Company signature models, while young players like Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle have their Preston Thompson signature editions. But that’s not to say that the dreadnought does not work well for fingerstyle play—for instance, Michael Hedges used a 1971 Martin D-28 to excellent effect with this approach.
For many decades, a majority of guitar makers have offered at least one dreadnought—if not many. A search for current D-sized models on Martin’s website yields dozens of results, including both modern versions and historical re-creations, from the entry-level D-X1E to the D-28 Modern Deluxe to the D-45S Authentic 1936 Aged. Larger companies like Alvarez, Takamine, and Yamaha make affordable variations on the dreadnought platform, and Guild also has a long history with the body size (see a review of the A-20 Marley on page 74). Boutique builders like Bourgeois, Collings, and Santa Cruz offer their finely crafted interpretations with a range of wood and trim options. While most new dreadnoughts have 14-fret necks, there are still some 12-fret versions being produced, like those in Collings’ DS series and Santa Cruz’s D-12 model.
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In 1934, Gibson responded to Martin’s dreadnought with a big guitar called the Jumbo. Though it was produced for only two years, this guitar became the basis for a bunch of other large-bodied models, like the Advanced Jumbo; the J-50; Gibson’s most influential flattop, the J-45; and others. The Jumbo and J-45 have short scale length fretboards (24.75-inch), while the Advanced Jumbo has a longer scale, 25.5 (slightly more than Martin’s 25.4). All of these models have dreadnought-sized bodies, but with round shoulders compared to Martin’s characteristic squared-off design. Gibson would also eventually offer square-shouldered dreadnoughts, like the Hummingbird and the Dove.
The best Gibson slope-shouldered dreadnoughts are characterized by their loudness, tonal balance, and clarity. Among the many singer-songwriters who have relied on the J-45, affectionately known as the Workhorse, or one of its variants are Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Gillian Welch, and Lucinda Williams.
Though not quite as common as its square-shouldered counterpart, the slope-shouldered dreadnought design has long been an inspiration for other makers. With models like the E10SS and E20SS, Eastman offers affordable options, while Taylor puts a contemporary spin on the slope-shouldered dread through its recent Grand Pacific body shape with V-Class bracing. At the same time, Collings’ CJ-45 T has more of an old-school vibe.
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The second most influential body size is the OM, or orchestra model. Its body is a bit smaller than a dreadnought, with a 15-inch-wide lower bout and a body depth that tapers from 4-1/8 inches to 3-1/4 inches. This model was developed in 1929, when the bandleader, banjoist, and guitarist Perry Bechtel asked Martin to build him a guitar with a longer neck. Up until that point, every Martin had a neck-to-body junction at the 12th fret, like a classical guitar. The company made Bechtel a guitar with a 14-fret neck, moving the position of the bridge to accommodate this new design, and the OM—essentially a 14-fret version of the 12-fret 000 size first seen in 1902—was born. (Note that, somewhat confusingly, the term OM was also used on other 14-fret models of the early and mid-1930s.)
Around 1934, the guitar was separated into two models that shared the same body size: the OM, with a 25.4-inch scale length fretboard, and the 000, with a 24.9-inch scale length. Both OMs and 000s are known for producing rich lows and sparkling highs that deliver great all-around tone for just about every type of music. The longer-scale OM is characterized by its outstanding responsiveness, brilliance, and projection, while the 000 may have a slightly warmer, mellower sound, plus its shorter scale makes string-bending easier.
Many fingerstyle players, including Laurence Juber and Eric Schoenberg, consider the OM/000 to be the ultimate fingerstyle guitar, but it’s terrific for flatpicking, too. Eric Clapton relied on a 1939 000-42 and a 1966 000-28 (modified with style-45 appointments) for his 1992 Unplugged performance and album, and his various Martin signature models have been enormously popular. Grant Gordy has used a mid-1940s 000-18 to excellent effect, and Julian Lage recorded his solo acoustic album, World’s Fair, using a 1939 000-18. Lage’s 000-18, incidentally, was the inspiration for his signature Collings OM-1 JL (reviewed in the March/April 2018 issue), whose neck profile takes it shape from Lage’s Martin.
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Collings is, of course, but one of many makers who have long offered a selection of OM and 000 variations in their lineups. The Martin website currently lists more than two dozen different models, from the affordable OMC-X1E to the ornately appointed 000-42 and OM-42; the OM-28 remains the maker’s most popular example. Companies like Guild offer smartly priced modern OMs, while OMs/000s by small shops like Bourgeois and Santa Cruz and luthiers like Julius Borges and John Slobod offer very fine interpretations.
At the same time, some makers offer their own body sizes similar to the OM. For instance, Taylor’s popular Grand Concert (not to be confused with Martin’s size of the same name, detailed in the next section) also has a 15-inch lower bout, like a 000, along with a short scale length, 24-7/8 inches. The GC’s relatively compact dimensions are great for an intimate, focused sound that works especially well for recording fingerstyle playing or punchy strumming.
In 1938, Gibson released its Super Jumbo (later called the SJ-200 and then the J-200), a huge, 17-inch-wide guitar with a narrow waist and a 4-7/8-inch-deep body that was large enough to make nearly any musician look tiny. Later, in 1951, Gibson introduced the J-185—a scaled-down version of the SJ, with the same body depth but a 16-inch lower bout (the same shape as the maker’s 16-inch archtops). These two body sizes are now known as jumbo and small jumbo, respectively. With distinct note separation, crisp trebles, robust bass, and scooped midrange, jumbos became popular with singing cowboys, ragtime guitarists,
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