Martin D-28 vs Gibson J-45: Acoustic Guitar Comparison

The Martin D-28 and Gibson J-45 are both flagship American acoustic guitars, but they look, sound and feel very different from one another.

In this article, I’ll directly compare the D-28 and J-45 in terms of their features and tones to help you decide which guitar is the most suitable for your style.

Quick Comparison

The Gibson J-45 has a 24.75″ scale length, sloped-shoulder dreadnought body and mahogany back and sides whereas the Martin D-28 has a 25.5″ scale length, square-shoulder dreadnought body and rosewood back and sides. The Martin D-28 is slightly louder and has more bass response compared to the J-45.

Feature	Martin D-28	Gibson J-45 Standard
Shape	Square-Shoulder Dreadnought	Sloped-Shoulder Dreadnought
Scalloped Bracing	No	Yes
Back and Sides	Solid East Indian Rosewood	Solid Mahogany
Fingerboard	Ebony	Rosewood
Scale	25.4”	24.75”
Fingerboard Radius	16”	12”
Nut Width	1.75”	1.72”
Neck Shape	Modified Low Oval	Slim Taper
Color Options	Natural	Vintage Sunburst or Cherry

Images link to Amazon

Tonal Differences

There are four main differences between the Martin D-28 and Gibson J-45 which will have an effect on the tones:

• The D-28 has rosewood back and sides whereas the J-45 has mahogany back and sides
• The D-28 is a square-shoulder dreadnought whereas the J-45 is a sloped shoulder dreadnought
• Both guitars have X-bracing patterns, however only the J-45 has scalloped bracing
• The D-28 has a 25.4″ scale whereas the J-45 has a 24.75″ scale

Both these guitars sound fantastic, but there are tonal differences between them.

The Martin D-28 has more bass response compared to the J-45. This is primarily due to the rosewood back and sides and the square-shoulder body on the D-28. There is not as much difference between the bass response as there would be though if the D-28 also had scalloped bracing.

The J-45 has slightly more mid-range compared to the D-28. This is due to the shorter scale length and the mahogany back and sides which provides more of a mid-range hump compared to rosewood.

The D-28 has more sustain and overtones which give it a richer tone compared to the J-45.

It’s certainly not a case of one sounding better than the other, they just sound different. Check out this YouTube video to hear to two guitars being played back-to-back so you can listen to the differences.

Feel and Playability

Another big difference between the J-45 and D-28 is the way they feel. There are several differences between the shapes of these two guitars which causes this:

• The D-28 is a square-shoulder dreadnought whereas the J-45 is a sloped shoulder dreadnought
• The D-28 has a 25.4″ scale whereas the J-45 has a 24.75″ scale
• The D-28 has a slightly slimmer and wider neck compared to the J-45
• The D-28 has a flatter fingerboard (16″ radius) compared to the J-45 (12″ radius)
• The D-28 has a satin neck finish whereas the J-45 has a gloss neck finish
• The D-28 has slightly thicker (0.013 gauge) strings compared to the J-45 (0.012 gauge)

Let’s break some of these these differences down and explain them in some more detail.

Body Shape and Size

The Martin D-28 is described as a square-shoulder dreadnought whereas the J-45 is described as a sloped-shoulder dreadnought. This means that the upper bout feels a bit smaller on the J-45 which some players with a smaller frame prefer. The J-45 also has a slightly slimmer waist.

The lower bout is a bit wider though on the J-45 and body is a touch longer. Here are the dimensions.

Dimension	Martin D-28	Gibson J-45
Upper Bout Width	11.5″	11.4″
Lower Bout Width	15.6”	16”
Body Length	20”	20.25”
Body Depth (Lower Bout)	4.8”	4.8”
Waist	10.75″	10.69″

Scale

The Gibson J-45 has a 24.75″ scale length whereas the Martin D-28 has a 25.4″ scale length. This means that the frets are spaced closer together on the J-45 which some players with smaller fingers prefer as it makes difficult chords easier.

The strings are under more tension on the D-28 due to the longer scale and the fact that they use a slightly higher string gauge. This can make it a little tougher to fret and bend the strings on the D-28 compared to the J-45.

However, the longer scale on the D-28 does make it easier to get a lower action without causing fret buzz.

Necks

There are several differences between the necks on these two guitars.

On the D-28 you’ll find a “modified low oval” neck with a “high performance taper”, whereas on the J-45 you’ll get a “slim taper” neck. The neck on the J-45 is slightly thicker compared to on the D-28, but both are a comfortable C-shape.

In terms of the fretboard, the J-45 has a smaller 12″ fretboard radius which means it feels more curved compared to the flatter 16″ radius on the D-28.

Smaller fretboard radiuses are usually more comfortable for chords but make it harder to bend the strings (although the difference in scale and string gauge balances this out a bit).

The fretboard is also slightly wider on the D-28 at the nut compared to the J-45 by 0.03″ on the standard models.

Cosmetic Differences

The D-28 has a more subtle and natural look compared to the J-45 which is a bit more bold. The D-28 is currently available with a standard natural finish which means you’ll see the spruce top’s color. The J-45 on the other hand is available in darker-looking cherry and vintage sunburst finishes.

Other differences include:

• The J-45 has a black pickguard whereas the D-28 has a tortoise pickguard
• The J-45 has a single-stripe rosette whereas the D-28 has a multi-stripe rosette
• The bridge is slightly larger on the J-45 due to the extended piece of wood

Images link to Amazon

Similarities

Despite the J-45 and D-28 looking, feeling and sounding pretty different, they do share some features:

• Sitka spruce tops
• X-bracing
• Mahogany necks
• 20 frets
• Mother of pearl dot inlays
• Hardshell cases come included
• Left-handed versions are available

Full Specification Comparison

Here is a table comparing the specifications of these two guitars in detail.

If you want to check the current prices of each model, here are links to Guitar Center:

• Gibson J-45 Standard
• Martin D-28

Feature	Martin D-28	Gibson J-45 Standard
Shape	Square-Shoulder Dreadnought	Sloped-Shoulder Dreadnought
Body Width (Max)	15.6”	16”
Body Length	20”	20.25”
Body Depth	4.8”	4.8”
Body Finish	Gloss	Gloss
Bracing Pattern	Forward-Shifted X-Bracing	Traditional X-bracing
Scalloped Bracing	No	Yes
Top	Solid Sitka Spruce	Solid Sitka Spruce
Back and Sides	Solid East Indian Rosewood	Solid Mahogany
Neck	Mahogany	Mahogany
Fingerboard	Ebony	Rosewood
Scale	25.4”	24.75”
Frets	20	20
Fingerboard Radius	16”	12”
Nut Width	1.75”	1.72”
Neck Shape	Modified Low Oval High Performance Taper	Slim Taper
Neck Finish	Satin	Gloss
Pickup	Fishman (Various)/ LR Baggs Anthem	LR Baggs VTC
Nut	Bone	Tusq
Bridge	Modern Belly	Belly Up
Saddle	Compensated Bone	Tusq
Binding	White	White
Pickguard	Tortoise Traditional	Black Teardrop/ Tortoise Teardrop
Inlays	Mother of Pearl Dots	Mother of Pearl Dots
Rosette	Multi-Stripe	Single-Stripe
Tuning Machines	Nickel Open Gear	Nickel Grover Rotomatics
Strings	0.013	0.012
Case	Hardshell	Hardshell
Left-Hand Available	Yes	Yes
Color Options	Natural	Vintage Sunburst or Cherry

Here are some more articles you might find useful:

• Martin D-28 vs D-18
• Martin D-28 vs HD-28
• Gibson J-45 vs Hummingbird
• Gibson J-45 vs Martin D-18