Built during 2005, this Martin D-18GE 1934 Golden Era Dreadnought sports an Adirondack Spruce top and a Natural finish. Martin’s Golden Era D-18 models were built during 1995, and then from 2000 to 2016, when they were replaced by the Authentic series. The Golden Era series present the best features of instruments in that era, as distinct from being exact reproductions of specific guitars.
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Introduced in 1931 but not the first appearance of the Dreadnought, the Martin D-28 quickly rose to become one of the standard, benchmark guitars. From 1931 to 1934, the D-28 had a 12-fret neck, soon changed to 14 frets as banjo players migrated to guitar. Here we’re looking at a Martin D-28 built around July of 1958, with all of the standard features of that time. The top is Sitka Spruce; Adirondack had become unavailable by 1942 as war materiel demands led to overharvesting.
Here is another rarity, a Martin 000-40SPR Peter Rowan “Midnight Moonlight” Signature Edition, built during 2001 as number 26 of 87. The Martin 000-40SPR Peter Rowan “Midnight Moonlight” Signature Edition features a Sitka Spruce top, Mahogany back and sides, Mahogany for the body blocks and neck, with Ebony for the pyramid bridge, headstock overlay and bound fingerboard.
The Martin D-41 Dreadnought Centennial commemorates the 100th anniversary of the first Dreadnought guitars, built by Martin for the Charles H. Ditson company. For this anniversary, a number of Dreadnought models were produced in limited numbers. Named for what was then the largest warship ever built – the 1906 HMS Dreadnought – the first Martin / Ditson Dreadnoughts were so large and produced so much bass that it might have been marketed as a bass guitar.
This Martin Custom Shop D-28, built during 2014, is a beautiful instrument with a number of subtle differences from stock models.
The Martin 00-28C was the top of Martin’s classical guitar line, featuring Brazilian Rosewood back and sides and a fan-braced Sitka Spruce top. The fingerboard and bridge are Ebony, with Mahogany for the body blocks and neck. The bracing is Spruce, and the neck attachment style is a dovetail joint.