The Martin D-28 is one the oldest of Martin’s designs, with the ’28’ style dating to 1870, and the ‘D’ body coming into general production in 1931. From 1917 to 1930, Martin made some D body guitars for the Ditson company of Boston.
The C. F. Martin OM-35 was built between 2003 and 2007, drawing from the excellent tonal results of the OM design and adding ’35’ level features. While the OM-35 itself is discontinued, it is now available with a standard pickup as the OM-35E. The Martin OM is itself based on the OOO or ‘Triple O’ body design, but adds a longer scale length neck – 25.4 inches instead of the Triple O’s 24.9 inches. This increases the string tension, making the top work a bit harder to deliver a bit more volume and clarity.
Here’s a very special guitar – a C. F. Martin 000-12 Custom Shop 12 Fret, built during 2017 with Swiss Spruce top and Goncalo Alves for the back and sides. As a Martin Custom Shop instrument, this guitar is based on a 000 model with 12 fret neck, with customer-specified wood and trim choices. The top is certified High Altitude Swiss Spruce with scalloped Sitka Spruce bracing.
The Taylor 618e brings to mind the classic jumbo maple guitars used by top artists, and delivers a full, rich tone with lots of clarity and definition. Built using Taylor’s largest body shape like the jumbo Guilds and Gibson J-200 models, the 618e pairs a Sitka Spruce top with flamed Maple for the back, sides, and neck. Ebony is used for the bridge and bound fingerboard and headplate. The Taylor logo and fingerboard inlays are Mother of Pearl, and the linings, neck and tail blocks are Mahogany.
The Taylor 814ce has been a mainstay of the Taylor line for some years, with a classic Spruce and Rosewood paring on the cutaway Grand Auditorium body. Here we have an older Taylor 814ce, built during 1999 at the Taylor shop in El Cajon, California. It features a Sitka Spruce top with Indian Rosewood for the back, sides and headplate, Mahogany for the neck and Ebony for the bridge and bound fingerboard.
This G W Barry Concert Cutaway steel string dates to the year 2000 and was built in Toronto, using Sitka Spruce for the top, paired with Indian Rosewood for the back, and sides, and streaked Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge. The neck and blocks are Mahogany, and the rosette uses and Abalone ring. The Barry concert body draws from the proportions of the Gibson J-185, but in a more curvaceous – dare we say bodacious – rendering of that design.
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Hello Grant. Just want to let you know that my banjolele arrived on Monday afternoon, so the postal strike didn’t hold it up too long. I’m delighted with the quality craftsmanship of the instrument and I was right that the shorter fingerboard is much easier for my 81 year old hands! So, here’s a shot of me with it in my studio with my dog Dusty laying beside me. Now just to harden up my fingertips and loosen up my finger joints! (Dusty loves it too!)
Thanks for everything.
Best. John.
John McConnell – Deering banjolele
October 2018
(Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
