Description

What you have here, is an immaculate barely played Martin D28. The original Martin moulded case comes complete with an envelope with the model and serial number, the key for the case, and the truss rod wrench in an unopened envelope. In the picture you can just see the humidifier that was in the guitar when we got it – it tells you just how well this guitar has been kept.

Martin’s D28 is the professional's choice. Big bodied, big clean and even sound that will delight you and your listeners for years. There's really nothing not to like here, nothing to tire of. The lows, mids and highs are all clearly distinguishable and all at an even volume - that's why this guitar is known as the standard by which all other dreadnoughts are judged.

Features

• Dreadnought style body
• Bookmatched and finely grained sitka spruce top showing profusion of medullar rays
• Bookmatched indian rosewood back, rosewood sides
• Checkered style 28 back inlay
• 20 fret striped ebony fingerboard, 14 frets clear of the body
• 1-11/16" width at nut, low profile neck shape with volute
• Striped ebony bridge, white pins with black dot inlays
• Gotoh chrome tuners
• Martin hard shell moulded case (style 640)
• Original registration documents, case key and wrench

Why old Martins are better than new ones

Spruce, from which most acoustic guitar tops is made, is a hydroscopic wood. It ‘breathes’ - absorbing and releasing moisture as does the air. However, only some of the spruce cells do this; they are call amorphic. The other cells are crystalline and are more rigid.
When the wood is first cut, it must be ‘air dried’ for a few several years to allow the moisture absorbed by the tree to return to the air. Whilst this is happening, the amorphic cells transform into crystalline cells, with the wood becoming more rigid and developing its ability to vibrate. Vibration is what’s needed to produce tone and volume. Each different note played will cause the top wood to vibrate in a different manner, so the manner in which the wood ages and dries will ultimately affect the sound.
Once planed to thickness and built into a guitar, the wood continues to dry and the cellulose continues to crystallise with the tone developing all the time. Eventually, the cellulose becomes completely crystalline and the tone will have fully developed. The tone will not change further but it will be considerably more developed than when the instrument was first made.
It may take up to 50 years for a top to fully age and develop which explains why makers such as Torres and Ramirez used spruce that had been dried for that length of time and also why pre-war Martins are so desirable and expensive today.
The best quality guitar tops have three noticeable features of grain: straightness, density, and medullar rays.
The best guitar tops have the straightest and closest grain, with medullar rays running across the grain. Sound travels along the wood’s fibers, so the straighter the grain the easier it is for the sound to travel. The more grains per inch, the better – but the grain must be even. Medullar rays link the grains together and improve the tonality of the soundboard.

Keywords

Martin D28, Martin D-28, Dreadnought, vintage, classic, Martin acoustic, Rosewood, sitka spruce, medullar rays, fine grain