1990s Sigma SDR-41 Dreadnought Guitar
A local consignor brought this one in. It's not especially rare, but I don't see too many of these pearl-trimmed Sigmas around that often. This one is later (Korean-made, not Japanese-made) and probably dates from the late '80s or early '90s. It's in good shape, though it does have a nicked pickguard, some scuffs and scratches, and two (repaired) hairline cracks on the top, lower bout.
This model was intended to look like a Martin D-41 clone and features (real) pearl purfling on the top edge, a pearl ring in the rosette, and big pearl inlay on the fretboard. It departs from the Martin connections by using ply rosewood on the back and sides (the top is solid spruce) and a rosewood fretboard and bridge instead of ebony. The bracing is also taller than anything Martin would use, but it is effective as the guitar does sound pretty darn good. The ply gives it more of a D-18 tone (as you can hear in the soundclip), but it's still clearly a "good old dreadnought" sound. The neck is also not at all "vintage Martin" in feel, as it's got a fast, shallow, C-shape to its rear and thus feels like a modern electric. The nut is still 1 11/16" in width and it has a regular long scale length, though.
Work included cleating and sealing the lower bout cracks, a fret level/dress, and a proper setup with a new, compensated, bone saddle. The strings are 54w-12 lights and it's playing on-the-dot with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret. The neck is straight and the truss works well. It even comes with a good, molded, hard case.
Not a bad look at all!
Note the chip to the point of the pickguard.
The saddle has plenty of height.
The two darker lines are the cleated and sealed cracks on the lower bout. They're good to go.
The sealed tuners are gold-plated but with a worn finish to them, now. The "volute" looks great, too, on that mahogany neck.
Comments
I still have it and play it to this day.
The machine heads, like this one are very dull now but work perfect
I swapped the scratch plate for a genuine Martin plate in black around 2000ish.
It’s set up on 11-52’s 80/20 and plays beautifully.
The top was very light in colour but has now darkened up quite a bit.
A/B the two guitars (mine and my dads) and they are very inconsistent, lots of differences, top thicknesses being one so it’s no shock that one is noticeably heavier than the other.
With out going too off topic, my dad has a few of the newer German sigmas, again great sounding guitars for the price. The D-35 copy is the best. It’s got a faux three piece back. Look through the sound hole and one brace straight down the middle. it’s a two piece !!!
But anyways original Sigma D-41. I’d never be able to sell this one, too much history and honestly don’t know what they are worth.
Any suggestions? If I dig about I can probably find the original receipt
They were only produced from 09/86 through 06/89, though going forward there were other sickness that featured the same scalloped top braces without the S prefix designation.
Long story short, I bought it. And, of course, 30 years later, I still have it. I haven't played it much over the years, but a musician friend of mine says he loves to play it. I wanted to trade him something for the guitar, perhaps a smaller guitar, as I've become a big fan of the 3/4 size Parlor guitars, but he didn't take on my offer. I'm not sure what to do with this guitar, as it rarely gets played. I'll probably just end of selling it for a reasonable price, or trade it for something smaller. Very cool looking and sounding guitar. It's got big sound. Thanks Jake. I really enjoyed viewing your site. Enjoy your Vermont Spring. I live in eastern Pennsylvania, about a 40 minute drive from the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth.
~ Mike ~