1970 Martin D-28 Dreadnought Guitar

A local customer brought this nice old D-28 in for consignment. It's got a big voice for its era, with a lot of forward volume and punch and a good clean bass. This is a great sound for bluegrass or old-fashioned chordal backup. I sort-of think it's a bit like a hybrid between a D-18 and D-28 sound. It's had a few changes over time -- the large rosewood bridge plate was removed and a large maple bridge plate installed -- and the bridge, saddle, and pins are replaced. Otherwise it's all-original.

Work included: filling and recutting the saddle slot and bridge-pin holes (the saddle was incorrectly located), a fret level/dress, mild cleaning, and a setup with 54w-12 gauges. It plays spot-on with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret and the neck is straight. While this has a great voice as-is, players looking for a little more bass and boom (like a '50s Martin) might consider a mild shave of the lower-bout braces, which I'd do on the house.

Scale length: 25 3/8"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 7/16"

String spacing at bridge: 2 3/16"

Body length: 19 7/8"

Lower bout width: 15 3/4"

Upper bout width: 11 1/2"

Side depth at endpin: 5"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid Indian rosewood

Bracing type: x-braced

Fretboard: ebony

Bridge: ebony, replaced

Neck feel: medium soft C/V shape, ~14-16" radius board

Condition notes: replaced bridge plate (upgrade to maple), general usewear with small dings and scratches throughout, mild pickwear to the top, and a replaced bridge and saddle. The original pickguard is still there but it's starting to curl (and resists gluing-down) at the edges, though it's not time to replace it, yet. It seems to have been refretted in the past, too.

It comes with: an older (presumably-original?) Ess & Ess hard case.

The owner was wondering if the back was Brazilian rosewood, but I'm pretty certain it's Indian rosewood.