1957 MARTIN D-28

Stunning 1957 Martin D-28, in beautiful condition and perfect playing condition.

There are few models produced by Martin more iconic than the D-28 – it is the quintessential flat-top guitar, adopted by countless country, bluegrass and folk musicians from its introduction in the early 1930s to the present day!

At the end of World War II, this was the largest and most expensive guitar that Martin offered in its catalogue. With the rare D-45 models featuring elaborate mother-of-pearl trim elements having been discontinued during the war and never relaunched afterwards, the flat-top offering was effectively dominated by this relatively austere rosewood Dreadnought. Despite strong competition from Gibson’s Jumbos in the late 1940s and 1950s, the D-28 represented for most professional musicians the alpha and omega for a flat-top guitar that met all their needs: excellent playability, unmatched sonic power, perfect balance for all playing styles – solo or accompaniment. We can then understand the unequivocal success of the model and its presence in the hands of the greatest – Hank Williams, Clarence White, Tony Rice, Bob Dylan or Neil Young (on Hank Williams’ old D-28!), to name a few of the most eminent.

This example is one of 911 D-28s sold in 1957 for a non negligible sum of $270 (without case). It presents the typical characteristics of the period: black and white multi-ply celluloid binding around the back and the soundboard; an ebony belly bridge; an ebony fingerboard with pearl dot inlays; a tortoise celluloid pickguard; a set of Kluson K-500 “waffle-back” tuners. It features a beautiful straight-grained Rio rosewood back and a tight, even-grained spruce top – both of which would be considered premium woods today; the mahogany neck is relatively thin and comfortable with a slight “V” profile.

Like all acoustic guitars of a certain age, and although it is superbly preserved, this D-28 required significant work to restore its full qualities as a musical instrument, which was carried out right here in our workshop. In order to recover an ideal action and a good angle of the strings on the bridge saddle, we carried out a neck reset: ungluing the neck to readjust its angle in relation to the top before gluing it back in the correct position. This particularly delicate operation is essential if you want to be able to play an old musical instrument with comfort and accuracy, without modifying the parts that are essential in producing the sound, such as the bridge, the bracing or the bridge plate. Once the neck reset is done, the guitar is refretted to restore the playing base that are the frets in a perfectly uniform way; finally, a new set of bone saddle and nut is made and adjusted on the instrument, allowing to obtain a low and comfortable action and accurate intonation. We thus find a guitar with an excellent playability as the day it left the production line in Nazareth! Aside from an old overspray applied to the entire instrument, this 60-plus year old D-28 remains perfectly intact with all of its original main parts – a true testimony to the Golden Age of the American flat-top guitar.

Sold in a 1970s Martin case.

Pre-Convention CITES certificate for Brazilian rosewood included. Non-EU buyers, please enquire for CITES export paperwork.