Martin D-35S from 1970, in very good original and preserved condition.
Here is a particularly appreciable model, produced in Nazareth at the dawn of the 1970s but immediately taking us back to the 1930s when the Martin dreadnoughts were born: while we are accustomed to 14-fret necks, the construction of these guitars were initially done with a 12-fret neck and a slightly taller body, before the advent of the Orchestra models which imposed a completely different design on all Martin instruments. The 12-fret dreadnoughts from the 1960s and 70s, which are quite rare, tend to be an underappreciated model, including by many enlightened amateurs: the positioning of the bridge, lower on the top than a standard model, gives them a distinctive and particularly powerful tone and their wide neck makes them extremely pleasant, especially for picking. These are excellent guitars in the old style and at equivalent production years, we often find them beefier than their 14-fret equivalents! This 1970 model is a year late from being built from Brazilian rosewood, but it nonetheless features beautiful patterns on the straight-grain Indian rosewood making up the back and sides of the body.
Only 175 examples of this model were made in 1970, compared to 3,334 D-35s with 14 frets: calling this guitar rare is not an exaggeration! It remains to this day in superb condition and bears witness to past use with the greatest care – we restored and stabilized an old crack at the bottom of the top, carried out a complete refretting of the instrument, dressed and polished the frets, reworked the shape and height of the nut and saddle, and adjusted all of the setup elements to obtain a low, comfortable action and accurate intonation. The guitar features its original tuners as well as its original black acetate pickguard, is equipped with a piezo pickup under the bridge nut with a jack plug attached to the lower strap attachment.
Sold in its original hardshell case.
