[DLLawrence]

JMHO, If you're looking a nice HD-28 or HD-28V dreadnought, you owe it to yourself before spending that much to look at other builders, if you are able, depending upon the shops in your area. Many small builders are making "pre-war Martins" better than Martin does "pre-war Martin". I get that a purchase like this is highly subjective, and Martin brand loyalty is strong. However, there are other options for that specific style of dread. Try a Collings D2H, a Huss and Dalton TDR-Custom, a Bourgeois D, and a Santa Cruz DPW or Vintage Artist.

Most of these guitars are very close to varying degrees to the "pre-war Martin HD-28 "template", if you will.... IRW back and sides, Adirondack top, forward bracing, open back Waverlys, etc. There's a lot of really, really, nice guitars out there being built by small shops. I'm not being critical of Martin- I've owned several, including an HD-28, but there are other options for that specific style of acoustic! If you include used guitars also in your search, most all of them can be had in the 2.5-4K range. Hey, checking them all out is half the fun!