As the owner of this instrument, I couldn't be happier. I have been around many world-class guitars, including many Martins from all eras. This is one great guitar.
As I said in my initial review, when I discovered the neckless body of this guitar it looked like it had been in a plane crash. And like the Bionic Man, they rebuilt it and made it better than it was before.
In response to some comments here:
Conversions like this have been going on since the 1960s at least. For example, Mike Longworth used to convert D-28s to the specs of D-45s for big name country stars, until Martin hired him in 1968 to do the pearl inlay when they introduced the new D-45s.
Other luthiers have retopped or rebraced similar guitars, because they were falling apart, or because the owner wanted to improve them.
In modern times, the Martin factory has done many such conversions for the original owner of the guitar, or to sell at the NAMM show.
No one would ever mistake them for a real pre-war Martin and the original model stamp and serial number remain for viewing. So it still says it is a D-28 even if the guitar looks like a D-45, and as far as Martin is concerned, it always will be a D-28. It has just been altered.
I know several people with similar conversions to my own, where modern Style 28 was converted to old Style 28. In some cases, they began as battered or greatly damaged guitars like the one I bought off EBay for this conversion.
At other times they were healthy guitars. Boo Reiners of the Demolition String band bought a 1950s D-21 and had it converted by the factory to pre-war D-28 specs like mine. I happened to be at the factory the day he brought it in for a checkup and it is a magnificent monster of a guitar.
I have wanted one ever since.
And I know a pair of brothers who bought a pair of D-28Es from the early 60s, that had an on-board pickup, volume and tone control ebedded in the Sikta top, that was braced like a log cabin. While some might say they were "destroying" an historical relic, those guitars had about as much acoustic tone as a brick and were suited mainly to hanging on a wall like an old musket.
But the Brazilian backs and sides were better than anything available today and the guitars they were converted into are as good as any acoustic guitar on the market and will be enjoyed a 100 years from now as viable and excellent musical instruments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zigeuner
I agree. If it were my instrument, I would have restored it to standard specifications. To each his or her own.
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To each their own, and you could restore it to the standard specs but it would not be cost effective.
You would have to be using a Stika top with heavy, unscolloped, rear-shifted braces, and a large, untucked bridgeplate, all of which greatly reduce the resonance and responsiveness of the top, with the back and sides refinished, etc.
But for the same money you could buy a 1966 D-28 in all-original condition, if not for less.
However, it costs a bit more to buy a Martin that has Brazilian rosewood back and sides, that also comes with supreme grade Adirondack spruce for the top, wood fiber rosette and herringbone purfling, forward-shifted bracing that was scalloped, and with the small bridgeplate tucked under them like they were in the 1930s, grained ivoroid binding, and other features of pre-war Martins.
Your only option in terms of Martins made today would be the D-28 Authentic, with Brazilian that isn't even quartersawn.
There is one of those still for sale on-line, new, with warranty, for the discount price of $31,999.99
While that is less than half the cost of a 1937 D-28, my conversion with its 30s style top, bracing and bridgeplate was a heck of lot less.