A sixty-seven year old Martin D-18 with great tone and looks, excellent playability, and not much in the way of strikes against. The guitar has had a cleanly-executed neck reset and refret, and is factory stock but for a recent set of Antique Acoustic bridge pins and a newer bone saddle.
With its robust dry and woody warmth, well-balanced strings, and ample headroom, this Martin D-18 is a perfect flat-picker or rhythm keeper. It’s more lightly built than the 1950’s Martin norm, which helps this guitar score well above the class average for tone. It also feels great in the hand and plays cleanly with its medium strings and low set-up.
Straight-braced Sitka spruce top, mahogany back and sides, tortoise-celluloid bindings and pickguard with end-grained ivoroid top purflings (a 1950’s thing that looks so great). Rosewood fingerboard and bridge, original nut and Kluson tuners.
There is a 5” crack in the guitar’s back that has been repaired and locally touched up, and an unrepaired “b-string’ pickguard crack and associated pickguard curl that we’ve elected to leave as found as we’re not concerned by it. The bridge was reglued in the guitar’s past, and there is minor finish damage around its back side. No other repairs.
Original bridge plate is in excellent shape, full height bridge, original finish throughout with areas of average playwear and pick scratching. Nut width just shy of1-11/16”, standard 50’s neck feel with soft V cave and 1st fret depth of .828”. 2-1/8” string spread at the bridge, full height saddle. Set up with 12s and an action of 5-6 64ths.
With original 1950’s hardshell case.
In near-mint condition and completely original, this 1963 Fender Musicmaster is something of a time-capsule of the company’s popular student model, which was first offered in 1956. The unique shaded sunburst finish on this example was the standard Musicmaster finish from 1961 until mid-1963, when Fender revamped its ¾-size guitar lineup.
This 1963 Fender Musicmaster shows very little playwear of any kind and is beautifully set up. Playability is excellent, with original frets that are only the slightest bit worn in the first position.
The original pickup’s DC reading is 5.4k. The A-width neck has a 1.5” nut, 22.5” scale, and a 1st fret depth of .803”. Twelfth fret depth is .988”. Curved rosewood board with clay dots, bone nut, single-line Kluson tuners with white buttons. Small top-loader bridge with Telecaster-style threaded saddles and original cover, chromed barrel knobs, single-ply white pickguard.
With its short scale, compact neck feel, light weight (5.8 lbs) and clean pickup tone, this Musicmaster is a lot of fun to play. Unplugged, the guitar’s light weight lends to a noticeably strong acoustic resonance, which always lends itself to great plugged in tone.
With original hardshell case
No repairs, no cracks, not much playwear, and frets that look like they were replaced in our shop in recent years. There are a few visible dents in the top’s lower bass bout, and a dime-sized spot of flaked-away finish on the back of the neck behind the nut that you can’t feel. We’ve set the guitar up with 12-54 strings and an action of 4.5-5.5 64ths. The nut, saddle, and bridge pins were installed here; the guitar is otherwise completely original and untouched.
The neck has a C shape of the standard early 60s profile. 1st fret depth measures .782”, 9th fret measures .937”. 24.75” scale, 2-1/8” string spread at the saddle.
With hardshell case
1965 saw a brief uptick in custom-coloured guitars shipping from Kalamazoo, we recently posted a factory black ES-355TDSV that was finished around the same time as this Cardinal Red Melody Maker, and a quick trip with Google will show off many of the other weird and wonderful custom coloured guitars Gibson completed in 1965. <br/><br/>
This 1965 Gibson Melody Maker D is a local, one-owner guitar that found its way to Folkway in April. It’s just been carefully set up to play perfectly, with frets dressed, original electronics spray-cleaned, and trem-arm serviced. It’s strung with 11-49s and has an action set at 4-5 64ths, our shop standard.<br/><br/>
The neck has a round carve, 1-9/16” nut, and first fret depth of .788”. The neck thickens quickly and has a 12th fret depth of 1.010”. The single coil Melody Maker pickups both measure 7.1k and have a tone that’s something of an alluring hybrid of a Strat and LP Special.<br/><br/>
The guitar is in remarkably fine condition and shows very little playwear. There are no neck issues, no finish repairs, and no modifications to the electronics. It weighs 6 lbs.<br/><br/>
With original chipboard case.
A mid 1967 Gretsch 6120 Nashville with a pair of excellent sounding Filter’Trons, an upgraded TonePros AVR-II bridge, functional string mute, and a recent pro refret. It’s the perennially cool double-cut 6120, with its classic orange finish, thumbprint inlays, and Gretsch-branded Bigsby; it’s always great to look at and even better to play.
This example dates from ’67 but is otherwise pretty much the same as the 64-66 models. It’s original but for the replaced mute felt (the original would have been black foam), frets and aforementioned bridge, but the original bar bridge and base are in the case pocket. The 1967 Gretsch 6120’s plastic binding has started to deteriorate in places, with the worst rot showing on the heel cap. The finish is original, and the leatherette back pad is in great shape. Electronics are 100% original with no modifications. The guitar has been set-up in shop with 3-4 64ths super-slinky action.
The neck has a full-feeling C shaped carve with 1-11/16” nut and 1st fret depth of .889”. Scale is 24-3/8”. Filter’Tron pickups both measure 4.2k. This 1967 Gretsch 6120 weighs just over 6 lbs.
With original hardshell case.