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1954 Martin D-28
With the exception of a minor crack at the pickguard’s inside margin, this guitar is crack-free. It shows plenty of playwear on the top, and the finish on the back of the neck is mostly worn off up to about the 8th fret, but it was obviously cared for by whoever owned and played it for most of its life. The tuners, nut, and bridge are all original; there are no internal repairs or modifications, and the finish is original with some light overspray localized to the belt-worn section of the back and the arm-worn section of the top and adjacent side. It’s seen its neck reset and its bridge reglued in years past, and more recently it’s been refretted and has been fitted with unslotted Antique Acoustics bridge pins. The top shows slight distortion behind the bass-wing of the bridge, which is quite common on better sounding Martin Dreadnoughts thanks to the thinner tops these guitars were originally built with.
The guitar’s playability is remarkably good, with tall/medium frets that are about .010” taller than standard Martin fretwire, standard 12-53 strings, and flat-picking action of 5-7 64ths. The feel is responsive, clean, fast, and fairly effortless. The frets are about 5 years old and show minimal wear. The neck has a soft V carve, 1-11/16” nut, and a 1st fret depth of .807”.
This is a perfect choice for a guitarist who’s hunting for a fabulous-sounding ‘50s Martin D-28 and doesn’t mind some playwear, a bit of overspray, but still wants a guitar that’s largely original without cracks or modifications.
With modern deluxe hardshell case.
