Description
Exc- condition / SN: #125137
1 11/16″ nut width
This 1952 Martin D-28 has a big booming voice with clear colorful highs and wonderful clarity and distinction in the treble.
This guitar features a wonderful Brazilian Rosewood peghead overlay with beautiful straight grain, that has the normal “C.F. Martin” logo at the top. On the back of the back of the peghead “Made In USA” is stamped. This was done mainly for instruments slated for Canadian or UK export market. It has the diamond volute on back of peghead. The tuners are the original “rain gutter”, large housing style. There is an excellently crafted and polished bone nut.
Mahogany neck with a generous “U” profile. Some finish wear on the back of the neck. No cracks or repairs in the neck. Gabon Ebony fingerboard with graduated pearl dot inlays and side dot position markers. The frets are in great condition with the slightest bit of wear. There is an ivoroid heel cap and a professionally installed strap button on the side of the heel.
The neck has been reset previously in this guitars life. The action is currently at 3.8/32 on the low E, and 3/32 on the high E at the 12th fret.
The saddle looks to be ivory, and the bridge appears to be original, but it could be a copy bridge. The white plastic pins with reddish brown dots appear to be original. The end pin also appears original. Original pickguard and binding in great shape. * Some areas of reglued outer bindings, mostly on the back in the waist.
The top of the guitar is free of cracks but has some player wear through the finish around the pickguard and fingerboard extension. The inside of the guitar is very clean – the bridge plate looks great, and the bracing looks great. You can tell that this guitar has been played a lot, but the top is not bellied or sinking in any areas. The binding has been repaired in at least one place, with some very faint signs of professional repair. The binding on the top of the guitar is 6-ply cream colored binding with an outer layer of grained ivoroid.
The sides are very high grade quarter-sawn Brazilian Rosewood. There is a colorful light-dark marquetry “zipper” backstrap. There is some wear through the finish in one area of the side through the neck heel. The Brazilian back and sides of the guitar are master grade 100% quarter-sawn Brazilian Rosewood. There are hints of two possible cracks that were repaired near the back strip. The binding on the back of the guitar is 3-ply cream colored binding with an outer layer of grained ivoroid. There is also an end-wedge of binding at the end pin area.
This guitar has some moderately large areas of player wear on the top – around the soundhole rosette, between the pickguard and the bridge, above the pickguard and outside the soundhole rosette where a thumbpick would strike the top. Some light application of Tru-Oil sealer has been done to these areas. This guitar sounds like thunder… I am not kidding about that! The snap and boom and full sound make this a commander among guitars.
