❌SOLD❌ C F Martin Custom Shop 1947 D-28 Guatemalan Rosewood

This is a wonderful new guitar from the C F Martin Custom Shop – a 1947 D-28 built with Guatemalan rosewood and Sitka spruce top. This guitar was built during 2017 to specifications provided by The Twelfth Fret’s Grant MacNeill during his visit to the Martin facility.

Here’s Grant (President The Twelfth Fret) On the C. F. Martin Custom Shop 1947 D-28 Guatemalan Rosewood:

“On my visit to the Martin Custom Shop last spring, I planned to build my personal take on a 1947 D-28 guitar. To me this narrow post war window offers vintage Martin D-28 guitars comparable to the pre-war era but at far more reasonable prices. It is an often overlooked era that I wanted this guitar to emulate.

For the back and sides, Brazilian Rosewood was out of the question due to the CITES headaches. I spoke with the Master-Luthier explaining that I wanted the density and reflective properties of Brazilian plus the straight, uniform grain typical of the period when highly figured flat sawn rosewood was never used. He pointed me towards some lovely Guatemalan Rosewood which is a hybridized variety of several rosewoods that grows very slowly, at altitude in the mountains. It is a very stiff wood which rang or “pinged” nicely when struck plus had the mysterious dark and uniform grain I wanted. So I chose the nicest set out of that stack. So-far-so-good.

For tops, I wanted the open grain, very accurately quarter-sawn uniform quarter-flower, typical of the era and he directed me to a stack of Torrefied tops he had set aside. In my experience these open grain tops have a big, full bass response without being at all muddy and they are LOUD!

Then came time to write up the Factory Order Sheet or Work-sheet; to emulate the early post-war era I selected the Sitka top to braced with Adirondack 5/16 inch, scalloped with front-shifted X-brace. Bound in the fine herringbone of the period.

For the neck, since few of my younger clients are steeped in the more bulky V necks of the pre- and post-war era, I decided to abandon tradition here and chose the standard modern Low Profile neck carve, Performing Artist Taper.

We now have this amazing guitar and I’m thrilled with the results. Already planning my next Custom Shop project — a 1947 D-18!”

At this link there are photos taken of the raw woods that we published in May after Grant’s return from the factory.