❌SOLD❌ Martin D18 Dreadnought Steel String Guitar, 1975

The Martin D18 is a classic, and has been one of the most popular guitar designs since its mass market introduction in the early 1930’s as a comeback from the mid 1910’s models built for the Ditson company.

The Dreadnought was first built by Martin as the ‘Extra Large’ Ditson Model 111, between 1919 and 1930. Ditson was a prominent American music retail chain at the time. The earliest models used a fan style bracing pattern, but by 1924 an X brace was used. Martin introduced the D-18 as a standard model along with the D-28, in 1931; the fancier D-45 appeared in 1935. These fit right into the arms of Country and Bluegrass players, offering a large increase in volume and ‘presence’, useful on stages with banjos, mandolins and fiddles. The Dreadnought has become one of the most popular body shapes; though it can tend to be somewhat bass-heavy, its volume and fullness are very desirable.

Closely following its original concept, the Martin D18 was long the ‘plainest’ of the D series. Built using a pairing of a Sitka Spruce top and top braces (sometimes Adirondack) with Mahogany for the back, sides, back braces and neck plus Rosewood for the bridge, head plate, bridge plate, and unbound fingerboard, the Martin D18 has minimal body binding – a single layer on the back and a BWB purfling strip inside the top binding.

This Martin D18 example dates to 1975 and was built at the Martin plant in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. It is in overall good condition, with light finish wear, dings, scuffing and natural lacquer oxidization. Fret and fingerboard wear are moderate, heavier towards the lower positions as is often the case. The saddle is relatively low, the action is at a standard height and the guitar plays well. At the time this guitar was built, Martin was still using a fixed stiffener rod in the neck; the adjustable truss rod didn’t appear on Martin production until 1985. Here, the tuners are Grover Roto-Matic sealed tuners and a Schatten pickup is mounted to the bridge plate.

The original hard shell Martin molded case is included.