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1941 Martin D-18

Martin

This guitar is in our Hall of Fame Collection and is no longer available for purchase.

For your consideration, Garrett Park Guitars presents this 1941 Martin D-18.

Just in is this wonderful 1941 Martin D-18. When this guitar arrived to our shop, it needed some TLC. Our luthier started by removing the back of the guitar, to reveal an oversized bridge plate and a maple patch between the bridge plate and the bridge. The X bracing was removed to be able to remove the oversized bridge plate, and the maple patch was removed as well. Then a spruce patch was carefully inlaid on the top, using a piece of 70+-year-old spruce from an old Gibson J-200. Next, a correct maple bridge plate was crafted and, and the X bracing was reinstalled. A crack on the top was splined in, using the same old stock spruce. Twenty clunky plywood cleats were removed from the back and sides of the guitar, and replaced with five much smaller mahogany cleats, allowing the guitar to resonate much better. The back was then reglued, and the back binding was reinstalled.

A previous owner had done a poor neck reset, so when the neck was removed, we needed to rebuild the dovetail joint. While the neck was off, we noticed that the frets had been moved from their original slots. We removed the existing frets, filled in the fret slots, re-radiused the fingerboard to 16", and refretted the neck. The spruce under the fingerboard extension needed to be replaced as well, so we used the aforementioned old stock spruce, and carefully patched the area. 

Once the neck was back on, this guitar came alive. This pre-war Martin plays the way it should, with the booming low end expected from a vintage Martin, while not compromising the clear and crisp high end.

All work was done in-house by our luthier Taras Andre & all of the repairs done to this guitar were done using hot hide glue. We have photos of the extensive repair process, available upon request. Tuners are period correct but not original to the guitar.

Serial Number: 76983

Condition: Good/Player Condition

Photos are of the actual guitar, not stock images.

Please call, chat, email, or stop in for more information. 

 

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