The Most Famous Acoustic Guitar
The Martin D-28
The beginnings of the D-28 guitar
The body shape of the guitar, with a wider waist than was then customary and a deeper body, first appeared in 1916 on a range of guitars made by a partnership of the C.F. Martin guitar company of Nazareth PA and the Oliver Ditson Company, a retail and wholesale distributor with outlets in Boston and New York.Very few of these 111 style guitars were made and, while they had little impact on guitar players at the time, they now fetch staggering prices, should an example come onto the guitar market.
The first real D-28 guitars
Sometimes great ideas must wait for their time to come around and it was this situation for the D-28. In 1931 C.F. Martin introduced the D body shape guitars, the D-1 and the D-2. The D stands for Dreadnought, the largest British battleship. Extremely limited numbers of the D-1 and D-2 were made, so limited that these guitars must be the most collectable acoustics of all. When the guitar went into a proper production cycle it was slotted into the familiar Martin guitar numbering system - a letter of the alphabet to designate body size and shape followed by a number to indicate the style of finish and woods used. The D-18 was less ornate and had a mahogany back and sides paired with dark body bindings, while the D-28 used Brazilian rosewood for the back and sides and had herringbone trim and a zipper style back stripe. More expensive models - the D-35 and D-45 were produced but it was the D-28 that found its way into the hearts of guitarists from all spheres.
Hank Williams and Elvis Presley played D-28 guitars
The reasons were largely tied up with the sound the guitars produced - a big booming rhythm sound that had fat bass frequencies but didn't skimp on the upper ranges either. It was perfect for country music and bluegrass and high profile performers from these genres immediately began using the D-28 - Hank Williams, Hank Snow, George Jones, not to mention a little known singer from Tupelo, Mississippi called Elvis Presley, quite an endorsement list without even trying.
The D-28 guitar - still hand made
The D-28 has stayed largely the same shape since 1934 when a 14 frets to the body neck was introduced to resounding approval. The construction has changed a little over the years - the internal bracing has been altered slightly, the country of origin of the rosewood has shifted from Brazil to East India, the width of the neck has been reduced, the herringbone trim has disappeared and the position markers changed from snowflakes to dots. C.F. Martin still calls its guitars "hand made" and with good reason - while much of the production is computer assisted the guitars are still essentially hand made. None more so than the D-28.
Martin copies Martin
C.F. Martin struck lucky with the D-28. The guitar came at the right time and in the right place. It has become easily the most copied guitar of all time. Some even copied the logo style. None of the copies would fool a discerning ear but many of them have a great sound of their own. Now, ironically, C.F. Martin is copying themselves by producing a re-issue of the Martin Ditson 111.
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