$9,500 1956 Martin D-28

[blindboyjimi]

I wrote an NGD a while back about finding a 1980 Brazilian Franklin that was owned by a former music store owner and bluegrass player in his 80's. After talking a bit, agreeing on the Franklin I asked what else he had and he handed me this 1956 D-28. I am not a dread player and had never owned one (in fact I just bought my first pick a few months ago to learn some fiddle tunes). After a few strums I knew it needed rescuing and regular playing and it was coming home with me.



This was bought (or taken off the shelf) by the owner of the music store in 1960. It was knocked over shortly after and sent back to Martin to be fixed in 1963. It received HHG and a new bridge with a short saddle that was more easily swapped out. It has been perfectly stable since. I sent it off to Dennis Berck who gave it a full look-over and re-set the neck beautifully, dressed the frets, put a bit of maple dust and epoxy to the original bridge plate holes, shimmed the original nut and made a beautiful copy of the original bridge and inserted a pre-ban Ivory saddle. It now plays and sounds even better. It is set up at 3/32" and 2/32" with about 0.005" of relief and you can dig in with no buzzing all the way up the neck. It has 3 small cracks to the outside wood on the back and a very slight B-string pick guard crack. All of which were fixed with a little suction cup and hot hide glue. There are no cleats inside the guitar. The bridge, saddle, Antique Acoustic Pins and the neck strap pins are the only non-original parts. The pick guard, tuners, and finish are all original. It will ship in a hard shell case with a case cover. I am not certain what year the case is but I do not believe it to be original.The neck is really surprising in how comfortable a nice full 1 11/16" can be, but as an OM player I'm really struggling with the 2 1/8" saddle spacing. I have $9,500 in it so that's about what I need. Otherwise, I am happy to keep it and learn some Neil Young and fiddle tunes. Please PM me or email me with any questions. I am happy to talk by phone and if you are in Southern California come play it. I am not looking for any trades. jimcostello at icloud dot com.



The $9,500 price includes PayPal, FedEx shipping to the 48 and insurance on my Heritage policy. If you are able to pay with wire transfer or bank check I can waive the PayPal fee.

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[blindboyjimi]

More pictures. Including shots under the B-string and the interior of the back crack area.

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[Creekside Guitar]

That guitar looks amazing Jim.....I bet it sounds even better. GLWS.

[rcalcutta]

Man, this is a beauty. I bought and sold many vintage Martins before I ended up with the two awesome ones that are keepers. Dennis Berck did the work on both of them. That is not a coincidence

[MWB5007]

First class seller and guitar aficionado here folks. If Jim owns it I am sure it is a remarkable instrument.

Best of luck with the sale!

[blindboyjimi]

Bump for the Bluegrassers and Country fans. This plays like butter and sounds like a 63 year old Martin should. You cannot over drive it. It just gets louder and louder. Check Reverb and check around. It's priced very well and is the best one out there for the money right now. Just tuned up and ready for another 63 years. Go to MartinFest in style!

[blindboyjimi]

Boy, I thought offering this guitar at under $10,000 it would be gone in a day, but I guess that’s the market with 2 Brondels, 2 Kleppers, a Claxton, my old Flammang Brazilian priced under $5K and this vintage 1956 D-28 hanging out here. It’s indeed a candy store. My price includes FedEx shipping and insurance.

[blindboyjimi]

50's Martin, fresh restoration, neck-set, fret leveling, new saddle, perfect action, perfect relief, plays like buttah, LOUD, crisp, Classic 50's Martin focused power. Going on Reverb today.

[brandall10]

Not in the market for this but it looks like a really cool guitar... I will say I'm confused about what the actual damage was to it? It just says it was knocked over and sent to Martin to be fixed. Clarifying that may help potential buyers.

[blindboyjimi]

Originally Posted by brandall10

Not in the market for this but it looks like a really cool guitar... I will say I'm confused about what the actual damage was to it? It just says it was knocked over and sent to Martin to be fixed. Clarifying that may help potential buyers.

Sure. There are 3 small cracks on the bass side of the lower bout that extend from the binding up about an inch or so. The sides are perfect. You can see and feel them with your fingernail. Hot hide glue was suctioned into them. The cracks do not go through the wood and cannot be seen inside or felt inside, therefore no cleats were needed. There was no overspray. But I'm a vintage Martin collector and a crack is a crack. But there are cracks that daylight shines through and these are not those. The B-string crack is similar but caused by pickguard shrinkage. It too had a bit of HHG place and did not require a cleat. The back cracks have been stable since 1963. I am not certain when the B-string crack was fixed but was also fixed over 30 plus years ago. The original owner said that he played both Bluegrass and fingerstyle and wanted to swap out saddles so while it was at Martin he had them place a new bridge with a short non-glued in saddle. I had Dennis B make a custom 1950's replica bridge and pre-ban Ivory saddle with AA red dot pins to put it back to how a classic 1956 D-28 should look.

Its in perfect shape and sounds like a 50's D-28 should LOUD and focused. Thanks for looking and I am happy to answer any other questions.

I have bought and sold here over 40 times and only deal with win-win situations. we both should walk away thrilled.