Description

Once again, we present one of those guitars that are "Just Great!"
But what makes it so good? After all, this guitar has a small ding in the top side and there's a minor varnish issue under the lower side (both shown in pics.) Varnish checking is evident on the top, but this just gives it real character.

It's great because:
1) it's an HD-28 which means scalloped bracing. Scalloped braces are lighter and vibrate better than regular braces, They are how Martin earned their reputation and if you've not tried a Martin with scalloped braced you must do so NOW! There's a world of difference (eg compare with our D-28 which is scallop-less)

2) It's been played, and played well, so now it's incredibly responsive. This guitar can do quiet and subtle and then when you strum a little firmer, it responds immediately. Then when you really push it, it rejoices and gives back to you in glorious polyphonic multiresonous, rumbly, jangly, powerful acoustic goodness. How can we describe it? You really have to experience this.

3) Not all old guitars are good. Some are just old. This one is 20 years old, so the top has done all that wonderful transformation of resins into sonically active crystals that we talk about so much (see below). And it just so happens that the way it's aged and been played has produced that magical tone that is so valued today by those who appreciate great-sounding instruments.

A brand new HD-28 will cost you £1700. It will be stiff and ungiving for two or three or five years – more if you don’t play it every day, and even then, it might never produce a greater tone than it did the day you bought it. Meanwhile, it’s going down in value, and may only be worth what you paid for it again in 10 year’s time.

Here, you have an amazing sounding vintage instrument, which is worth inherently more than that new one, but which actually costs less!

So sure are we that you will love the sound of this instrument that it is offered to you on a 100% satisfaction assured basis. If you buy it and don’t love it, just send it back for a full refund.

HD-28 Features

Dreadnought body
Spruce top, rosewood back and sides
Scalloped bracing
20 Frets on a black ebony fingerboard
14 frets clear of body
Gotoh tuners
Ebony bridge
Herringbone purfling
Zig-zag center-strip in back
Original moulded case

Used Martin HD28 Acoustic Guitar

Martin HD-28

Why old Martin Guitars are better than new ones

Spruce, from which most acoustic guitar tops is made, is a hydroscopic wood. It ‘breathes’ - absorbing and releasing moisture as does the air. However, only some of the spruce cells do this; they are call amorphic. The other cells are crystalline and are more rigid.
When the wood is first cut, it must be ‘air dried’ for a few several years to allow the moisture absorbed by the tree to return to the air. Whilst this is happening, the amorphic cells transform into crystalline cells, with the wood becoming more rigid and developing its ability to vibrate. Vibration is what’s needed to produce tone and volume. Each different note played will cause the top wood to vibrate in a different manner, so the manner in which the wood ages and dries will ultimately affect the sound.
Once planed to thickness and built into a guitar, the wood continues to dry and the cellulose continues to crystallise with the tone developing all the time. Eventually, the cellulose becomes completely crystalline and the tone will have fully developed. The tone will not change further but it will be considerably more developed than when the instrument was first made.
It may take up to 50 years for a top to fully age and develop which explains why makers such as Torres and Ramirez used spruce that had been dried for that length of time and also why pre-war Martins are so desirable and expensive today.
The best quality guitar tops have three noticeable features of grain: straightness, density, and medullar rays.
The best guitar tops have the straightest and closest grain, with medullar rays running across the grain. Sound travels along the wood’s fibers, so the straighter the grain the easier it is for the sound to travel. The more grains per inch, the better – but the grain must be even. Medullar rays link the grains together and improve the tonality of the soundboard.