Martin D-45S 1936 Project 91-3 Limited Edition Acoustic Guitar - New

$150,000.00

Details

We are very excited to announce the arrival of Martin’s D-45 Project 91 guitar, which is a part of a limited run of exact replicas of each of the 91 examples of the model Martin made before 1942. We got #3, which is based on the first 14-fret D-45. The first two D-45s were 12-fret models. The original version of our example, D-45S serial #63715, entered production June 29, 1936, and was sent to Hunleth Music in St. Louis when completed. (The S in the model name meant Special Order in the 1930s.) The first two 14-fret D-45 models were made with a slightly wider Dreadnought body, and one has to wonder if Martin's original plan was to make their top Dreadnought model in this slightly larger size. Martin didn't begin the fourth D-45, serial number 64890, until late October, and that was it for wide body Dreadnoughts and there are no records of other wide-body models in the 1930s in any style.

This example is made from truly spectacular Brazilian rosewood with an Adirondack spruce top, just like the originals. The original D-45 models were glossy, as befitting the company's most expensive flattop model, and the lacquer finish on these replicas is thin and the figure of wood grain just pops in person. The combination of the VTS-treated top and the forward-shifted top bracing gives this #3-of-91 impressive tone and volume. The Style 45 snowflakes fretboard inlays seen here didn't last long on the original models, and were replaced by the large hexagon blocks of Martin's archtop models in late 1938. The early examples from the D-45 model's first years are extremely rare and they only made six between 1933 and 1937.

Martin has made a number of turn-back-the-clock changes for these models, such as using hot hide glue to assemble them. The purfling is made of hundreds of small, solid abalone pieces just like they did in the 1930s. This really changes the way the abalone bordering glimmers in the light. Another change is that Project 91 guitars have a lot more handwork in the final shaping of the scalloped top bracing and neck profile. Like the original, the guitar has a non-adjustable T-bar truss rod and gold-plated tuning machines with hand engraved buttons. Each owner of a Project 91 D-45 model will receive a framed poster featuring their unique example, and connecting its serial number to the original.