We present for your consideration a guitar in excellent minus condition showing extremely light signs of use. There are some small chips and dings around the headstock, a couple of insignificant scuffs, and you might even note a ding or a mote – but there are no visible cracks at all, no open seams, the instrument has just enjoyed a neck reset/refret in our illustrious workshop and so it plays delightfully easily and comfortably. It once had the beginnings of a pickguard crack on the bass lower edge of the pickguard but since it has been humidified that area has come together brilliantly and no fissure, current or ancient, is evident. It has a newer black, beveled edge, pickguard which is appropriate for a 1969. There is no pickup and no added strap pin in the heel of the neck (this means a lot to us)
This guitar retains its original tuners, which are large, rectangular back “Grover USA” with stripes on their sealed backs and small oval metal buttons. It has 6 mother of pearl dotmarkers in its rosewood fingerboard, of diminishing size, in 5 fret positions; it has the old style "C F Martin & Co., Est. 1833" headstock gold decal, and a rosewood bridge with black bridge pins and black tailpin. It shows a few crazing lines (finish checking) but then, what 43-year-old doesn’t. The Martin Grand Concert, 00-18, is the medium sized model, measuring 14 ½” at the lower bout, having a short scale of 24.9” from nut to saddle, a 1 11/16th” nut width, and a string-to-string saddle spacing of 2 1/8th”. It measures 11 3/16” in width at the upper bout, and 9 3/16th” at the waist. Total length is 38 ¾”. Its headplate, fingerboard and bridge are Brazilian rosewood; its nut and saddle are bone. The fingerboard is inlaid with 6 mother of pearl dotmarkers of decreasing size, having a double dot at the 12th fret. This beautiful smallish yet traditional acoustic plays comfortably, rings with a lengthy sustain and produces powerful bursts of melodious undulation. This model has been used (to extremely good effect) by Nanci Griffith and Tim O’Brien and it can be extremely good for you, too. What a colossally fine and well preserved piece. This was $3608, but is NOW ON SALE . . .