In that period 2,933 were produced, including the 325 made in 1957. 99% of them have Brazilian rosewood sides and back (including this one), but a few were made in late 1969 that had East Indian. The D-21 has sometimes been called “a Martin D-18 with Brazilian rosewood back and sides” since its appointments are plainer than the stately D-28. It has tortoise shell celluloid side bindings, a thin four-ply white-black purfling around the top, and the repeating geometric rectangles in black and crème parquetry as the backstripe. This era Martin has a rounded corner headstock, the old style “C F Martin & Co., Est. 1833” headstock decal, and is a standard dreadnought in every way. This guitar has experienced some changes: it has two added tortoise color plastic pickguards – one on the bass side of the strings in a non-traditional shape (not a teardrop) – it has 5 straight sides and then a semi-circular edge that abuts the sounds right to the edge. The second pickguard is the shape of a finger and fills in part of the space between the original teardrop pickguard and the bridge. There is a pickguard crack under the bass edge of this finger-shaped ‘guard; it has replaced Grover “Pat. Pend. USA” gold-plated tuners whose buttons have lost nearly all of their gold. It originally had Kluson tuners; and the original tuners have been lost. The fingerboard was replaced with a newer Brazilian rosewood ‘board that has no dotmarkers. It has a metal strap button at bottom side that may not be original.
One thing’s for sure, when this guitar has gotten its pretty little neck reset it will be a stone cold killer of a Brazilian rosewood back and sides, Sitka spruce top dreadnought. Our workshop will be performing the de rigueur neck reset and refret, gluing a loose brace, closing a seam separation along the top edge at the bottom side, closing a pickguard crack. This instrument shows normal signs of use and wear including dings, nicks, scratches, scuffs, scrapes and finish checking overall. There is arm wear on the lower bass edge of the top, an area of glue or epoxy measuring around 2” by 5/8” on the bass side shoulder, a split in the binding on the back, bass side. The nut width is 1 11/16th” and the bridge spacing is 2 1/8”. This has the “old style” Martin neck, which is pretty big – but we like that. We subscribe to the notion that a larger-sized neck transfers more lower mid-range and bass response into the body – thus the great success of the Martin new D-18 Authentic, and of prewar Martins in general. They tend to have a thunderous response – room-filling with exceptional power and presence. When the work is done we expect no less from this 54-year-old considerably coveted critter. Prepare to be impressed. The person who provides a $100 “Right of First Refusal” deposit on this guitar will get “first dibs” on purchasing the guitar when it comes up from repair in, say, early December.