Every now and then a guitar comes in that can be called “the most desirable, collectible, beautiful and unbelievable sounding guitar of the past 41 years!”   If somebody asked you that question which guitar would immediately come to mind?   It’s easy, and universal – it’s the Martin Brazilian rosewood D-45 that was reissued in 1968 and part of 1969 only, in a total run of 229 instruments.      Here’s a quote from Mike Longworth’s out-of-print 1988 book, Martin Guitars: a History, paraphrased recently on page 83 of the new edition of that reference work, now titled Martin Guitars: A Technical Reference.   What Mike left out of his own book is that it was he, himself, who was hired by Martin in 1968, who was responsible for the revival of this venerated totem from the stylish, fashionable ‘30s.

“The D-45 [originally made from 1933 to 1942] was re-issued in 1968 by popular demand. There were two prototypes, #232933 and #236913.   Regular production began in July of that year with a set of five, #236914 to -918.  Brazilian rosewood was used in the D-45 at that time. The production models had German spruce tops.” 

This guitar’s serial number, #241623, based on an extrapolation from the notion that this was the 11,528^th guitar made in a year when Martin made 25,908 guitars in total, would seem to place the production time at around the 2^nd week in June, 1968.   Longworth continues:  “…whereas the prototypes had been made with Sitka spruce tops.  After a time the German spruce specification was dropped and it is not known how many were made with that wood.  A total of 229 new D-45 guitars were made with Brazilian rosewood.  Due to an embargo on Brazilian, it soon became necessary to switch to Indian rosewood of equivalent quality.  The first D-45 to use Indian rosewood was #245237 but it did not become a regular feature of the D-45 until #256366.”

Based on the color and grain pattern of this guitar’s top, which is straight and parallel-grained with a plethora of medullary rays throughout, (in some areas it almost looks flamed) we feel that it is, in fact, German spruce.   This guitar has one repaired crack from the 2^nd string pin downward, and a short repaired pickguard crack.  A newer, black, beveled edge pickguard has been provided by C F Martin Guitar Company, which also did the repair work, replaced the ebony bridge but left the original small maple bridge plate.  The workmanship is, of course, exquisite; the guitar is both dazzling and mesmerizing to see.   The back and sides of the guitar are made from old growth, straight-grain Brazilian of a quality that is almost literally never seen today.   The tuners are gold-plated Grover Rotomatics with the “Pat. Pend. USA” stamp on the back of each one.  There is a diamond dart behind the nut. The bindings have yellowed to perfection, and this yellowing extends to the pearl itself which provides it an unearthly glow – that nearly indescribable, rarely seen by mortals, Leonardo Da Vinci’s appearance, in his paintings, of daylight.  Our head of repair feels that the reason it has this other-worldly golden glow is that the C F Martin Company oversprayed it using aging toner top.  All pearl is bordered in black and crème – including the unique pearl around the end graft, which sets these early reissues apart from later D-45 guitars.  

Longworth says: “Early D-45s of the new style had a boxed endpiece.  This means a band of abalone pearl that extends around the endpiece covers all four borders.  This resulted in a double line of pearl between the endpiece itself and the top and bottom side borders.  This change had been introduced by the influence of Russell Lilly, who had inlaid the old D-45.  He wanted a specific change in inlay design to separate the new from the old.  Mr. C. F. Martin III decided to go back to the earlier design where the vertical strips bordering the endpiece intersected and were mitered into the top and bottom side borders.  This change took effect with #256360, a D12-45, and extended to all style -45 guitars.   The main difference between the old and new D-45 guitars from the outside is the black and white purflings adjoining the pearl. On the old models these purflings were made of wood, and on the new ones it is the same material as the bindings.”    Isn’t all of this fascinating?  We think it is.

C F Martin is compelled to use their highest grade woods on their -45 style guitars.  It is the use of these sought-after materials that, in addition to the tasteful use of pearl and abalone on the crème-black-crème bordered headstock (“C Martin F”), the fingerboard (8 refracting hexagons), and the body (on just about every surface), that sets this model apart from all other guitars.  Nothing, however, can prepare you for the sound, which is incomparable, striking and superior.   It radiates brilliance while retaining a level of unremitting warmth and all-enveloping fervency that was last felt when Lennie Small embraced Curly’s wife in the penultimate scene of Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”  It is an instrument of which the very handling restores in the person so fortunate as to have the opportunity a powerful re-involvement with the joy of life that was last heard from in the middle of that September just past when most of us realized that the sky actually was falling.   It is time to put those feelings of alienation aside and to revel in the return of the sorely missed sensations of eagerness and passion for artistic perfection, to become invigorated with the gusto, zeal, zest, keenness and ardency that once characterized our every waking moment.    But, this much needed renewal and the chance to own something that every living guitarist wants to own, comes at a price.    What might that price be, one wonders?