Questions about woods used for D-28 Standard Martin guitar

[Summerbreeze]

Hello,

 

I am wondering if I should buy this D-28 Martin Standard guitar (pic 1).

 

You can see near my finger that the wood of the sitka top has a different aspect (pic 2). First, you can observe it ´s not straight.

 

Please, do you think it´s bad? Should I avoid buying this guitar?

 

I would like to ask an other question: is it true that the ebony of the fretboard and the back and sides Indian rosewood are very delicate ? I heard people saying ebony can expand and Indian rosewood can crack easily.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Thomas

[FretFiend.]

Should you avoid buying this guitar? No idea. You've not said what year the guitar it is, or how much the seller is asking for it, or where it is.

 

That is a minor grain irregularity in the top. It won't affect value or playability or durability or longevity at all. Don't worry about it.

 

Ebony, rosewood, and even spruce are not delicate, but they are solid woods. They will crack if the guitar is subjected to too much abuse, such as impacts or allowing the wood to become too dry. You have to pay attention to the humidity where the guitar is kept. There are millions of solid wood guitars out there, and they aren't cracked.

[Summerbreeze]

Thanks a lot for your answer!

The year of the guitar is 2012. The serial number is 1612389.

It has been kept in the same guitar shop since the beginning of 2014 in a closed room. I do not know what happened with this guitar before 2014.

The last time I measured the humidity, it was 50%. But I do not know if it is always 50% and I am not sure the employees check this.

[DeepEnd]

If the guitar is in good condition, hasn't been abused, and is selling for a fair price, it would easily be a lifetime guitar. If it's not showing signs of being dry or abused now, you're probably safe unless the music store is run by people who don't know what they're doing. Good luck and welcome to the Forum.

[Freeman Keller]

First, welcome to HCAG. The LIST price of a new D-28 is $3299. The manufactures suggested retail price (the lowest price someone can advertise a new D-28 for) is $2599. Most stores pay about 50 percent of LIST for their inventory so a store would pay about $1650-1700 for a new D-28. A brand new guitar will have the original life time warranty, should be in perfect condition (but may not, of course) and you should be able to inspect it and play it to see if its what you really want. You can use those prices to get some idea of the value of this one. One thing that is important - if the warranty was ever registered (call the s/n to Martin and they can tell you) then in my opinion the value drops significantly.

 

There are good online resources for what happens to a guitar under adverse humidity (Jean Larrivee's site has one of the best). I would look for any of those signs if you don't know how the guitar has been stored for the past 3 years.

 

The wood is normal and not a problem - perfect straight tight grained spruce is rare all the time. Guitars and the woods they are built out of are both delicate and amazingly strong - look at the great old D28's that date back before World War II. Treated with care this one will last a long time too (remember that Martin's warranty is lifetime to the original owner - that says that they think it will last too).

[kwakatak]

Freeman is correct. That ripple in the wood is localized and should be mirrored on the other side of the guitar. Likely there may have been a branch somewhere in the region of the trunk where that board set came from but that the wedge it was cut from was far enough away that they opted to use it and that it was nice enough for a 28 series. I doubt you'd see that type of variance on a D-45 but that's part of the reason why they cost so much more.

 

Otherwise that's as an ideal a piece of spruce as you can get. I can tell by the second picture that the spruce is close to perfectly quartersawn, meaning that if you were to look at a cross section of the soundboard you would see that those grains are perpendicular to the face of the board. The regular pattern of "impressions" in the grain that run 90 degrees to the grain are a good indicator of that. Since both halves of the top look to be the same color there's little to no runout, meaning that the tree it came from was straight with no bends in the trunk in that area. Again, that's something I'd expect from a D-28 but not necessarily a "lower" guitar with similar tonewoods like a D-16RGT.

 

As for the durability of ebony and east Indian rosewood, they are among the most resilient woods IMO. Sure ebony can shrink if a guitar is left in a dry place for an extended period of time but if you notice sharp fret ends because of a shrunken fingerboard due to low humidity that should be seen as an indicator that it's time to put it in its case with a humidifier for the season - it usually happens in winter when forced air heating units begin to run more continuously and dry out the air. As for rosewood, it's also very dense and if it were to crack a repair would look seamless because they usually happen in the dark grains. Mahogany OTOH will crack like a piece of rice paper. That's partly because rosewood has a high oil content so its more resistant to reductions in humidity. I build as a hobby and have bent east Indian rosewood for body binding on my first build and as the back and sides for my second. Both times the wood bent almost as if it were made of rubber, only after they cooled they also kept their bent shape. OTOH as I alluded to before, it's more likely to split due to blunt force trauma (i.e. the old EL KABONG) but even then repairing it isn't much of a problem. One of my rosewood guitars suffered such trauma and a little manual manipulation and some rosewood sawdust mixed with Titebond to fill any gaps was all that was needed to close it back up.

 

Given that the guitar is 3 years old and was on display for 2 years I'm assuming that it's likely used. Why the original owner opted to sell it so soon is anybody's guess unless the store staff knows something. Maybe it's a "jilted wife" special or a fire sale guitar used to get funds to pay off some debt? Not many people who can afford a D-28 part with it easily.

 

Unless there's evidence of any neglect I don't think I'd have any problem offering them 50% of the current MSRP which is the going rate for a used Martin in "mint" condition. Look closely though for signs of potential structural problems, such as a gap between the heel of the neck and the side of the guitar. That's evidence of a slipping neck joint which is not normal for a Martin less than 30 years old. Also, check to see if the bridge is 100% glued to the top. Take a piece of paper and try to slide it underneath. If it does, the bridge will likely continue to pull away from the soundboard, but not before deforming it somewhat by make a "hump" appear between the tail end of the bridge and the end pin. Probably the best indicator would be the height of the strings at the 12th fret but playing it and seeing how your hands feel afterward is all you really need to know if the action is too high.

[bigald18]

The crossgrain is also known as silk and is extremely desireable in a guitar top. Many say it enhances the tone.

 

BigAl