Martin Guitars D-28 Authentic 1937 – VTS, Aged

Sonic Evaluation

Wildwoodians, I might have played D-28s I liked better than this Custom Shop Authentic example, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. It might very well be the ultimate banjo killer! The word "loud" doesn't even begin to do it justice. When I evaluate acoustic guitars, I like to find what I call the point of no return. That's the point at which the guitar can't get any louder, so more right-hand velocity creates compression instead of volume. This gives me an idea of how much headroom the guitar has. As far as I can tell, there is no point of no return for this guitar! When I hit it as hard as I could, it genuinely made me startle a little bit. Even if you're playing with a sledgehammer, it sounds open and sweet, with nary a trace of splattiness or mud.

The attack is quite piano-like and round, and it responds to your right hand with immediacy and force with almost no sag. The low-end is impossibly woody, warm and deep, and the E string will rattle your ribs to the point that it might cause you physical harm. The trebles are spacious and lush. However, what impressed me most about this guitar's EQ is the midrange. It's punchy, round, and powerful, with a presence that would be outstanding for a D-18. As a result, everything across the board sounds powerful and full. Overall, this guitar fills the room with a three-dimensional sound and natural reverberance that's almost atmospheric, grabbing everyone within earshot and forcefully compelling them to listen.

This guitar's power is shocking, so I'm focusing on that, but I don't mean to downplay its capacity for subtlety and nuance. At lower volumes, it sounds absolutely gorgeous, and you don't lose anything in terms of brilliance or fullness if you strum it gently. That wide dynamic range makes for a wonderfully expressive playing experience.

If you're fan of great acoustic guitars in any shape or capacity, you will fall in love with this D-28 after the first strum. To the lucky picker who will give this guitar its forever home, I have one small request: please let me have visitation rights! I'm kidding, but only sort of. This guitar will likely haunt me for the rest of my life, and I have no doubt it will bring you as much joy as it brought me.

The Real McCoy

Attention, acoustic guitar-loving Wildwoodians! We have a truly delectable morsel for you to feast your eyes upon today: the Authentic Series 1937 D-28 by Martin Guitars!

Old-School Cool

Martin puts these delightful D-28s together with hot hide-glue, a protein-based adhesive that provides the strongest possible connection between the two pieces. They also hand-scallop each and every brace! This process is time-consuming, and it requires painstaking attention to detail, but it's worth it, because it lends their Authentic series guitars Golden-Era levels of resonance and sustain.

They only use the hide glue on good pieces of wood, too! These awesome Authentic D-28s come equipped with solid Adirondack spruce tops and bracing and stellar solid Guatemalan rosewood backs and sides, a classic tonewood combination that never fails to impress everyone within earshot. Adirondack spruce has more headroom and dynamic range than the more-common Sitka variety, and it also has a sweeter, woodier overall tonality. When you combine this stellar spruce tone with the piano-like richness imparted by the rosewood back and sides, the sound is the stuff of our wildest, most feverish acoustic dreams!

Essence of VTS

After selecting the choicest cuts of wood, the masterminds at Martin age the top using their patented Vintage Tone System, or VTS. The VTS is a sophisticated thermochemical process that is similar to torrefaction but more involved. Basically, to torrefaction works like this: you put the wood in an oxygen-free chamber under atmospheric pressure, and heat it. This sucks the moisture out of the wood and causes various biopolymers like cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which makes the wood more solid and stable.

Martin's Vintage Tone Process takes the torrefaction process one step further. The acoustic wizards of Nazareth, Pennsylvania studied the chemical composition of various iconic Martins from the past, then figured out how to reverse-engineer modern wood to mirror that classic wood chemistry by using the torrefaction process I mentioned above. So, if you put the Adirondack spruce top on this 1937 Authentic Series D-28 under a microscope, it looks almost identical to the pre-war dreadnought that inspired it!

Together in Harmony

The VTS system and D-28s go together like Lennon and McCarty! Drier wood equals a warmer, clearer sound with a more focused frequency response, so there's less flub and fat and more muscle, so to speak. When you give the already-clear, sonorous voice of the Adirondack top this vintage treatment, it makes a D-28 sound like the dreadnought of your dreams: open, warm, and rich, with plenty of clarity and a ridiculously wide dynamic range of expression.

We are proud to present such an incredible instrument to our exceptional customers, and we invite you to experience the magic of the prewar Martin sound by taking one of these Authentic acoustics for a spin!