From Elvis to Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs to Jerry Garcia… The Martin D-18 was the main choice for almost every player you can think of.  A beautiful tone and high-end definition made it stand apart from its counterpart, the D-28.  The D-18 is made from mahogany, while the D-28 is built with rosewood.  This creates the tighter sound, as well as a less expensive cost for the buyer.

Here’s a video of customer, and local musician, Pete Buncher showing us what it can do!

Introduced by Martin in 1932, the D-18 Dreadnaught Acoustic became a widely popular guitar in both looks and sound.  

This wonderful vintage 1964 Martin D-18 Acoustic that we got in the store a week ago has a sweet sound that took 50+ years to break-in!  Here is a link to the listing on MusicGoRound.com

It features a solid spruce top, mahogany back and sides, a rosewood fingerboard and bridge, one piece mahogany neck, Kluson Deluxe tuners, and tortoise binding/pickguard.  Binding is 5-ply on the top, single ply back.

We also got the original Hard Shell case…

Plays like a dream and, for a ’64, she’s in great shape… one crack in the top (repaired; more info below), some typical wear including scratches, scuffs, and small dings.  This one has had some repairs professionally done:  bridge re-glued, new bone saddle, crack in top repaired (from pickguard shrinkage), neck reset.  Per our repair person, she’s “good to go for the next 50 years.”  Below are some pics of the D-18’s character…

    

Another cool D-18 player was the one and only Andy Griffith.  The Andy Griffith Show lasted from 1960-1968, and many of the shows featured Andy sitting on the porch relaxing by playing his 1956 Martin D-18.  At times he would play music with The Darling family, who were played by the well-known Bluegrass group, The Dillards.

In 2004 Martin Guitars came out with an Andy Griffith D-18 tribute model… What a beautiful guitar!!

As always… don’t forget to check out our website at www.musicgoroundstlouis.com to see and buy all our cool used gear!