FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Martin Guitar Hd 35

Question:
I stopped at the Guitar Center (horrors!) the other day and made my way back to the expensive guitar room. Sitting in the little display case - but not behind glass, was an old Brazilian rosewood HD-35. The top had a major crack beginning under the pickguard and running down to the binding of the lower bout - but hey, it must be worth the $4600 price tag, right? Between the raging humidifier and the noise levels from the other room (I guess they took the door off the hinges to let the humidity migrate out to all those guitar in boxes and such...) I couldn't tell if it had a great sound or not. However... The action and the neck suited me perfectly. Now, I have an HD-28 that I play often, but I play my `74 Fender F-65 dread a lot more and I always have to adjust to the Martin for a little while before I get it right, even if it's the first guitar I pick up (the Fender is/was my 1st guitar so there's decades of muscle memory in play, I guess). The specs on the current HD-35 and my HD-28 are the same. Does anyone know if older Martins used a differently shaped neck or different string spacings, or something?

Answer:
There _were no_ Brazillian HD-35s. They don't exist, unless a few Custom Shop models have been produced in more recent years. All the Brazillian 35s from the late 1960's were ordinary D-35's _without_ scalloped bracing. Production of these ended either in 1969 or early 1970, when the factory switched to East Indian rosewood. The HD-35 came later, because the HD-28 was not re-introduced into the product line until about 1978 (I have one from that year that I don't use any more), and the HD-35 came a little afterwards. The specs of the HD-35 and HD-28 (current models) are _not_ the same. The HD-35 uses slightly different bracing on the top, a little lighter, I believe. Frankly, I would not pay $4,600 for a D-35 with a seriously cracked top, even if it _is_ Brazillian rosewood. You'd do much better looking at something new, even if it is only an East Indian rosewood model. I'd suggest you hunt down a D-28CW and give that a try. Probably the sweetest Martin dreadnought out there right now for the money.