C. F. Martin D-18 Shade Top Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1941)
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C. F. Martin D-18 Shade Top Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1941), made in Nazareth, PA, serial # 78979, shaded top, natural back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, ebony fingerboard, black hard shell case.
There are certain guitars that are simply the standard by which ALL others are judged; the Pre-war Martin D-18 is certainly one of them. This 1941 example -- built not too long before the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor -- is an especially rare and desirable variant. The top is finished not in the standard natural livery, but in the subtle dark sunburst Martin referred to as a "Shaded Top". This was a factory option at the time; the listing for the D-18 on page 8 of the 1941 Martin catalog states "This style will be furnished with a shaded dark top instead of natural finish on request at no extra charge". The price either way was specified as $75 without the case. Only a small fraction of dealers or buyers actually ordered this variation, and today they are exponentially rarer than the standard natural top examples.
Apart from the deep sunburst top this D-18 shows the classic original features of the model, widely imitated ever since. The back and sides are Honduras mahogany and the top is tight-grained Appalachian spruce, bound on the edges with tortoise celluloid. Typically for 1941 the scalloped X bracing is the "rearward shifted" pattern adopted in the late 1930s, intended to stiffen the area behind the bridge. The ebony belly bridge has a canted bone saddle. The pickguard is made of tortoise celluloid in a small "teardrop" shape, which often proved too small to fully protect the top from the ravages of enthusiastic picking as indeed was the case here.
The neck is mahogany with an unbound ebony fingerboard decorated with discreet pearl dot inlay; the nut is the slimmer profile common to this period. The peghead is faced in Brazilian rosewood with the gold "C.F. Martin & Co." decal at the top. The neck profile is round backed but with the slightest hint of a "V" profile in the way the sides bear away from the center as it moves towards the nut. The tuners are open back individual Kluson units with metal buttons and large bases; these are usually thought of as specific to the early post-war period but there are no marks beneath them indicating anything else has been there.
There is a decent amount of wear and old repair to this guitar, somewhat typical considering how many of these instruments originally got used, played hard into the open mikes of radio studios or barn dance stages. In this environment a guitar had to have exceptional power and projection and a large percentage of Country and Western performers in the period found the Martin Dreadnought the best instrument to trust their performances to. In late 1941 the price of a new D-18 went from $75 to $83, a sizable increase mostly due to the effects of an already raging global war. They still sold well, but today 80+ years later finding a "Shade top" example from 1941 or earlier is any condition a VERY rare occurrence.
Overall length is 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm.), 15 5/8 in. (39.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This extremely rare D-18 shows signs of hard use including heavy playwear and mostly older repair, but remains in excellent playing condition and has a truly fantastic sound, ranking with the best we have had. The original thin lacquer finish shows noticeable wear over the entire instrument, most notably heavy strumming marks to the wood on the top along both sides of fingerboard extension and in the bridge/pickguard junction area. There are also numerous small dings, dents and scrapes to the top, back and sides with heavy buckle wear to much of the back. The back of the neck is worn down to the wood over most of its length but does not have any heavy dinks or the common capo wear dents along the spine.
The most serious repair is a wood patch to an area on the treble side running from the turn of the upper treble bout to the waist. This is a very old repair, with an approximately 7" long by 1" wide piece of mahogany spliced in with numerous small cleats as reinforcement internally. The area directly above and back from this on the side also has several longer cracks that were cleated long ago; the guitar took an impact in this area that was neatly and solidly repaired to the standards of the day. As part of this repair the lower side was refinished from below the neck heel to below the lower turn of the waist as part of this repair; this is not professional quality work but is very thin and not overly conspicuous. This repair is fully solid and does not affect the guitar's sound or performance.
The upper side has a much smaller impact repair right on the turn of the lower bout; this was sealed up and reinforced internally with one long vertical cleat but no finish was added. There are two other smalls sealed grain splits on the upper side, neatly sealed. The back and most importantly the top are crack free. There is some finish touchup to the top in the area just below the bridge, where the original must have lifted. An exact ebony repro bridge is fitted with some light scarring around the rim over the original very thin maple bridgeplate. The original very delicate scalloped braces remain intact, with some signs of regluing long ago and a couple of tiny clamping scars to the main X.
The neck has been cleanly reset with the fingerboard trued and refretted with appropriate wire; some very minor divots were filled in the first position. The large-base Kluson tuners are intact and fully functional. A strap button was previously mounted on the heel, now removed and the screw hole plugged. Obviously a serious veteran performer, this guitar has plenty of music in it still, combining the power and depth of a pre-war Dreadnought with the sweetness and singing character of the best mahogany Martins in a magical mix. This D-18 is not only a serious piece of Martin history but an exceptionally versatile flat-top guitar suited to practically any musical situation, in a nicely appropriate period HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.
There are certain guitars that are simply the standard by which ALL others are judged; the Pre-war Martin D-18 is certainly one of them. This 1941 example -- built not too long before the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor -- is an especially rare and desirable variant. The top is finished not in the standard natural livery, but in the subtle dark sunburst Martin referred to as a "Shaded Top". This was a factory option at the time; the listing for the D-18 on page 8 of the 1941 Martin catalog states "This style will be furnished with a shaded dark top instead of natural finish on request at no extra charge". The price either way was specified as $75 without the case. Only a small fraction of dealers or buyers actually ordered this variation, and today they are exponentially rarer than the standard natural top examples.
Apart from the deep sunburst top this D-18 shows the classic original features of the model, widely imitated ever since. The back and sides are Honduras mahogany and the top is tight-grained Appalachian spruce, bound on the edges with tortoise celluloid. Typically for 1941 the scalloped X bracing is the "rearward shifted" pattern adopted in the late 1930s, intended to stiffen the area behind the bridge. The ebony belly bridge has a canted bone saddle. The pickguard is made of tortoise celluloid in a small "teardrop" shape, which often proved too small to fully protect the top from the ravages of enthusiastic picking as indeed was the case here.
The neck is mahogany with an unbound ebony fingerboard decorated with discreet pearl dot inlay; the nut is the slimmer profile common to this period. The peghead is faced in Brazilian rosewood with the gold "C.F. Martin & Co." decal at the top. The neck profile is round backed but with the slightest hint of a "V" profile in the way the sides bear away from the center as it moves towards the nut. The tuners are open back individual Kluson units with metal buttons and large bases; these are usually thought of as specific to the early post-war period but there are no marks beneath them indicating anything else has been there.
There is a decent amount of wear and old repair to this guitar, somewhat typical considering how many of these instruments originally got used, played hard into the open mikes of radio studios or barn dance stages. In this environment a guitar had to have exceptional power and projection and a large percentage of Country and Western performers in the period found the Martin Dreadnought the best instrument to trust their performances to. In late 1941 the price of a new D-18 went from $75 to $83, a sizable increase mostly due to the effects of an already raging global war. They still sold well, but today 80+ years later finding a "Shade top" example from 1941 or earlier is any condition a VERY rare occurrence.
Overall length is 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm.), 15 5/8 in. (39.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This extremely rare D-18 shows signs of hard use including heavy playwear and mostly older repair, but remains in excellent playing condition and has a truly fantastic sound, ranking with the best we have had. The original thin lacquer finish shows noticeable wear over the entire instrument, most notably heavy strumming marks to the wood on the top along both sides of fingerboard extension and in the bridge/pickguard junction area. There are also numerous small dings, dents and scrapes to the top, back and sides with heavy buckle wear to much of the back. The back of the neck is worn down to the wood over most of its length but does not have any heavy dinks or the common capo wear dents along the spine.
The most serious repair is a wood patch to an area on the treble side running from the turn of the upper treble bout to the waist. This is a very old repair, with an approximately 7" long by 1" wide piece of mahogany spliced in with numerous small cleats as reinforcement internally. The area directly above and back from this on the side also has several longer cracks that were cleated long ago; the guitar took an impact in this area that was neatly and solidly repaired to the standards of the day. As part of this repair the lower side was refinished from below the neck heel to below the lower turn of the waist as part of this repair; this is not professional quality work but is very thin and not overly conspicuous. This repair is fully solid and does not affect the guitar's sound or performance.
The upper side has a much smaller impact repair right on the turn of the lower bout; this was sealed up and reinforced internally with one long vertical cleat but no finish was added. There are two other smalls sealed grain splits on the upper side, neatly sealed. The back and most importantly the top are crack free. There is some finish touchup to the top in the area just below the bridge, where the original must have lifted. An exact ebony repro bridge is fitted with some light scarring around the rim over the original very thin maple bridgeplate. The original very delicate scalloped braces remain intact, with some signs of regluing long ago and a couple of tiny clamping scars to the main X.
The neck has been cleanly reset with the fingerboard trued and refretted with appropriate wire; some very minor divots were filled in the first position. The large-base Kluson tuners are intact and fully functional. A strap button was previously mounted on the heel, now removed and the screw hole plugged. Obviously a serious veteran performer, this guitar has plenty of music in it still, combining the power and depth of a pre-war Dreadnought with the sweetness and singing character of the best mahogany Martins in a magical mix. This D-18 is not only a serious piece of Martin history but an exceptionally versatile flat-top guitar suited to practically any musical situation, in a nicely appropriate period HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.