The 1950’s were the start of the era where Martin arguably found their biggest foothold in popular music, alongside the decade long relationship of the Martin dreadnought to Bluegrass fading slightly in favor of the new thing on the block - Rock N’ Roll!

This in addition to Martin’s attempt to “future proof” their guitars by building them heavier with straight braces instead of the light tops and scalloped bracing of the 30’s and early 40’s, led to guitars that were much more aggressive sounding, with a pronounced midrange and almost “honky” sound characteristic of many 50’s Rock recordings. These guitars however, are notable for their cutting power, often heard through large and loud bands more than the more delicate 30’s Martins could do.

This 1956 Martin D-28 is a pretty darn good distillation of that tonal ideal- still possessing a round, robust sound but with the slightly nasal, mid heavy sounds that recordings from the Stanley Brothers, Bluegrass Boys, and even some of Earl Scruggs’ fingerpicking, as well as Elvis records made famous.

The 1 11/16ths nut is paired with a super comfortable C/V hybrid neck profile, paired with the narrower 2 ¼ inch bridge spacing.

The sitka top (the standard by this point) and Brazilian back and sides are in excellent condition, though the bridge has been replaced with a nice ebony copy and the previous “snakebite” repair has been reversed, and the holes where pearl dots used to be have been filled with ebony plugs. The waffle back tuners are original and work great.

Comes with a hard shell case.