The guitar is certainly one of the most pristine 1940 D-28 guitars extant. This guitar is still in the family of the original owner.

The serial number of the guitar is 76288. It was stamped on October 23, 1940 and cleared final inspection on March 25, 1941.

The tuners are Grover G-111 machines.

The owner of this guitar has the original sales slip and shows that it was purchased from a dealer named Burr Shafer of Santa Ana CA on July 23, 1942. As Martin did not sell directly to this dealer, the guitar most likely came from Coast Wholesale Music Co. of Los Angeles, acting as Martin's master distributor for the southern part of California. This guitar was probably one of the roughly twenty D-28 guitars Coast Wholesale purchased from Martin between April 1941 and July 1942.

From the sale slip it can be seen that the total price for the guitar and case was $146. The July 1941 Martin catalogue shows the retail price of the D-28 to be $115 with a style C case being $17 extra and a D case being an additional $27. On October 1, 1940 Martin issued a price increase on some instruments in the July 1941 catalogue. The D-28 price was increased to $125 although the case prices remained the same. Therefore, it appears the D-28 was purchased with a style C case for a total price of $142. The $4 difference in the retail price and the sale slip price was probably to account for extra strings or a song book or two.

A remarkable survivor in great shape!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Style 28 features:

Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood

Top: Adirondack spruce

Purfling: Herringbone

Binding: Ivoroid

Back Stripe: Zig-zag purfling

Other period features:

Grover G-111 tuners

Scalloped rear X-bracing

Ebony fingerboard

Ebony belly bridge

Steel T-bar neck reinforcement

1-11/16" neck width at nut

Tortoiseshell celluloid pick guard

Slotted diamond and square fingerboard inlays

Decal on front of headstock

No C. F. Martin stamp on back of headstock

Style stamp