u/Disastrous_Two7702

I posted about my guitar strap, but I figured now I should make a post about my actual Martin guitar. I feel like I got lucky with this one. I bought it at a time when I was still pretty new with flat picking and high end guitars. Previously, I was playing a reimagined d28 and thought it was amazing. I play bluegrass, and was starting to be aware of the finer details that make all d28s different. I found this guitar on Craigslist. The seller advertised it as an hd-28va. When I went to try the guitar, I brought my reimagined d28 to do a side by side comparison. We met up in a parking lot on a busy street so I really couldn’t hear the guitar that well, but I noticed immediately the difference in volume. That was enough to sell me.

It’s actually a custom guitar from 2008. I’m not sure if it was a custom done by a guitar store or an individual who wanted this exact guitar. I have to believe the store or the original owner got it made for bluegrass playing. It’s very nice East Indian Rosewood and an Adirondack top. Other notable features are that it had Golden Era top bracing also with Adirondack spruce. I believe this means they are scalloped but not as aggressively as the authentics. The finish is also something different from factory standard. I’m not sure how it is, but I can tell you that I think it’s on the thinner side. The finish has sunken into the wood really nicely and some of it is already coming off from honest playing. I think the finish is part of the equation.

I brought it to a local music store to get it set up, and they gave me some not great news. The guitar was overhumidified. I live in a very ideal climate and guitar owners never really have to be concerned about humidity all 4 seasons. The previous owner must have kept this guitar in a very damp place for a long time. The top was bulging like it had a beer belly. The fingerboard was expanded and I could feel that it wasn’t flush with the neck. The binding too was not flush with the body, which was also expanded from being overhumidified. I had no idea to look out for this kind of thing.

Taking matters into my own hands, I thought of a crazy idea to help dry the guitar. I lived in an apartment with a small bathroom with a heater. I left my empty case opened in this bathroom with the heater on until the case became dry. I would leave it in there for maybe a half hour or longer. When I took it out of the bathroom, it was been dry and warm to the touch. I knew if it was too hot, the glue would be in danger of melting. I gave it a few minutes to cool down, and then I would stick my guitar in the case. I repeated this over months, and it worked! Over time, the guitar lost its water. The bulge went down and now the wood is all flush around the neck and binding. The sound got even better too as this was happening. I think what I did was maybe not very sanctioned or smart, but it really did bring back the guitar to regular humidity levels without damaging it.

The second crazy thing I did was that I shaved down the back braces slightly. Prewar dreadnoughts were built much lighter. I thought the guitar sounded great, but it was lacking. The low end felt a little bit constricted. I did a lot of research and saw that this was something some luthiers did to improve the sound of more modern Martin guitars. I read accounts of great guitars that would boom and you could really feel the vibration of the back on you when you strummed. After a lot of research and consideration and tapping the back to hear how it sounded. I decided I would try shaving the back braces. I was pretty conservative. I would do a couple strokes and listen. I got to a point where I achieved what I was going for. Tapping the back sounded more resonant. I took off enough wood on the back braces to let the guitar vibrate just a bit more. I noticed an improvement in sound immediately but also noticed that it took a few weeks maybe for the changes to really settle in. Im very happy with how it turned out. I can really feel the guitar rumbling in my hands when I give it some gas. It’s like there’s an engine in it. It also feels like it pushes air out of the sound hole more. When I play my guitar with other musicians, I get many compliments on its sound, which makes me very happy. It’s got a lot of low end. It’s got volume. I do kind of believe that if I did something similar to the top braces it would make the guitar even more monstrous. It’s not too bassy, but it’s not that far off from there either. I wonder if allowing the top to vibrate more would calibrate the tone just a bit. I don’t feel confident messing with the top braces though. You can’t see and reach them the same way and also they are more complicated. For now I will leave it as is. I’ve already done enough.

I love this guitar. I feel like it can go toe to toe with a lot of great instruments. I hope to never need to sell it, and honestly I hope I don’t come across a guitar that will make me not love it as much as I do now.

Please suggest me an earplug for work.