Vintage D-18 specs?

[Jim_H]

I'm currently building three 'contemporary' dreadnought body guitars. It's sort of a prototye/spec project. My goal is to get better at building towards a goal. In other words I'm setting out with the intention of trying to better understand what makes a specific type of guitar do what it does well. Hopefully when I'm done with these three, I'll have a decent understanding of what makes a good 'banjo killer'.

I have no need for more guitars, and I'm not particularly a bluegrass player, although I appreciate some nice flatpicking now and then. If these guitars end up in a decently stable and playable condition, I'll be donating them to the Guitars for Vets program so they can get into the hands of someone who will appreciate them.

Once I'm done with them, I think I want to put the experience and knowledge, while it's still in my head, into building a 'spec' D-18. With the goal of using the appropriate materials and accouterments to make it look and sound like the highly sought after D-18's of yesteryear. This guitar would be my 'keeper' (one of many).

What I could use some help with, is finding a reference (website, books, etc...) that I can refer to for a specific guitar that I can use as a model. The reference would have some information about the woods used, and the purflings, bindings, and rosette. Ideally, it would also include some information about the details of the top thickness, brace dimensions (location, height, thickness, x-brace spread, bridge plate size/thickness, etc...), and perhaps details of the bridge and fretboard. I suspect most of the really old D-18's probably had brazilian bridges and fretboards. I'm not sure I would do that, but I might consider EIR or some other 'similar' rosewood if that's what the spec calls for.

I'm not going for a 'relic' at all, just something done with a vintage look in mind.

I appreciate any inputs.

[tippie53]

The D 18 changed little out side but inside , the era of the changes have a following of the differences. The D18 prior to the bracing change of 1939 was
Tee bar neck truss rod , compression fretted and assembled with Hot Hide Glue The braces were 5/16 in , The braces and bridge plate were tucked. The binding and purflings changed very little. The neck block was wider until 1939 and had no popsicle brace.
After 39 the popsicle was added and the neck block went from 1 9/16 to 1 3/8. The truss rod also changed from 3/8 by 3/4 to 1/2 by 5/8. The bridge plate also was enlarged .
The Martin History my Mike Longworth will have this info and was updated a few years ago. Fretboard changed from Ebony to rosewood.
what specifics were you looking for ? X brace angle also is a bit different. I think the major differences are pre war to post war.
I have bracing plots from actual Martin patterns from 37 39 44 and modern.

[Jim_H]

That's a big help John. I think I'll dig up that book.

Other stuff I was looking for would be top and back woods, binding, purfling, rosette and headstock designs, along with any other fit/finish details.

Like I said I'm not going for a perfect replica or a 'relic' (blegh), but I would like to know what the original looked like.

I'll see if I can find some pictures of pre and post 1939 and see which one suits me.

Thanks

[Jim_H]

Did some google searching. Found this from the Antique Roadshow.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200903A22.html

[tippie53]

the 38 is a nice guitar , the 1937 is considered the finest and is known as the Golden Era. The binding is Tortoise . The rosette is fibroid ( no longer available ) The fretboard and bridge are ebony. 1 3/4 nut 2 5/16 bridge spacing.
Small dots on the fretboard. Tee bar compression freted neck. The neck block 1 9/16 5/16 sitka spruce scalloped braces tucked 1 3/8 bridge plate 98 degree splay on the braces. Brown ribbon side supports , black plastic pins ivory nut and saddle , groner 95 tuners.
Rosette .010 black inner and outer ring. The inner rosette is b/w/b/w/b/w/b/w/b . Don't hold me to this but I think the inner and outter b/w/b is .010 the 2 inner white .020 and black center .025 top adi maple bridge plate.
pickguard under finish acetate tortoise nitro lacquer. BRW head veneer. Through glue in saddle. I think that is about the main specs.

[Jim_H]

Hmm.. sounds pretty simple actually. Although I've never done plastic bindings. I suppose it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Thanks John!

[Darryl Young]

That's a nice project Jim. I would like to build one some day.

[Ben-Had]

I just bought an ADI top to do my D-18:) I have the rim assembled and I'm bracing the back next. Maybe I should get some pics up.

John, what color did they use for the B/S and was it stained first or color added to the nitro?

Duh! What was I thinking. It's gong to be a 000-18, I've already built my D-18.

[Jim_H]

I went through my pile of guitar books and found out that I have a lot of the info I need. I have a book called "The Martin Guitar". It's a history of the company, but it has a reference section that has some limited details of the many variations of all of Martin's guitars over the years.

The D-18 project is still a ways off, and subject to change without notice, but I'm going to assemble a shopping list.

Thanks for the help all...

[Ben-Had]

John, what color did they use for the B/S and was it stained first or color added to the nitro?

BUMP for above.