FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

C. F. Martin (1796 - 1873), a German luthier, came to New York City in 1833 and founded C.F. Martin & Company. Martin moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1839 where the company still manufactures guitars today. The company has remained family owned and is currently headed by C. F. Martin IV. Martin revolutionized the flat top acoustic guitar in two ways. First, in the mid-1800's they developed the X-bracing pattern for the guitar top which resulted in better tone and volume. In the early part of the 20th century, Martin introduced the first dreadnought size guitar which was larger and deeper than any previous acoustic flat top guitar. This resulted in a much louder instrument with tremendous bass and midrange. Because of these characteristics, the dreadnought martin has become the standard guitar for bluegrass music. The D-35 was introduced in 1966 and has slightly lighter bracing than the more popular D-28. This gives the D-35 a sweeter tone with a bit less volume. It's 3-piece back was the result of a general depletion of Brazilian rosewood boards wide enough for 2-piece backs. In a brilliant marketing ploy, Martin gave the D-35 slightly fancier treatments, narrower bracing (1/4" versus 5/16" on the D-28), and charged more for it than the D-28 which had a 2-piece back. In 1970, Martin switched from Brazilian to more plentiful Indian rosewood on all of it's guitars. Although Martin could have dropped the D-35 after 1970 since the use of a 3-piece back was no longer necessary, it remained in the lineup and is still available today.

 Body:  Hollow; solid 2-piece spruce top, solid 3-piece Indian rosewood back, and solid Indian rosewood sides; triple bound top, double  bound back

 Finish:  Natural, nitrocellulose lacquer

 Neck:  1-piece mahogany, set-in; rosewood headstock overlay with decal logo

 Fingerboard:  Ebony, single bound; mother-of-pearl dot markers

 Number of Frets:  20

 Pickguard:  Black, acetate

 Bridge:  Ebony with micarta saddle

 Nut:  Micarta

 Tuners:  Schaller Mini, chrome

 Pickups:  One, Barcus-Berry transducing

 Controls:  None

 Scale Length:  25 1/2 inches

 Neck Width at Nut:  1 11/16 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout:  15 5/8 inches

 Body Depth:  4 7/8 inches

 Weight:  4.9 lb