Just drill out the dowel and reset the neck as you normally would. While the neck is off you just plug the neck block and make a nice matching mahogany dowel to put in the neck. It will look better and obviously play better. It’s a shame someone did that but it honestly shouldn’t be too hard to repair as long as the same hillbilly didn’t use epoxy to glue the neck back on after his failure of a neck reset
I saw plenty of R & D guitars from Martin while working there at their Woodworkers dream store in the 80's. They had a sale every year scheduled around the guitar symposium weekend held in Easton PA. The store was packed and lines were out the door waiting to get in. They were one offs, special styles of standard models and what you have in your hands. It's likely this was one of them. Dick Boak could confirm these sales happened too. I saw some pretty remarkable guitars go through those sales.
Jeremy, This Martin's bass sounds more like a D-35 to me, than what I expect a D-18 to sound like. Probably Bryan Kimsey could reset this neck for you, as Bryan is a great Martin repairer. Very nice video, thanks for finding this!
@@onehundredpicks5531 sure, but as J pointed out, The saddle is super low, with that a very shallow break angle which really limits the tone and resonance. With that the action is still high. My feeling it’s a cool 40 year old guitar that deserves a proper neck reset (and repair of that wacky dowel).
@@richweinstock2069 oh gotcha. My current dreadnought has that issue. ( not a issue for me sounds just fine plays great i set it up for low action no buzz but the saddle is low.). I want this guitar as i love beat up old guitars everyone hates then giving it a small bit of work and bringing to to the jam. Its always the same response: "Isn't that the junky guitar from 2 weeks ago, it sounds, different?" 😂.
I wonder why Martin did specials for the sales force instead of giving the sales person an actual production model? It seems to me an actual production model in a sales persons hands would be a real representation of the actual product, and the sales person could sell a production model to the dealer. Interesting history, for sure.
These martin R+D guitars are super interesting. I've seen 1 or 2 of them in the wild over the years, and with all sorts of specs. I saw a D-28 black guard herringbone and all, and when you looked at the neck block you could see it was a d-18 neck. the only other one that i ever saw in the wild was an 000-18 with an OM neck and scale, so its seems like they were putting these guitars together from leftovers or something because all that i've seen have been hodgepodges.
Just drill the dowel out, reset the neck and fill the hole by trying to match grain as close as you can. Shouldn't be too tricky with a bit of care. The finish is the hardest part by far
If the only reason for the neck reset is how low the saddle is, it is possible to remove some material from the bridge, still leaving a deep enough pocket to fully support the saddle. I had recently gotten possession of a 1971 D28S with a very low saddle, but otherwise in very good shape. The saddle was too low to adjust the action further, which was high. The luthier (a Martin authorized repair person) lowered the bridge enough to both lower the action and leave a larger amount of saddle exposed. It looks beautiful, and has perfect action without doing a neck reset.
We didn’t get a look at the head block inside - is it a dowel, or a screw holding the neck? If it’s a screw covered by putty of some kind, it may not be too hard to get out.
Stuff that gets out in the wild is awesome! That's what makes it cool. It doesn't always make it worth more, but the "How the hell did this get out?" factor is always something that gives it that extra something. Sometimes I think makers or whoever do it on purpose. I have a 1964 JFK "Accented Hair" Cameo Half-Dollar (one of about 100ish) that managed to escape the mint. Jackie didn't like the carve of the hair, saying that it make JFK look old, so they melted the whole batch of all the 64s down ('64 being the last year of silver coins before the sandwich coins) for reuse. As rare as it is it's not worth all that much, but everyone that sees it, including collectors and dealers, gets that "This is pretty cool" grin. I have a late 60s-early - 70s Gibson J-45 Deluxe with much the same neck "fix" but it's got a 1/16" bolt they ran through it, and that's just one issue. You should see the jerry-rigging they did to "fix" the adjustable bridge it came with... OMFG, and not in a good way. I need to sell it. It's going to cost more than I'll ever be able to afford to fix it. It's a beautiful-sounding guitar, but whoever had it was trying their best with what they had but jeezez...
Oh my! I love a guitar that tells a story. You don't much find such things where I live. At least I never have. But I do find that any guitar with some time on it has a story that could be told. Maybe a story no one wants to hear yet. That's one of the really cool things about solid wood construction. These guitars could be around for two or three hundred years. Sometimes I wonder if any of my instruments will last that long and what stories they might accumulate. And what will those stories mean in the world to come. We really ought to take good care of our instruments and hold them in trust for the future selves who will come after us. Hopefully they will be cherished for a very long time and by people we can't yet imagine.
I would liken it to “press cars” that are, in some cases, pre-production models used to test things like transmission and fuel programming, crash tests, drivability and suspension tuning. Than are handed over to magazines and RUclipsrs to review and promote new models. They usually have a couple thousand miles put on them, and need to be crushed after they have served their purpose, because in many cases they do not have VIN’s and cannot be titled. Some don’t get crushed, end up in museums, or in private collections because they cannot be titled. It is exactly what you said. A promotional tool. Kind of cool to see one in the wild. Neat history, but a-shame about the neck heal / block. Taylor sells a lot of models labeled prototype, like this, to big dealers out of their NAMM booth. My local dealer had and awesome 817 (800 series grand pacific) that was awesome looking and sounding.
A fascinating post Jeremy, thanks! Firstly, I live in the UK. I owned a 1976 D-18 (bought over here) for over thirty years, and looking at the shape of your guitar's headstock from the front, it's identical to the one I had - the way it curves into the nut is exactly the same. My D-18 had enclosed Grover tuners. They all did at that time - I have some catalogues from about that era. The bridge pins should be black. I imagine the pickguard has been replaced due to shrinkage of the original black one. Also, the case is almost certainly non-original - it should be a blue thermoplastic case of the era. As I recall, they were later made in black. Mine also needed a neck reset after all my years of ownership, which I had done by the UK's official Martin repairer. I suspect that a lot of '70s Martins might need resets by now; it's something to be aware of when buying one. I once came across a D-28 with no serial number at a dealer, probably built at around the same time as your D-18. It had no serial number, and I was suspicious. Had it been stolen, and the number removed? I couldn't see any evidence whatsoever for this. There were however no stamps or marks as on your D-18 to be seen. It was a worn-looking guitar, and I liked the sound, but I was still suspicious, and walked. Interestingly, it turned up at another dealer some time later, maybe a year or so.
I have Martin Guitar my mother had since she was 16 years old. I have taken pictures of it. The knob at the base of the guitar to hold a strap was replaced with a plastic one. But I still have the original ivory’s for that as well as for the bottom bridge. All of them were decaying. My mother passed away in 2020 and was born in 1931. The serial number written inside the guitar is H56134 Can you tell me something about myMartin Guitar and approximate value? I would send pictures, but I don’t see on the comment section how to add photos.
cool. I would drill the dowel out, remove the neck, then fill the hole in the block and the neck with grain-matched mahogany before doing a proper neck reset and the appropriate lacquer touchup.
Interesting piece of history. Since it is no longer in a quality state I would offer for Martin to buy it off me for my cost. They can put it in their museum with the other 100s of guitars they don’t share with the public.
I don’t agree with you about the date. Based on the rounded corners on the headstock and the script logo, I would say it is more likely from 1970-1974…
It needs a storyteller - I love it, it has history, sounded loverly, and the grain would be wide open, hence the stunning sound. It needs some work to give it more longevity, but something like that that has a true story behind it, lends it self to a storyteller, someone needs to think of some narrative to the history in their hands and string out some wonder with it.
What’s your experience with a Gibson LG-2 or an L-00? I love my J45, curious about Gibsons small bodies, haven’t seen one in town for a while to check out, I hate V necks, and a lot of small bodies go for that V shape,
My buddy has a 1949 LG-2 and it is an amazing guitar. Literally one of the best acoustics I’ve ever played. I have a 60’s Hummingbird and when we get together to write music we swap guitars because we both enjoy playing each other’s guitar so much. I’d buy an LG-2 in a heartbeat if it played and sounded anything like my friends guitar
That guitar is definitely a keeper and well worth having a pro take a stab at resetting the neck. You could end up with a great players grade guitar with a story of its own.
You can totally still reset the neck. You will have to take the fret board off first. Martins have an air gap between the end of the dovetail and the back of the dovetail pocket. A thin blade or a fine curing oscillating saw may be able to slip down on that air pocket and cut the dowel. Then heat and serve!
I thought it might've been a prototype Shenandoah, D1, or something else with laminate back and sides, because the trebles don't sound as defined. At the very least it sounds constricted, maybe heavily braced? I have a feeling for a reset the neck joint will probably have to be sawn through and converted to bolt on.
I say, the best thing to do if you come across one of these out in the world that still plays well or is capable of being setup, you buy it for a good price with the intention of never selling it. Accept that the resale value will never be very high unless the world decides these are super amazing and cool in the future.
If you look closely, they have not damaged the wood with that "reparation" so I think this is done more professionally than you think, not that i mean that it is nice... but maybe because it just wasn't supposed to be sold on the black market, maybe it was like that from production?
im glad i could help with some questions from the d35 i found. i guess my only question is what would this or the d35 be worth if they were in great shape? more, less or the same as the same model year except the actual released model instead of the sample
I have a Breedlove prototype. It’s just slightly different from the production model it was a prototype of. It’s a really good guitar. Those too weren’t supposed to escape into the wild but I’ve seen one other of this model sold on Reverb.
I'd be concerned that rather than a dowel, there's a bolt/screw and the dowel is simple a cosmetic plug. Either way I'd have a competent luthier dig it out and do a proper neck reset. Mahogany can be patched as to have the repair plug be all but invisible. This is a beautiful sounding guitar. I once owned a Seagull M-6 mahogany that was stamped "dealers display" and wasn't supposed to be sold. I imagine it has a similar story behind it. I'd buy a genuine Martin regardless of its sans serial number provenance.
It looks like wood filler to me, I bet there’s a massive bolt or screw underneath it, aborted reset attempt, didn’t have the skills to adapt the dovetail etc.
What’s a clean playable early 1970s -D-18 worth ? That Guitar is worth about half. A mirror inspection of Bracing would help. Martin started adjustable truss Rod production around 1976? A competent Luthier could clean that neck up. Was the bridge shaved down to lower the bone nut? Is that guitar any more special than a standard Early 70s serial # D-18 ? Best of luck! Thanks for sharing 🇺🇸
@@fishersrow I wasn’t sure of exact year. . I was linking /Thinking it to be around time the HD-28 came on the scene. Crazy to think Martin waited that long to put Adjustable TR in their guitars
Cool to find a guitar like this. I’m not sure a craftsman would want to try and fix that neck, but there might be! And that would only ad to the story! I’ve come across two fake Martins in my lifetime . Definitely not R$D versions, just a scammer or two who had 70’s lawsuit era Guitars trying to pass them off after going through some effort to fake them. Thank you again. Always enjoy
Have a meet up for a westerly Guild tomorrow. Thanks for the awesome vids Jeremy, and the refund on the new old stock Burger King patch shipping too 😂!
This is C.F. Skinner with the Martin Guitar Salesmans Sample Recovery Assosciation. You are in posession of a guitar that you are not supposed to have. We have identified the salesman who unethically sold it and he is facing serious repercussions for selling it. Thank you for making this video and doing 99% of our investigation for us. Someone will be in touch with you shortly and you may receive a stern talking to. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.
That guitar shops sure made a lot of money off of that!$1400? I’m guessing it’s going to take $1000 plus just to get that neck reset properly but I guess you can’t blame the seller if the owner bought it for that much.
Great example of the past. Too bad about the steel rod through the neck. I bet a good luthier could make it happen though. Probably can't send it back to Martin unfortunately. Very interesting.
A couple of thoughts: 1. It can be reset but, will it be worth the cost to the owner? Talk to twoodfrd @twoodfrd. See www.youtube.com/@twoodfrd/featured 2. Contact Martin and see if they would discount a new one for the customer to get this "less than shining" example off of the streets?
This is cool. It would be even cooler if you could bring it fully back to life. Then it would be something your new friend would treasure for the rest of their life.
The 70's was a weird time for guitar makers. Supposedly, it was not a time for the best Martin guitars. The dowel through the neck was some sort of hack repair- I am betting not done by a legitimate, knowledgible guitar repairman. Maybe it was a customer repair that Martin refused after the hack job. Maybe the customer refused to pay return shipping? Anything is posible after so many years.
If you were going to send out demonstrators wouldn't you at least make them sound right. This guitar lacks the D-18 boom that anyone who knows anything about D-18s expects to hear. It's an interesting artifact and I wouldn't call it excellent especially given the Frankenstinish repair work and you don't even know if the neck can be reset.
There's always idiots putting dowels in necks , or screws.. or worse sqeezing epoxy in the crack of the heel and clamping it down.. Luckily this one should be fixable with a little time and care .. After the repair Hardest part will be finding a piece of mahogany to match perfectly however this is end grain so theres a few tricks to make it match and look like it was never done.. Problem i see is hownfat that dowel looks ... did it get into the dovetail. And what's that gob of filler he put in ? And again waa epoxy used ? If it was and it got into the dovetail that could be a real problem. I'm betting when this was done the dovetail wasnso loose that all hed of had to do is loosen the Glue under the fretboard extension and the damn neck would have fell off.
Jeremy: I've had two messages saying 'hit me up, I've got something for you' - I notice that this has appeared elsewhere on this thread. A troll at play, I assume?
They're spam. They're not actually my name. It's a pervasive problem on RUclips and Google isn't fixing it. I report them as spam like whack-a-mole but they keep coming back.
I never buy the original vintage guitar! I buy the copy or reissued models because I don’t want the guitar that’s expensive my money is not a guitar my money is a Hulk working for my retirement not inside a guitar 🎸
@@gnm109 It's hard not to talk down to you. The video clearly explains why it was difficult to assess where the guitar comes from. Your comment was weird and snarky and uninformed, in other words, an invitation to talk down to you.
@@JohannesLabusch You sound like a real winner. That guitar was clearly built in the Martin factory. Does it sound like I'm talking down to you? LOL. I'm far from uninformed when it comes to guitars. KMA.
@@gnm109 No serial number. Blacked out information on the inside. atypical design features. Crude repair attempts. "Clearly built in the Martin factory", according to respected international Martin specialist GNM109, who saw the logo on the headstock. Big thumbs up for your expertise.
Is there any laminate back or sides? This guitar sounds dull and kind of muddy, no open B or E strings ringing. The chords you are playing are not the right ones to hear a D18, better play the open G chord C and D, the cowboy chords.
I own a 1977 D18 that I bought new. They DID NOT have a truss rod back then. Martin was not convinced that the truss rod was a good addition yet. Mt guitar needs its neck reset also. The wood still rings very well but I'm old and it's difficult for my hands.
@@bobhun7585 I believe that Martin's did have a truss rod, but not adjustable ones until 1895. I have a D76 Bicentennial model that has a non-adjustable truss rod. I bought it new, it's had 46 years of good playing and the neck is as true as the day it was new. What gauge strings do you use on your D18? Martin recommend 13s on D guitars and that's what I've always used, never any other gauge. Also, one of my idiosyncrasies is that when I restring I only take off one string at a time to maintain. good tension. Perhaps I am strange but something I do works, because I've never had a neck reset and it certainly doesn't need one!
You really should do more research before jumping on here and making these claims. That's a pretty beat up guitar with no provable history. Maybe worth $900 even with it being a Martin R&D guitar. It's not a "salesman sample", wherever you got that from.
It's absolutely a salesman example. I played up the other opportunities but it's a cool example of a time when Martin had to beat the street to get buyers and more dealers.
twoodfrd needs to be the one to fix this...
HaHaHa Beat me to it.
Just drill out the dowel and reset the neck as you normally would. While the neck is off you just plug the neck block and make a nice matching mahogany dowel to put in the neck. It will look better and obviously play better. It’s a shame someone did that but it honestly shouldn’t be too hard to repair as long as the same hillbilly didn’t use epoxy to glue the neck back on after his failure of a neck reset
How do you know it was a “hillbilly”?
Might have been a morally superior northeasterner.
It may not have had a neck re-set. It's possible the neck joint came loose and the dowel was a simple repair.
Might be a bolt under that filler putty....
Super cool Martin! What history. Thanks for sharing Jeremy
I saw plenty of R & D guitars from Martin while working there at their Woodworkers dream store in the 80's. They had a sale every year scheduled around the guitar symposium weekend held in Easton PA. The store was packed and lines were out the door waiting to get in. They were one offs, special styles of standard models and what you have in your hands. It's likely this was one of them. Dick Boak could confirm these sales happened too. I saw some pretty remarkable guitars go through those sales.
I have a Martin Prototype, 1 of 2. Stamped Prototype on the block. Thanks Jeremy
Jeremy, This Martin's bass sounds more like a D-35 to me, than what I expect a D-18 to sound like. Probably Bryan Kimsey could reset this neck for you, as Bryan is a great Martin repairer. Very nice video, thanks for finding this!
I thought the same thing, Eric. It sounds like a D-35 with dead strings. :)
Cool story. Your analysis is perfect. I bet your guy who did the 35 can clear out that dowel, plug the damage and reset it.
Is there anything wrong with keeping it as is if its personal use?
@@onehundredpicks5531 sure, but as J pointed out, The saddle is super low, with that a very shallow break angle which really limits the tone and resonance. With that the action is still high. My feeling it’s a cool 40 year old guitar that deserves a proper neck reset (and repair of that wacky dowel).
@@richweinstock2069 oh gotcha. My current dreadnought has that issue. ( not a issue for me sounds just fine plays great i set it up for low action no buzz but the saddle is low.). I want this guitar as i love beat up old guitars everyone hates then giving it a small bit of work and bringing to to the jam. Its always the same response: "Isn't that the junky guitar from 2 weeks ago, it sounds, different?" 😂.
Maybe send it to Jerry Rosa and he can do a video on resetting the neck. That would be cool to see!
I wonder why Martin did specials for the sales force instead of giving the sales person an actual production model? It seems to me an actual production model in a sales persons hands would be a real representation of the actual product, and the sales person could sell a production model to the dealer. Interesting history, for sure.
The marker on the 5th fret should be the largest one of all- the rest smaller and all of them that same smaller size. Ever noticed?
These martin R+D guitars are super interesting. I've seen 1 or 2 of them in the wild over the years, and with all sorts of specs. I saw a D-28 black guard herringbone and all, and when you looked at the neck block you could see it was a d-18 neck. the only other one that i ever saw in the wild was an 000-18 with an OM neck and scale, so its seems like they were putting these guitars together from leftovers or something because all that i've seen have been hodgepodges.
What an interesting find. Great story!
Just drill the dowel out, reset the neck and fill the hole by trying to match grain as close as you can. Shouldn't be too tricky with a bit of care. The finish is the hardest part by far
Rosa string works could reset it no problem.
If the only reason for the neck reset is how low the saddle is, it is possible to remove some material from the bridge, still leaving a deep enough pocket to fully support the saddle. I had recently gotten possession of a 1971 D28S with a very low saddle, but otherwise in very good shape. The saddle was too low to adjust the action further, which was high. The luthier (a Martin authorized repair person) lowered the bridge enough to both lower the action and leave a larger amount of saddle exposed. It looks beautiful, and has perfect action without doing a neck reset.
We didn’t get a look at the head block inside - is it a dowel, or a screw holding the neck? If it’s a screw covered by putty of some kind, it may not be too hard to get out.
Stuff that gets out in the wild is awesome! That's what makes it cool. It doesn't always make it worth more, but the "How the hell did this get out?" factor is always something that gives it that extra something. Sometimes I think makers or whoever do it on purpose.
I have a 1964 JFK "Accented Hair" Cameo Half-Dollar (one of about 100ish) that managed to escape the mint. Jackie didn't like the carve of the hair, saying that it make JFK look old, so they melted the whole batch of all the 64s down ('64 being the last year of silver coins before the sandwich coins) for reuse. As rare as it is it's not worth all that much, but everyone that sees it, including collectors and dealers, gets that "This is pretty cool" grin.
I have a late 60s-early - 70s Gibson J-45 Deluxe with much the same neck "fix" but it's got a 1/16" bolt they ran through it, and that's just one issue. You should see the jerry-rigging they did to "fix" the adjustable bridge it came with... OMFG, and not in a good way. I need to sell it. It's going to cost more than I'll ever be able to afford to fix it. It's a beautiful-sounding guitar, but whoever had it was trying their best with what they had but jeezez...
Oh my! I love a guitar that tells a story. You don't much find such things where I live. At least I never have. But I do find that any guitar with some time on it has a story that could be told. Maybe a story no one wants to hear yet. That's one of the really cool things about solid wood construction. These guitars could be around for two or three hundred years. Sometimes I wonder if any of my instruments will last that long and what stories they might accumulate. And what will those stories mean in the world to come. We really ought to take good care of our instruments and hold them in trust for the future selves who will come after us. Hopefully they will be cherished for a very long time and by people we can't yet imagine.
I would liken it to “press cars” that are, in some cases, pre-production models used to test things like transmission and fuel programming, crash tests, drivability and suspension tuning. Than are handed over to magazines and RUclipsrs to review and promote new models. They usually have a couple thousand miles put on them, and need to be crushed after they have served their purpose, because in many cases they do not have VIN’s and cannot be titled. Some don’t get crushed, end up in museums, or in private collections because they cannot be titled. It is exactly what you said. A promotional tool. Kind of cool to see one in the wild. Neat history, but a-shame about the neck heal / block.
Taylor sells a lot of models labeled prototype, like this, to big dealers out of their NAMM booth. My local dealer had and awesome 817 (800 series grand pacific) that was awesome looking and sounding.
Is it for sale? Im interested in it.
A fascinating post Jeremy, thanks! Firstly, I live in the UK. I owned a 1976 D-18 (bought over here) for over thirty years, and looking at the shape of your guitar's headstock from the front, it's identical to the one I had - the way it curves into the nut is exactly the same. My D-18 had enclosed Grover tuners. They all did at that time - I have some catalogues from about that era. The bridge pins should be black. I imagine the pickguard has been replaced due to shrinkage of the original black one. Also, the case is almost certainly non-original - it should be a blue thermoplastic case of the era. As I recall, they were later made in black. Mine also needed a neck reset after all my years of ownership, which I had done by the UK's official Martin repairer. I suspect that a lot of '70s Martins might need resets by now; it's something to be aware of when buying one.
I once came across a D-28 with no serial number at a dealer, probably built at around the same time as your D-18. It had no serial number, and I was suspicious. Had it been stolen, and the number removed? I couldn't see any evidence whatsoever for this. There were however no stamps or marks as on your D-18 to be seen. It was a worn-looking guitar, and I liked the sound, but I was still suspicious, and walked. Interestingly, it turned up at another dealer some time later, maybe a year or so.
Well I definitely learned something new today. Thanks Jeremy.
Its a keeper for sure. Love the vibe of that D18
I have Martin Guitar my mother had since she was 16 years old. I have taken pictures of it. The knob at the base of the guitar to hold a strap was replaced with a plastic one. But I still have the original ivory’s for that as well as for the bottom bridge. All of them were decaying. My mother passed away in 2020 and was born in 1931. The serial number written inside the guitar is
H56134
Can you tell me something about myMartin Guitar and approximate value? I would send pictures, but I don’t see on the comment section how to add photos.
I’ve heard of employee model guitars with no logo on the headstock but this is different. Sounds fantastic!
It's an employee guitar. Someone who knows A LOT more about Martin than he does confirmed it. Martin didn't make salesman samples
cool.
I would drill the dowel out, remove the neck, then fill the hole in the block and the neck with grain-matched mahogany before doing a proper neck reset and the appropriate lacquer touchup.
I think that is so cool. I would love to have an R&D Martin. That’s right up my alley.
Interesting piece of history. Since it is no longer in a quality state I would offer for Martin to buy it off me for my cost. They can put it in their museum with the other 100s of guitars they don’t share with the public.
Get the neck reset and do a video please. you got to love the unique and mysterious.
I can't tell how bad the neck is, but it really sounds great! Sounds just like a good old Martin!
I don’t agree with you about the date. Based on the rounded corners on the headstock and the script logo, I would say it is more likely from 1970-1974…
It needs a storyteller - I love it, it has history, sounded loverly, and the grain would be wide open, hence the stunning sound. It needs some work to give it more longevity, but something like that that has a true story behind it, lends it self to a storyteller, someone needs to think of some narrative to the history in their hands and string out some wonder with it.
Great episode. Remind me to tell you the story of a 2016 D’Angelico Excel with a florentine cutaway. One never existed but I’m looking at it now
Hey Jeremy, are u sure it’s a dowel and not a screw with a dowel cover?
What’s your experience with a Gibson LG-2 or an L-00?
I love my J45, curious about Gibsons small bodies, haven’t seen one in town for a while to check out, I hate V necks, and a lot of small bodies go for that V shape,
My buddy has a 1949 LG-2 and it is an amazing guitar. Literally one of the best acoustics I’ve ever played. I have a 60’s Hummingbird and when we get together to write music we swap guitars because we both enjoy playing each other’s guitar so much. I’d buy an LG-2 in a heartbeat if it played and sounded anything like my friends guitar
That guitar is definitely a keeper and well worth having a pro take a stab at resetting the neck. You could end up with a great players grade guitar with a story of its own.
You can totally still reset the neck. You will have to take the fret board off first. Martins have an air gap between the end of the dovetail and the back of the dovetail pocket. A thin blade or a fine curing oscillating saw may be able to slip down on that air pocket and cut the dowel. Then heat and serve!
You just have to steam the extension off. Not the board. Just the extension.
I thought it might've been a prototype Shenandoah, D1, or something else with laminate back and sides, because the trebles don't sound as defined. At the very least it sounds constricted, maybe heavily braced? I have a feeling for a reset the neck joint will probably have to be sawn through and converted to bolt on.
It may have a mortise and tenon neck joint.
I say, the best thing to do if you come across one of these out in the world that still plays well or is capable of being setup, you buy it for a good price with the intention of never selling it. Accept that the resale value will never be very high unless the world decides these are super amazing and cool in the future.
I think it’s fixable but the only person I would trust is Rosa String Works Jerry Rosa can fix anything.
If you look closely, they have not damaged the wood with that "reparation" so I think this is done more professionally than you think, not that i mean that it is nice... but maybe because it just wasn't supposed to be sold on the black market, maybe it was like that from production?
I wonder if there exists a OOO sales guitar...
What is your take on building Martin Guitar kits?
im glad i could help with some questions from the d35 i found. i guess my only question is what would this or the d35 be worth if they were in great shape? more, less or the same as the same model year except the actual released model instead of the sample
Use a mirror, look up underneath the bridge.
I wonder if you sent it back to Martin could they revive it and get it back to the owner
I have a Breedlove prototype. It’s just slightly different from the production model it was a prototype of. It’s a really good guitar. Those too weren’t supposed to escape into the wild but I’ve seen one other of this model sold on Reverb.
I'd be concerned that rather than a dowel, there's a bolt/screw and the dowel is simple a cosmetic plug. Either way I'd have a competent luthier dig it out and do a proper neck reset. Mahogany can be patched as to have the repair plug be all but invisible. This is a beautiful sounding guitar. I once owned a Seagull M-6 mahogany that was stamped "dealers display" and wasn't supposed to be sold. I imagine it has a similar story behind it. I'd buy a genuine Martin regardless of its sans serial number provenance.
It looks like wood filler to me, I bet there’s a massive bolt or screw underneath it, aborted reset attempt, didn’t have the skills to adapt the dovetail etc.
What’s a clean playable early 1970s -D-18 worth ? That Guitar is worth about half. A mirror inspection of Bracing would help. Martin started adjustable truss Rod production around 1976? A competent Luthier could clean that neck up. Was the bridge shaved down to lower the bone nut? Is that guitar any more special than a standard Early 70s serial # D-18 ? Best of luck! Thanks for sharing 🇺🇸
Martin adjustable truss rods started around 1985 not 1976
@@fishersrow I wasn’t sure of exact year. . I was linking /Thinking it to be around time the HD-28 came on the scene. Crazy to think Martin waited that long to put Adjustable TR in their guitars
almost anything can be bought and sold - and all kinds of things outlive their intended usage
Cool to find a guitar like this. I’m not sure a craftsman would want to try and fix that neck, but there might be! And that would only ad to the story!
I’ve come across two fake Martins in my lifetime . Definitely not R$D versions, just a scammer or two who had 70’s lawsuit era Guitars trying to pass them off after going through some effort to fake them.
Thank you again. Always enjoy
Looks like a prototype and I’d say they never were meant to be outside the walls of Nazareth. Very interesting for sure!
Thanks Jeremy.
I had Grover tuners on a D35 in !974
No matter what it is it does have a hellava testimony 😇
Have a meet up for a westerly Guild tomorrow. Thanks for the awesome vids Jeremy, and the refund on the new old stock Burger King patch shipping too 😂!
This is C.F. Skinner with the Martin Guitar Salesmans Sample Recovery Assosciation. You are in posession of a guitar that you are not supposed to have. We have identified the salesman who unethically sold it and he is facing serious repercussions for selling it. Thank you for making this video and doing 99% of our investigation for us. Someone will be in touch with you shortly and you may receive a stern talking to. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.
That guitar shops sure made a lot of money off of that!$1400? I’m guessing it’s going to take $1000 plus just to get that neck reset properly but I guess you can’t blame the seller if the owner bought it for that much.
Ciao. C'è un Maestro Liutaio in Italia, forse due che saprebbero riparare questa chitarra sono sicuro!
Interesting find!
Great example of the past. Too bad about the steel rod through the neck. I bet a good luthier could make it happen though. Probably can't send it back to Martin unfortunately. Very interesting.
It's not a steel rod... It's a wooden dowel
Reminds me of Johnny Cash’s song, “One Piece at a Time.”
A couple of thoughts: 1. It can be reset but, will it be worth the cost to the owner? Talk to twoodfrd
@twoodfrd. See www.youtube.com/@twoodfrd/featured 2. Contact Martin and see if they would discount a new one for the customer to get this "less than shining" example off of the streets?
This is cool. It would be even cooler if you could bring it fully back to life. Then it would be something your new friend would treasure for the rest of their life.
I'm working some ideas about that.
Jeremy, could the "R & D" be for research and development?
Thanks captain obvious
Anytime!
Call Martin!
The 70's was a weird time for guitar makers. Supposedly, it was not a time for the best Martin guitars.
The dowel through the neck was some sort of hack repair- I am betting not done by a legitimate, knowledgible guitar repairman.
Maybe it was a customer repair that Martin refused after the hack job. Maybe the customer refused to pay return shipping? Anything is posible after so many years.
Cool guitar. Cool story.
Maybe try a bridge doctor?
FIREWOOD!
Martin people are some of the weirdest guitar people in the world.
If you were going to send out demonstrators wouldn't you at least make them sound right. This guitar lacks the D-18 boom that anyone who knows anything about D-18s expects to hear. It's an interesting artifact and I wouldn't call it excellent especially given the Frankenstinish repair work and you don't even know if the neck can be reset.
It's cool!
You selling that Jeremy
There's always idiots putting dowels in necks , or screws.. or worse sqeezing epoxy in the crack of the heel and clamping it down..
Luckily this one should be fixable with a little time and care ..
After the repair Hardest part will be finding a piece of mahogany to match perfectly however this is end grain so theres a few tricks to make it match and look like it was never done..
Problem i see is hownfat that dowel looks ... did it get into the dovetail. And what's that gob of filler he put in ? And again waa epoxy used ? If it was and it got into the dovetail that could be a real problem.
I'm betting when this was done the dovetail wasnso loose that all hed of had to do is loosen the Glue under the fretboard extension and the damn neck would have fell off.
Cool and weird. Crazy comments on this one.
R & D = research and development. Def a prototype.
Rosa String Works here on RUclips, he works miracles.
Jeremy: I've had two messages saying 'hit me up, I've got something for you' - I notice that this has appeared elsewhere on this thread.
A troll at play, I assume?
They're spam. They're not actually my name. It's a pervasive problem on RUclips and Google isn't fixing it. I report them as spam like whack-a-mole but they keep coming back.
Never heard of one.
Kung foo the neck And enjoy it
Hahahahaha!
Employee built guitar?
It might be a employee build
I never buy the original vintage guitar! I buy the copy or reissued models because I don’t want the guitar that’s expensive my money is not a guitar my money is a Hulk working for my retirement not inside a guitar 🎸
It does at least sound like a Martin D 18 !!!
It''s definitely built by Martin. Why is the question.
You might consider watching the video.
@@JohannesLabusch What does that mean? Of course I watched the video. Quit talking down to people. You sound like an a**.
@@gnm109 It's hard not to talk down to you. The video clearly explains why it was difficult to assess where the guitar comes from. Your comment was weird and snarky and uninformed, in other words, an invitation to talk down to you.
@@JohannesLabusch You sound like a real winner. That guitar was clearly built in the Martin factory. Does it sound like I'm talking down to you? LOL. I'm far from uninformed when it comes to guitars. KMA.
@@gnm109 No serial number. Blacked out information on the inside. atypical design features. Crude repair attempts. "Clearly built in the Martin factory", according to respected international Martin specialist GNM109, who saw the logo on the headstock. Big thumbs up for your expertise.
Is there any laminate back or sides? This guitar sounds dull and kind of muddy, no open B or E strings ringing. The chords you are playing are not the right ones to hear a D18, better play the open G chord C and D, the cowboy chords.
That's exactly what I was hearing. No pop to the trebles at all.
I own a 1977 D18 that I bought new. They DID NOT have a truss rod back then. Martin was not convinced that the truss rod was a good addition yet. Mt guitar needs its neck reset also. The wood still rings very well but I'm old and it's difficult for my hands.
@@bobhun7585 I believe that Martin's did have a truss rod, but not adjustable ones until 1895.
I have a D76 Bicentennial model that has a non-adjustable truss rod. I bought it new, it's had 46 years of good playing and the neck is as true as the day it was new.
What gauge strings do you use on your D18? Martin recommend 13s on D guitars and that's what I've always used, never any other gauge. Also, one of my idiosyncrasies is that when I restring I only take off one string at a time to maintain. good tension. Perhaps I am strange but something I do works, because I've never had a neck reset and it certainly doesn't need one!
Sounds like China.
You really should do more research before jumping on here and making these claims. That's a pretty beat up guitar with no provable history. Maybe worth $900 even with it being a Martin R&D guitar. It's not a "salesman sample", wherever you got that from.
It's absolutely a salesman example. I played up the other opportunities but it's a cool example of a time when Martin had to beat the street to get buyers and more dealers.
You need to just get rid of this thing. Just watch Money Pit, don't live it.
If it was returned back to the shop in the 80's it would have been euthanized. Save the whales and the guitars...
Very muddy sounding.
Doesn't sound right . Not a good sound.