1946 Martin D-28 Herringbone Retop at GuitarHotline Unboxing and Demo 

This is really cool to see! Thanks for sharing

This was amazzzzzing🎉

More super cool stuff at Reno’s music… Gotta love it

Yeah, I'll take 6 of those....What a rich, bottom end!

Too cool

very cool, so the new top has rear shifted scalloped bracing and the original top has straight non scalloped but tapered braces. It would be interesting to hear the differences.

Great story and a wonderful full sound. Scalloped rear bracing 💡🤔

Sounds amazing!

Awesome to see, wondered all about this

T-I-double-D!!

These are always tough choices. Keeping everything original is always the optimal route but if doing so relegates the instrument to an “investment” or a static display then I just don’t get that. I was fortunate enough to get to play this prior to being sent to Martin. As I recall we capo’d it and then tuned it to pitch to keep the old top from exploding. You could hear what this guitar wanted to be but just didn’t have the backbone to pull off. From what I can tell this guitar is still somewhere between 70 to 80% original depending on if you go by surface area or weight…I guess. So, a decision had to be made. What a pity it would have been to put some more band aids on an inferior top that would have left it incapable of driving that 78 year old, old growth Brazilian all in the name of trying to hold some monetary value. There is a reason that these old Martins are some of the most sought after acoustic guitars, and it isn’t the Adi tops…it is that Dalbergia Nigra. People pay for it because it has proven over a very long time it is a superior tone wood. The only way the back and sides of this guitar, which were/are wholly intact with zero cracks, would be exploited to their full potential, was to put the right board on top. Torrefied Adirondack top and braces, rear shifted and scalloped with all hide adhesive. It is about as close as you can get to what was and it saved what was only a wall hanger if left untouched. The lightly applied aged finish preserves the idea of what this would have been if better cared for over the years. I think this reclamation is an homage to the craftsmen, long departed I’m sure, who built what is arguably the most iconic acoustic guitar in the world, the Martin D-28. Almost a hundred years after the first one shipped out of Nazareth, boutique shops are still chasing it. I’m sure there’s finer examples than this particularly one, but this one still lives mostly as it was and better than it could have been if left untouched. I can attest it is superior to anything they are putting out today. That is not a slight to the amazing guitars that Martin makes, but you just cannot make “old”…only time does that and 78 years has truly sweetened this instrument. People have transplants, why not guitars? I’m pretty sure this one still has some music in it. Thanks for sharing Dr. Welby. You and Martin did right by this box. Hope its owner can do the same.