Martin D-45 (2018) A Top of the Line Makeover

Flagship of Martin’s Standard Series, the D-45 (2018) sets a new standard

Vintage aesthetics combine with the High Performance neck

The written review of this new Martin D-45 (2018) will appear after I produce the other Winter NAMM Martin videos. Stay tuned!

2 thoughts on “Martin D-45 (2018) A Top of the Line Makeover

  1. I really enjoy your work. Thank you. I did subscribe to your website and wish you the best. Please keep up your good work.
    I love the song you play in this video, starting at 1:24, and would like to know its name and any other information you have to share about it. Is it one of your own originals? Anyway, I look forward to learning what you have to share, especially about this particular song.
    -Jeff Lindner
    – awaiting delivery of my new D-45 (2018); hopefully by my birthday on 10/13. 🙂
    ( I fretted a bit about the choice between the D-45 (2018) and the D-45V. It is still not to late to change my order. Do you have any thoughts about the relative merits of those two guitars? I prefer the appearance of the v’s fretboard, but worry a bit about the modified v neck vs the modified low oval neck. I would love to hear your thoughts.)

    1. Hello Jeff, and thanks for your comments and question.

      And happy birthday!

      The piece you refer to is called “Riding Back from Boston.” It and the other main selections appearing in my guitar video reviews can be heard in their entirety on my album, Lost and Haunted Ways. You can learn more about that at the link below.

      http://wp.me/P78eXU-6Y

      The one exception is the flatpicking bit, which is my solo from a version of Robert Burns’ “A Man’s a Man (for a’that)” that I perform with the Highland Shatners. And the little bits I improvise at the start and end of the videos are usually taken from one of my compositions as well.

      As for your query, now that the bracing is the same on these models I would say to go with your instincts about the neck.

      Other than the neck shape and nut width, the V model has grained ivoroid binding. The Antique White binding is more grayish than yellowed and looks more like the binding on Martins from the 40s and 50s.

      The fretboard of the D-45 was changed from the snowflake pattern in the late 1930s because it was considered out of date with the times, and seemed old fogey compared to the large hexagons, which came from their top of the line archtop models with Art Deco appointments made for the Jazz Age. I like both, but feel the hexagons make the fretboard a little less confusing, and they also look much better in person, as I believe you will see should you acquire a D-45 for your very own.

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