A Rare 1968 Martin D12-35 Twelve-String Guitar

This rare 15 3/4-inch-wide 12-string Dreadnought guitar weighs just 4.80 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 7/8 inches and a scale length of 25 inches. Brazilian rosewood back and sides with laminated spruce top, mahogany neck, and bound ebony fretboard with 19 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Slotted headstock with gold "C F Martin & Co./Est. 1833" decal. Waverly open-gear M-13 strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Ten-ply binding on the top and seven-ply binding on the bottom of the body. Soundhole rings in three sets of five-nine-five grouping. Three-piece back with a center wedge bordered by bookmatched, contrasting pieces separated by triple strips of maple and mahogany. Black plastic pickguard. White bone bridge on a rosewood base with Martin black pins with white dots. This guitar is exceptionally fine (9.00) condition, with just the absolute minimum of belt buckle rash on the back and a few small marks on the top. Housed in its original black hardshell case with green plush lining (9.00).

This is a spectacular sounding 12-string with a really wide and easy to play neck. It is one of the last of the Brazilian Rosewood guitars and has that wonderful "Old Martin" feel that only a nearly forty-year-old Martin can have.

"1965 was the first year of production for the D12-35. The first test model was called X12-35 #201943. In style and trimmings it was like its sister the D-35, but with a 12 fret construction and a wide neck for 12 strings. Some of the first D12-35 guitars had a solid head with 12 Grover Roto-matic machines. These proved quite heavy and the slotted head with M-13 Waverly open-gear machines was soon substituted. More recent examples of the D12-35 have imported German machines like those described on the newer D12-20 models" (Mike Longworth, Martin Guitars A History, p.55).