This 15 1/2-inch-wide Dreadnought guitar weighs just 4.90 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Laminated spruce top with Indian rosewood back and sides, three-piece back with herring-bone backstrpes. Mahogany neck, ebony fretboard with 20 frets and inlaid pearl star position markers. Six-ply (black/white/black/white/black/white) top binding, triple-ply white/black/white binding on the back. Herringbone soundhole ring. Headstock with gold "C F Martin & Co./Est. 1833" decal and inlaid pearl 'American Eagle'. Individual Grover Roto-Matic tuners with half-moon metal buttons. Black plastic pickguard. White bone bridge on a rosewood base with Martin white pins with black dots. Brass plate on neckblock with This guitar is in mint condition. Housed in its original blue hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.50).

This is one of Martin's first attempts at producing a guitar that not only is a limited edition, but incorporates the best of several Martin traits ... the awesome herringbone inlay around the soundhole and between the three-piece rosewood back. The combination of the D-28 style neck, and D-35 body and construction. A players guitar, and a collectors dream. The only Martin to have the stars inlay, the eagle in the headstock and the bicentennial gold-plated plaque on the inside with #1338 of 1976 pieces made from 1975 through 1976 and the regular serial number 375538.

In 1931, Martin began making its big Dreadnought guitars under its own name, adding the letter D to its model code. Only the D-18 and D-28 were offered at first, with the D-45 added shortly after. Introduced in 1955, the D-21 combined the looks of a D-18 with the rosewood sound of the D-28. The D-21 was discontinued in 1969. The last Brazilian rosewood Martin was serial number "254498" -- this guitar, with serial number "254519," is one of the last D-21s and one of the only ones made of Indian rosewood. "In 1969 Brazil put an embargo on rosewood logs, and guitar-quality wood was no longer available in quantity. That year Martin switched to Indian rosewood" (Walter Carter, The Martin Book, p. 56).

The D-28, D-21, and D-18 Dreadnoughts are described in a late-1950s Martin catalog: "The extra wide and deep body produces a tone of great power and smoothness, especially fine for radio or television work." The D-28 ("Rosewood body, spruce top, ivoroid edges, mahogany neck with steel T-bar, ebony fingerboard and bridge, wide frets, ivory nut and saddle, highly polished") is listed at $250, the D-21 ("The same model with dark bindings, plainer inlays, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, black pins") is listed at $200, and the D-18 ("Same size, mahogany body, spruce top, mahogany neck with steel T-bar, rosewood fingerboard and bridge") is listed at $150. (Jim Washburn and Richard Johnston, Martin Guitars, p. 158).