Welcome to our shop! Please note that most of our online inventory is for sale on Reverb, on our independent website, and in our brick & mortar showroom in Canton, Georgia (Canton Music Shoppe), and are therefore subject to be sold elsewhere. We try our absolute best to make sure our inventory listings are updated across all platforms, but there is a tiny chance something you are seeing has been sold. If you have questions, please feel free to give us a call: (678) 493-0570
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This item is preowned / used, but tested in shop to be fully functional unless otherwise noted in the description. Any case, box, manuals, or accessories included will be either shown in the photos or mentioned specifically in the description. Otherwise, you can assume they are not included.
NOTE: due to the valuable and vintage nature of this guitar, it is being sold AS-IS with no returns. Please ask all questions. If you would like to see more photos we will happily send them. Or, you can call the shop and we can do an in hand review to answer any questions.
Description:
Up for sale is a restored 1954 Martin D-18 Acoustic Guitar with a premium Calton hardshell case. This is an excellent playing and sounding vintage D-18. It is not a pristine or museum-grade collector piece, but it is a structurally addressed, highly playable example. It has recently received extensive professional restoration work from Southeast Guitar Repair in Georgia (more details below), and the result is a truly great player grade vintage D-18 with the dry, direct response and strong projection players look for in a well-aged mahogany Martin.
The D-18 features Martin’s traditional 14-fret dreadnought construction with a solid spruce top, solid mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, and a 25.4" scale length. The guitar retains what appear to be its original closed back Kluson style tuners that were period correct for 1954. It currently has excellent action and a healthy neck angle, suggesting that the neck was likely reset at some point in its life, though we do not have documentation confirming when or by whom that work was performed.
Recent professional restoration work completed by Southeast Guitar Repair in Georgia includes:
- Complete refret
- Top cracks professionally cleated
- Side separation repaired
- Fingerboard wear filled and corrected
- Fingerboard professionally radiused
- Full setup and playability work
The finish shows extensive checking along with numerous dings, scratches, marks, and impressions accumulated over more than 70 years of normal use. The restoration work was focused on structural integrity and playability rather than erasing the guitar’s age or cosmetic history. It now plays exceptionally well with great action and a strong neck angle, and it has the open, powerful sound expected from a well-played vintage D-18.
The included Calton hardshell case is a major upgrade and offers significantly more protection than a conventional wooden case. These cases retail for $1,500+ and are the top of the line option for serious collectors and artists.
Specs:
- Brand: Martin
- Model: D-18
- Year: 1954
- Type: Acoustic Guitar
- Body Shape: 14-Fret Dreadnought
- Top Wood: Solid Spruce
- Back & Sides: Solid Mahogany
- Neck Wood: Mahogany
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- Scale Length: 25.4"
- Nut Width: Approximately 1 11/16"
- Bracing: Period-Correct Non-Scalloped X-Bracing
- Tuners: Open-Back Tuners; Appear to Be Original
- Finish: Natural Gloss
- Handedness: Right-handed
- Box & Accessories: Calton Hardshell Case
- Condition: Excellent Restored Condition / Player Grade Cosmetically
- Test Notes: Professionally restored, fully refretted, set up with excellent action, and playing properly
Every instrument we sell is fully tested in our shop to ensure reliable performance, and optimal setup. Fretted instruments receive a full pro setup with fresh strings, polished frets, optimal truss rod relief, dialed in string action height and precise intonation (when applicable). This one’s clean, plays great, and is ready for the next player. If we are shipping it to you, trust that it will be packed securely and fully insured.
Domestic Shipping: for items not picked up in store, we are happy to ship them to your door! Most larger domestic packages ship UPS Ground fully insured. Smaller packages typically ship via USPS. We typically use brand new, high crush strength boxes and we pack very carefully. So, you can purchase with confidence that your item will arrive safely, and in the very rare cases where damage occurs we will work with the shipper to make it right.
International Shipping: we ship WORLDWIDE when we can (some countries have size limits for incoming packages). Please reach out for a shipping quote if you are interested in this item. Any shipping prices generated by our website, or by Reverb are just a placeholder so we can provide an accurate quote.
