MARTIN D35 Guitar review- Pictures and video

champion

New member
Martin D35- this piece came in and i took one strummed and I was like...wow ..this is a very open sounding , loud, responsive sounding guitar.. just the right amount of bass...mids...plus trebles...

the guitar was light compared to the HD28 I review..in fact way lighter.

If you read thru the web...many would say that the D35 are very bassy sounding guitars....I have done up a few D35 ...and they are not ...why is this so...

we start of with the top. A sitka spruce top and a normal X Bracing that is NON-SCALLOPED....then how can it be loud or responsive...this is where the clever Martin company does it...

instead of the usual 5/16 width braces...they reduced the width down to 1/4 bracing pattern and the braces are not scalloped. So there you have a double edged sword...the loud responsive tone due to the thinner width braces plus the non-scallop braces inparts a more articulate tone.

This is my experience after handling literially hundreds of guitars. I find that the Non-scallop braces guitar normally sound very tight at the start..like its been choke..sometimes no character at all...very much like an adirondack top spruce guitar...however..play that baby over time ( or Tonerite it) and when it opens up...you get a guitar with clear ringing trebles and the bass response is often loud but balance. That's what you will experience with the D35.

the backs are indian rosewood with a 3 piece back. Reason for using 3 pieces...coz in the 60s there were shortages of the Brazilian rosewood ..so instead of having two piece back...they used whatever they had and fitted 3 pieces in. so tradition lives.

Something to note about the backs. They are cut thinner so that explains why it weighs lighter than a HD28...when you use your index finger to tap the backs....beccause of the THINNER backs...after tapping it you will notice that the tap tone is at a higher pitch compared to a lower pitch on a HD28 which have thicker backs,...TRY IT ...

sitka top...indian rosewood with 3 piece back. Bound with white plastic bindings on the neck and body. Black pickguard .Grover Chrome tuners. dot fretboard inlays. Bone nut and saddle. I've fitted a LR Baggs RTS2 pickup on this D35 and it sounds great amplified.

Mike Myauni of CITY MUSIC says that the Martin D35 is his personal favourite sounding guitar followed by a Martin D28.

Enjoy the rest of the review..cheers Jarvis
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look at that beautiful 3 piece back...
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