Collectible Guitar C.F. Martin & Co. / Special Edition | Page 59

DON MCLEAN | BETWEEN THE STRINGS from fleeting glimpses on a small , black and white television screen , where you saw something being done that you heard on a record a million times but couldn ’ t figure out how it was done . All this contributed to a tremendous amount of imagination , and that imagination is what yielded the relationship . And when that relationship came to fruition , when you were finally able to afford that castle in the sky guitar , it was a magical moment .
I experienced that magical moment when I was just twelve years old . I grew up in New Rochelle , New York , where the only music store in town was the House of Music . You never saw a Martin guitar in New Rochelle — no one could afford one ; Martins were strictly for professionals . But one day I happened to be walking by , and that ’ s when I saw it in the window : a 000-18 , 14-fret orchestra model . And then I saw the headstock — that venerable , squared-off headstock bearing that Holy Grail of nameplates . I ’ ll never forget that moment . I had to have it . Now , $ 150 was a heck of a lot of money in 1958 — especially for a kid . You ’ d get fifty cents to mow a lawn . But that ’ s where it began .
By 1964 , I was finally able to afford a Martin D-28 — one of the best guitars I ever owned , and the one I had been working up to . With its Brazilian rosewood back and sides , it was absolutely gorgeous . I was married to that instrument . That guitar meant more to me than any woman , more than any physical thing in the world .
Elvis had a D-28 — a leather-covered one . I ’ m sure you ’ ve seen it in pictures ; it ’ s so strongly identified with him . That guitar was his jet engine , his way of getting traction on stage , and moving out of this life and into another world . And he ’ d take the audience with him . That was magic . That was an extraordinary relationship , and unfortunately , I don ’ t think it exists anymore . People are sadly deprived for want of that imagination , the hoping , and the belief in the instrument and what it could do — and where it could take you .
McLean ’ s original D-28
COLLECTIBLE GUITAR | 59