Martin D-45 1933 as a new instrument. And if you buy one here in the States, you get a lifetime warranty, which you’ re not going to get with a used or vintage guitar. I have tremendous respect for old guitars— and I’ m not sure exactly when a guitar stops being“ used” and becomes“ vintage.” When they’ re right, they’ re incredible. But many of them carry long histories.
PROJECT 91
Martin D-45 1933 as a new instrument. And if you buy one here in the States, you get a lifetime warranty, which you’ re not going to get with a used or vintage guitar. I have tremendous respect for old guitars— and I’ m not sure exactly when a guitar stops being“ used” and becomes“ vintage.” When they’ re right, they’ re incredible. But many of them carry long histories.
With Project 91, the story is straightforward: we located documented Brazilian rosewood, and it felt appropriate to create new versions of the pre-war D-45s we originally built.
Still, someone might look at this and say,“ Why not just buy the real thing?” First of all, these are real things, too! This is not a Chinese knockoff of a pre-war D-45 …
Exactly. And beyond that, a pre-war D-45 is increasingly impractical as a working instrument. If you own one, you might play it— but you probably shouldn’ t. You definitely wouldn’ t tour with it. I’ m not sure you’ re taking one to a bluegrass festival and jamming in the parking lot at three in the morning!
One of the interesting aspects of Project 91 is that each new instrument is tied to its historical predecessor by serial number. How exactly did you accomplish that? We have the records, and we’ ve had the opportunity to study some, though not all, of the pre-war D-45s. What we’ re really doing is taking everything we believe we know and asking: how faithfully can we recreate what was built back then? The challenge is that the historical records weren’ t nearly as detailed as what we maintain today. And to
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