Posted by Ken
on 6/9/2009, 2:00 pm
Hi Folks,
As a follow-up to a thread regarding the Martin Guitar's specification designation of: "Neck Material: Select Hardwood" for many of its models, the following answers were given to a questioner on the Acoustic Guitar Magazine's online forum moments ago by Martin's Dick Boak:
Robert,
Because of increasing difficulties with the availability of genuine mahogany and the likelihood that mahogany will be further restricted by CITES, a decision was made to specify "Select Hardwood" for the neck wood, thereby giving greater flexibility to production to use whatever species is currently available. Typically, the HD-35 will have either genuine mahogany or Spanish cedar (often with glued headstock wings) for the neck these days, though it may be necessary to add other species like African "mahogany," naytoh or sapele in the future. I have tried to champion calling out the exact species that appears as the neck wood, but the problem is that if changes occur due to availability and we put the new species in the specs, people with instruments that precede the change will get wrong information. Unfortunately, it's more complicated than it appears, hence "Select Hardwood." I wish there were a better way!
dick boak
Hi Robert
The reason your HD-35 has a 3-piece goes back to the mid-1960s, when Martin introduced the D-35. At the time, the company was using Brazilian rosewood for the backs and sides of ALL its rosewood guitars (those in Style 21 and higher). But supplies of Brazilian rosewood were running out, and the size of the rosewood logs Martin was able to get were smaller. The solution was to introduce a D model with a 3-piece back, so the company could make a big guitar from smaller rosewood logs. At that time, Dreadnoughts represented a vast majority of Martin's guitar sales.
On the neck wood issue, I believe that in 2005 all HD-35 models still had genuine South American mahogany necks, although Martin started using Spanish cedar for necks on lower models like the DM in 1999. South American mahogany trees have been so extensively harvested that this species, like Brazilian rosewood, will probably be on the endangered species list in the next few years. Spanish cedar, btw, is a wood Martin used for necks on its guitars up until around 1916, when it began to use mahogany. Martin also uses cherry for necks, and has used other woods as well, which is probably why it now prefers to list the neck material as "select hardwood" rather than the actual species.
dick boak
Like many of you, I can now sleep better at night knowing what's going on over to Martin and perhaps other guitar makers too.
Regards,
Ken
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