Which of the two did I put up for sale?
Ralf and TX got it right away..... my Martin custom order is up for sale.....not because it's less guitar than the F50R, but for financial reasons, etc, as I head into retirement with only two guitars to keep, I think I'd like to have one Rosewood and one Mahogany.....and for twice the money, I don't really see how the D28 gives me twice what I get from my F50R.....when I sold the F50R (and then missed it) I designed the Martin custom build to try to give me the tone I remembered from the F50R, and I do like the Martin dreads, so I figured this could be a killer combination.....and it turned out real fine...but if I only want one rosewood, for my budget (and since I got my original F50R back while waiting for my custom build) I just can't see replacing the F50R with the Custom.....if I had the money and my wife didn't have health issues I would not let this Martin out of my hands...it's that nice...I picked everything on that order to fit my playing style, and I believe I nailed it...it's a strummer's, flat picker's dream.....sometimes you just gotta let 'em go.....
jmascis.....hard to judge the "brightness" of this cocobolo because of the way I had it built.....I chose the rear shifted X bracing which diminishes the mid range scoop of rosewood...that, in itself, reduces the highs you hear because of the over all more even balance string to string, while maintaining the beautiful lows of a Martin dread.....then I had the Adi braces scalloped like the Golden Era Martins to keep the lows strong...then I went with European Swiss Spruce top instead of Adi...for an instant warmth to the tone, and sparkling highs, without waiting months or years to break it in.....(remember, they say the top is a good 75% of the tone of a guitar.....the coco B&S add volume, sustain, and note clarity/separation to the formula.....cocobolo is just another rosewood, more or less.....you pick up a good mahogany build and there is usually a defined mid range presence to it.....pick up a rosewood, and you usually have the classic lows and highs up front and the mids backed off.....that's what I do like about the way this custom order turned out...it's a rosewood dread that has the tone of mahogany and rosewood.....if I was to keep only one guitar, not the two I've described, it would be the custom, cuz it's a little bit of both.....but with two guitars, I can let the RW be all RW, and the Hog be all Hog! hope my rambling makes some sense to you.....
PTC Bernie.....not sure I understood your "vote"
richardp69.....go to Reverb, search "martin custom shop D28 cocobolo".....mine pops up and is the only one.....add the rear shifted and the swiss top and it's pretty rare....
thanks to all for the feedback so far.....