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Elvis' 1955 Martin D-28
Sometime after the 15th of June 1955 (approximately) Elvis replaced his 1942 Martin D-18 for a Martin D-28 (believed to be a 55 or 54) purchased at the O.K. Houck Piano Co. in Memphis. Sid Lapworth, who sold it to him seems to think it may have been a used instrument and can not be certain if he took the D-18 in trade for it*. One of the earliest pictures of him with one is at the Big D Jamboree in the Sportatorium in Dallas, TX on April 16, 1955.
Like the two Martin's he owned prior to this he used the stick-on letters spelling his name but positioned on the upper portion of the body diagonally above the sound hole. Not long after he also received and began using a custom made tooled leather cover with his name "Elvis Presley" blazoned across the front. According to Jimmy Rodgers Snow, Elvis had seen the one that his father, Hank Snow had and liked it. Hank had his made by a prisoner years earlier. Elvis' leather cover was made by Marcus Van Story in the basement of O.K. Houck's where he worked occasionally in the piano repair shop. One of the most famous pictures of Elvis with it and the leather cover was taken on July 31 in Tampa, Florida by William V, "Red" Robertson and has become known as the "Tonsil photo." Scotty has said that Elvis used this guitar most for performing and recording until he got him the J200 in October of 56. Though he began using the J200 in October, he used the D28 on occasion at least as late as November 23, 1956.
Like the D-18 that preceded it, it soon had excessive wear due to Elvis' aggressive strumming style (Note the broken strings in the "tonsil photo"). At some point it is evident that the leather around the sound hole was trimmed back due to interference with his strumming. Around the time that he started using the J200 the D-28 completely dropped out of sight and remains unaccounted for to this date. According to Jimmy Velvet however, the tooled leather cover had been in the attic of the home of Alan Fortas, Elvis' friend and bodyguard, but is believed to have been sold sometime before Alan's death and is now in Japan.
The Martin D-28 has a 40 1/2" total length, a 20" body length, 15 5/8"
body width and a 4 7/8" body depth. It features a solid
Mahogany neck, 20 fret Ebony fingerboard with a 25.4" scale
length, solid Spruce top, Rosewood back and sides, Ebony bridge, White Boltaron®
endpiece and binding, White/Black top and back inlay.
*Several photos exist of Elvis with a D-18 in 1956 from the 5th and 6th appearances on the Dorsey Brother's Stage show in NY in March, at the San Diego Arena on April 5 and with Liberace in Las Vegas in late April as well as other performances too that is not his 42 D-18 They appear to be the same guitar at those appearances though they bear no letters spelling "Elvis" which suggests he likely owned and traveled with second D-18 for a time while regularly performing with his D-28. It seems to always be held on with a knotted string as a strap.
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