Mitch Corbin D18 #20 2012

This is an incredibly rare Mitch Corbin D18, #20. He has only built 27 instruments total, and if you research them, you will find that they are among the best prewar style D18s one can find. Mitch Corbin, if you don't know him, is a world renowned flat picker and has won numerous competitions including winning the National Flat Picking Championship and the Mandolin Championship in Winfield, KS in the same year. His father was a luthier and Mitch began building guitars in 1999. He is also great friends with Lynn Dudenbostel and has spent hundreds of hours learning from Lynn, hanging out in Lynn's shop, playing and studying Dudenbostel guitars.

This particular guitar D18 weighs 4lbs 3.4oz. It is built of Honduras mahogany, Adirondack spruce, and ebony. Finish is French polish. I used to own a genuine 1938 Martin D18 and as magical as that guitar was, I think I prefer this one. It has all the strengths the Martin had, while having greater balance. This one has both smoother and more present high frequencies and the bass, while very present, never overwhelms the other frequencies. The neck is a lovely V profile, nut is 1.75 inches. The truss rod works well. Setup was done by Portland Fret Works and the guitar has low, clean action all the way up the neck. The guitar responds to quiet playing and really loud playing with equal grace. I've tried to show all the dings and signs of use in the photos. All in all, the guitar looks great and the neck is pristine with no real fret wear. There was one 4 inch split in the mahogany grain close to the center of the guitar at the bottom of the back. It has been cleated and has been professionally stabilized.

I am primarily an electric player and bought this guitar to briefly enjoy then resell, but in the words of its last owner, an obsessive acoustic player, maker, and collector, "This guitar is absolutely amazing. Holds its own against the Martin D18 Authentic. This guitar has no weaknesses."

Mitch Corbin is now retired and has said that if he builds any more guitars he will only build them for his own use.

PS - A few days after I listed this, I put a new set of 13s on the guitar. It had had 12s. I now finally know what people mean when they call a guitar a canon. This guitar is so loud with 13s that I found it almost too loud to play at full volume when playing alone at home. Even at full volume it stays perfectly balanced and without overwhelming, boomy bass. I've played plenty of great dreadnoughts, but none that I've played barked like this one with 13s. Wow!