Martin D-28 John Lennon 75th Anniversary Acoustic – Now Sold

This is the Martin D-28 John Lennon 75th Anniversary Acoustic. It was limited to only 75 manufactured worldwide, to commemorate John Lennon’s 75th Birthday. It arrived here at Modern Music this week at a retail price of £9000.00 and was instantly sold to one of our customers. We think it’s great that a guitar of such rarity and value can be sold in Cornwall, and shows the strength of our local love for music. Modern Music will always strive to bring these interesting and rare guitars to Cornwall, which allows our local customers to purchase guitars of this rarity without having to visit any other retailer in the UK.

Here’s what Martin say: “To commemorate John Lennon’s 75th Birthday, this model is limited to only 75 instruments. This amazing Dreadnought will be highly sought after for many years and is sure to be a wonderful addition to any guitar enthusiast’s collection. A solid Adirondack spruce top with Vintage Tone System is combined with Madagascar rosewood back and sides for a strong and powerful bass resonance – the back being inlaid with HD-28 style zig-zag peace sign marquetry. The Madagascar rosewood headplate is adorned with John Lennon’s famous self-portrait illustration that rests beneath the Martin script logo. This beautiful mother-of-pearl, John Lennon themed design is inlaid throughout this model to make this a truly unique instrument. The interior label is personally signed by C. F. Martin IV and numbered in sequence with the edition total 20 of 75.”

For more details click here

Modern Music Custom Designed Handmade Brazilian Rosewood Acoustic Guitar – Now Sold

This is a Modern Music/Andy Pascoe Custom Designed Handmade Acoustic Guitar. It was made to our specifications by local guitar luthier Martin Cole. It is different to anything he had made before or since, it is a complete “One Off”. The project was started in February 2008 and it took a year to track down the rare woods from the wood yards across America and to arrange the various paperwork needed to ship rare woods overseas. Another year followed with the making and deliberation over the various aspects of the guitar. Andy had certain ideas of what he wanted, and with Martin Cole’s luthier skills the guitar was finished in March 2010.

The playability and sound is just stunning, as you would expect from a guitar of this quality. It also looks a million dollars. The body is loosely based on a Martin D-45, but the neck is slim and based on a Gibson J-45. The top is Adirondack Spruce and the back and sides Brazilian Rosewood. The fingerboard is Ebony with snowflake inlays. Other features include Abalone inlay around the body and sound hole, top of the range Gotoh 510 tuners and aged toner on the sound top. The guitar is complete with a top of the range Martin Deluxe Acoustic Hard Case.

This Item has now been Sold.

Contact us on 01872 271701, email us here or enquire in store for more details.

Original 1968 Gibson Hummingbird Acoustic – Now Sold

This is an Original 1968 Gibson Hummingbird Acoustic which has been shipped over from Andy’s friend and vintage guitar contact Crawford in Nashville, Tennessee USA.

This beautiful Gibson Hummingbird is in 100% original condition from the golden years of Gibson production. These guitars were produced from 1960 onwards and this one is a 1968 in lovely condition. It is extremely light-weight and has that sweet, lush tone these guitars are famous for. It is definitely a collector’s piece as well as a wonderful playing guitar.

This Original 1968 Gibson Hummingbird Acoustic Features:

A Solid Spruce Top with Mahogany Back & Sides with rare Natural finish, Gold double line Kluson-Deluxe tuners, Parallelogram pearl inlays and Original rosewood adjustable bridge. It would be difficult to find a better example of this fabulous, much-sought after Gibson Acoustic.

This Original 1968 Gibson Hummingbird Acoustic is in lovely condition with no breaks, repairs or major damage anywhere. It has a “2” under the serial number (Factory second due to a finish flaw) but, except for a couple of tiny dings on the side and one small top ding, it would be considered Near Mint. It’s SUPER clean with no issues and we cannot see any flaws in the finish to warrant it being a factory second. It also includes its original period correct late 1960’s Gibson hardshell case in very clean condition. The case also has a sticker from the Ernest Tubb Record Store – a little bit of Nashville history. A Great Investment!

Our Special Price Only £3199.00 – This Item Has Now Been Sold

Contact us on 01872 271701, email us here or enquire in store for more details.

Original 1951 Gibson CF-100E Electro Acoustic – Now Sold

This is an original very rare and hard to find 1951 Gibson CF-100E Electro Acoustic.

The Gibson CF-100 was only available between 1950 and 1959, this was the first Gibson flat top with a cutaway (in a Florentine design) and the body dimensions are also the same as the Gibson LG series. This is a superbly crafted all solid wood acoustic guitar with X-bracing. It features scalloped top braces and tall, thin back braces. It also features a gorgeous Cremona Sunburst Spruce top with Honduras Mahogany back & sides. The Brazilian rosewood fingerboard is complimented by white binding and is in nice condition, it has 14 frets to the body and 20 frets in total.

Gibson produced two versions of the CF-100. The Standard Acoustic CF-100 was introduced in 1950 and the Electro Acoustic CF-100E followed in 1951. The “E” stood for Electric and included a Gibson P-90 pickup mounted close to the end of the fretboard. The Gibson P-90 singlecoil pickup produces a nice rounded warm tone, both acoustic and jazzy and stands up well against the modern pickups of todays Acoustics.

This Gibson CF-100E is a unique sounding instrument. It produces a full bodied surprisingly big sound with great projection both acoustic and amplified. It is in excellent condition and is exceptionally clean for its age. There are a couple of well repaired back cracks and a hairline crack on the headstock, but these have been checked over by our guitar luthier and are nothing to worry about. It also comes with a hard shell case of a later period. 

POA – Contact us on 01872 271701, email us here or enquire in store for more details – This Item Has Now Been Sold

PRS JA-15 Hollowbody Electric – Now Sold

The result of a collaboration between Paul Reed Smith and Paul Jackson, Jr., the JA-15 was originally designed with Jazz musicians in mind. It was soon realised that with several new innovations, it was no surprise rockers are loving it too. Features include a pattern neck shape, 57/08 pickups, a two-piece adjustable bridge, and V12 finish. The warmth of the spruce top paired with the high-end clarity of the figured maple back creates a resonance that is balanced with tonal clarity, and the simple control layout makes the JA-15 an absolute joy to play. A semi-hollowbody electric guitar that’s perfect for jazz, but can also handle any style you throw at it.

This PRS JA-15 is Pre-Owned but in near mint condition and also includes a PRS Deluxe Hard Case.

Full detailed specification here

RRP £5000+ – Our Special Price Only £2999.00 – This Item Has Now Been Sold

Contact us on 01872 271701, email us here or enquire in store for more details.

Original 1967 Martin D-35 Acoustic – Now Sold

This is an Original 1967 Martin D-35 Acoustic which has been shipped over from Andy’s friend and vintage guitar contact Crawford in Nashville, Tennessee USA.

This Original 1967 Martin D-35 Acoustic Features:

All original extremely rare solid Brazilian Rosewood Back and Sides with a Solid Spruce Top. This Martin D-35 is an earlier 1967 model that still has the original tortoise shell pickguard. It includes a great sounding Piezo pickup installed with input jack at the strap button. The braces have been scalloped to further improve tone, it has an older refret with the correct size wire, and two repaired top cracks (one typical pickguard crack, and another crack going from the bridge to the bottom) both of these cracks have been professionally repaired. The action is great and this guitar plays very easily. The tone is very fine and above average for a late 1960’s Martin D-35. It also includes a non-original but fitted hardshell case. A Great Investment!

Our Special Price Only £3850.00 – This Item Has Now Been Sold

Contact us on 01872 271701, email us here or enquire in store for more details.

Martin D-41 Purple Cocobolo Acoustic – Now Sold

This is the Martin D-41 Purple Cocobolo Acoustic. It is limited to only 50 manufactured worldwide, and it’s the only one that’s been made available to the UK so far. It arrived here at Modern Music last week at a retail price of £9200.00 and was instantly sold to one of our customers. We think it’s great that a guitar of this rarity and value can be sold first in Cornwall, and shows the strength of our local love for music. Modern Music will always strive to bring these interesting and rare guitars to Cornwall, which allows our local customers to see guitars of this rarity firsthand before anyone else in the UK.

Features Include: Richly coloured Cocobolo back, sides, and headstock – A premium grade Adirondack spruce soundboard with scalloped 5/16” width Martin X-bracing, and Style 41 inlay around the perimeter of the top and circumference of the rosette – The black pickguard as well as the ebony fingerboard and bridge are all inlaid with an artistically rendered and dramatic Purple Martin motif – The interior label is personally signed by C. F. Martin IV and numbered in sequence with the edition total 19 of 50.

For more details click here

Martin D-28GE Golden Era Brazilian Rosewood Acoustic – Now Sold

The Martin Golden Era models revisit the specs that made the pre-war Martin “Golden Era” Guitars so special, from bracing to materials and also add a few minor modern-day enhancements.

We sold this Martin D-28GE Golden Era approximately 10 years ago and we have now taken it back into stock via a trade in. We are delighted to have it back as it is almost impossible to find a second hand D-28 Brazilian Rosewood Golden Era for sale these days. The new price for a Golden Era is up around the £10,000 mark but Martin are not making them any more, owing to the rarity of Brazilian Rosewood.

This is still probably the best acoustic guitar we have ever offered for sale in 30 years of trading. They don’t make them like they used to? Well this one they did! Made as in the “Golden Era” of Martin Guitars, with Adirondack spruce top, and rare (beautifully figured) Brazilian Rosewood back and sides. It also features scalloped forward shifted bracing of that period. This Guitar is complete with a top of the range Martin Deluxe Acoustic Hard Case.

This guitar features all the advantages of modern guitar building such as an adjustable truss rod but still is in the main, hand-crafted meaning you get the best of both worlds.

The sound is wonderful and will continue to improve with age. A real vintage Golden Era 1930/40’s Martin D-28 would cost between £20,000 to £40,000 making this rare Limited Edition reissue is a superb investment which will only increase in value.

Contact us on 01872 271701, email us here or enquire in store for more details.

Original 1959 Fender Stratocaster – Now Sold

This is a genuine original 1959 Fender Stratocaster ser no: 40302. It has a great history, which I think is important when purchasing this sort of vintage guitar. We know most of the history apart from about the first ten years of the guitars life. It was for many, many years part of the private collection of a leading vintage guitar dealer in the States. He professionally re-finished the body and sold it to Howard Leese, lead guitarist with Paul Rogers and Heart. On one occasion it was apparently used on MTV in a video with gold hardwear installed for the session. Howard traded it in for a 59 sunburst Les Paul with a dealer and through a friend it came to us. This guitar is a player as well as a collector’s item. The body, as already mentioned, has been professionally re-finished in Lake Placid Blue with a gold anodized pickguard. Pick-ups, bridge, knobs, switch tips and pick up covers are all original, but pots, cap, pickguard screws and backplate have been replaced. The neck is all original and dated January 59 with newer Kluson single line machine heads. The back of the neck has been played smooth or had the lacquer beautifully buffed to satin, no staining on neck but not re-finished. Very cool and unusual neck shape, sort of flat V, like 59’s had, fits the hand like a glove rather than a club. The guitar is a beautiful 9.9 condition, plays lovely, and is just stunning, it comes complete with a black Fender 60’s no-logo case.

  • CONDITION: Excellent.
  • BODY: Alder.
  • NECK: Maple.
  • F/BOARD: Maple.

Our Special Price Only £5250.00 – This Item Has Now Been Sold.

Original 1960 Fender Stratocaster – Now Sold

This beautiful, largely original Fender Stratocaster was originally owned (we were told) by Stan Webb of ‘Chicken Shack’ fame, who used it along with his Gibson Les Paul’s through the 60’s/70’s and possibly 80’s. It was professionally refinished to a lovely Selmer/Fiesta red in the late 70’s early 80’s (again the date we were given), and displays the lovely patina and cracking that occurs on these vintage instruments with age. In order to verify the history we contacted Stan Webb and he confirmed that he owned two pre-CBS Strats, one in Fiesta Red that he traded in 1965, the other in a Brown wood or Sunburst (he thinks) re-finish which had a toggle switch fitted, he used that one at the Pop Proms in the Albert Hall and later sold it on to Robert Plant. Either one could be this guitar, but it is most likely the Brown wood/Sunburst finish which later went on to be re-finished again to Fiesta Red, and would also tie in with the addition of a toggle switch. It was bought by its last owner in 1997 from Phil Harris, a Kent-based Christies vintage guitar consultant and very well known vintage guitar hire company owner (http://www.harris-hire.co.uk/) who has both hired to and maintained instruments for Mark Knopfler among other artists. Phil writes a monthly column on vintage guitars in Guitar and Bass Magazine, and has provided the history of the guitar up until this point. The guitar was hired and used on many recording projects on the London A-list recording scene in the 90’s, and is a wonderful collector’s piece as well as player’s guitar, having a particularly twangy vintage bridge pickup tone and smooth neck pickup from its original black bottom pickups. Since 1997, it has only ever been set up and serviced by Tom Mates of Bermondsey, London, Eric Clapton’s legendary guitar technician and luthier. The following is an inventory of what we believe to be original and non-original parts, and other essential information about this Stratocaster Serial Number – 50304 printed on the bottom of the neck plate (as per historical accuracy for some instruments in 1959-60).

Neck date 5/60 – penciled onto neck below truss rod screw at body end

Original Parts:
Body, Neck, Green guard and foil insulation underneath, bridge, pickups, jack plate, tone and volume controls, string tree, tremolo bar, neck plate, switch tip, two x pots no: 304-5946 (dates 46th week of 1959). some frets are possibly original, the fret bottoms do not break through the rosewood slab board and were fitted sideways into the fret slots rather than hammered from above.

Non-Original Parts:
Re-finish from possibly (slight signs in body cavities) Brown or Sunburst. Date: (we were told) Late 1970’s – early 1980’s?.
Kluson tuners vintage re-issues, Fender decal, neck re-finish, 1x pot and some wires, three way switch.
It is believed that a parallel or boost toggle switch was fitted to the guitar in the 60’s/70’s evidenced by a small (8mm or so) restored circular hole where the piece of green guard has been kept and replaced and this looks entirely unobtrusive and in no way affects the playability of the instrument.

Sound and summary:
The guitar sounds rich, partly from the rosewood neck, which somewhat darkens and adds complexity to the tone. These guitars do not sound like modern day Stratocasters; they have a vibrancy, age and up front sound which is different to the reissues or replicas. When I recently compared this to a USA made 1960 specific reissue, I was surprised at how different they sounded! Modern Stratocasters have all the ‘classic’ twangs, smoothness and out of phase sounds, but they all sound similar! This guitar sounds vintage, and its out of phase sounds are deeply lovely, and the outrageous twang of the bridge pickup is much more aggressive and biting than any modern Stratocaster.
The neck is an extremely thin D which is a well known phenomenon on Stratocaster guitars throughout 1959-60. They became more baseball bat shaped in 1962, and this guitar has none of that feel, having instead a lovely, narrow, fast playing D shape which would suit any style. This has what is believed to be the original ‘home-built-for-the-British-Market’ case, though I have no authenticity for this. It is a heavy 1960’s blue vinyl covered case with white fur lining and compartment. The guitar is also supplied with a Hiscox Stratocaster case. Our asking price is considerably lower than the market value.

  • CONDITION: Excellent.
  • BODY: Alder.
  • NECK: Maple.
  • F/BOARD: Rosewood.

Our Special Price Only £7000.00 – This Item Has Now Been Sold.