A very, very special guitar. It was made in 1973 expressly for Jay Griffith, Martin’s International Sales Manager, as a gift from Jay to his daughter. At that time Martin had no custom shop and was not taking special orders of any kind from the public or from their dealers. To have this guitar made, Jay asked his friends in the production department to build him a unique version of a 000-28, which itself was a model that was not ordered very often at that time as a standard item. He requested extra-select woods and he most definitely got them. This guitar has some of the very best-looking dark, super-straight-grained Indian rosewood I’ve seen from Martin at all from that time period, and its Sitka spruce top is by far the finest and most evenly grained I’ve ever seen anywhere. Its general design and decorative features are standard (including American-made Grover Rotomatic tuning machines) but……the center back strip is the complex multi-colored one otherwise found only on style 45 Martins of the day. It is possible that this guitar was made from grade-45 woods throughout. I’ve asked my friends at Martin to research this guitar in their records but they could turn up no info on it. The Sherlock Holmes in me discerns the presence of some additional lacquer on the body, most definitely done at the Martin factory, but I can find no evidence of repairs of any kind. I inquired of Martin’s repair department but they had no record of it either; there was probably some minor work done as a personal favor to Jay and therefore no factory record, but I am quite satisfied that all is 100% as it should be and looking and playing and sounding like a million bucks. Make that two million bucks. It is in immaculate condition in every way, even still has its original 1973 Martin hard shell case in equally immaculate condition and it’s ready for a new home, yours. $4495 w/ohsc