Blazer & Henkes D-28 Shadetop Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (2017), made in Tuebingen, Germany, serial # 540, sunburst top, natural back and sides finish, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, Alpine moon spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, Karura molded fiberglass hard shell case.
Based in Germany, luthier/historians Willi Henkes and Rudi Blazer together crafted fairly small numbers of exceptionally high grade American-style steel string guitars over the past few decades. Some players have opined that Blazer and Henkes built the very finest modern extrapolations of the most desired classic pre-war vintage flat top guitars. These are no longer available as production items as the team recently finished their final batch guitars and closed their shop, with the last orders taken in 2021.
Rudolph Blazer himself explained their process in an 2011 interview: "Our specialty is build guitars like they did in the '30s, right? So we use hide glue. We use a nitrocellulose finish. We use very light wood. And that makes them come out much like the '30s, and I guess that's what our customers really appreciate." He continued: "It's simply not possible these days to make guitars like they did in the '30s on a larger scale. So that's what we try to do, which has a lot to do with finding out how they did it. It's a science, actually."
This Brazilian rosewood shade-top D-28 certainly bears out this commitment to the science of reverse engineering pre-war flat tops; it is an unusually superb instrument in every way. The back and sides are beautifully grained Brazilian rosewood; the Alpine "Moon Spruce" top has a beautifully bookmatched tight grain and is finished in a lovely medium-dark shaded sunburst. The C-profile mahogany neck is superbly comfortable, "1937" style so somewhat chunkier feeling with a wider nut than many modern prewar Martin clones.
Every detail of this guitar is lovingly crafted to the highest standard, and we are extremely pleased to have this superb instrument in our showroom.
Overall length is 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 3/8 in. (645 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This guitar is not new, but shows only light signs of use with no major play wear and one small repair. There is a sealed grain split on the bass side of the back that does not visibly continue to the inside, just about 6 1/2" long. It is very neatly repaired with no finish fill or touchup added. There is one tiny dink into the finish just off the upper edge on the top. Apart from this there is very light scuffing and a few tiny dinks and that's about it. The frets show some minor wear in the lower positions, but play fine This is simply a fantastic playing and sounding rosewood Dreadnought, big and lush but with excellent detail to every note. We would have to rate this as one of the finest modern guitars of this type we have ever had the pleasure to handle. It comes with a deluxe Karura molded road case, showing some superficial wear. Overall Excellent - Condition.
