There are high-end acoustic guitars and then there are guitars like Martin’s newly launched Project 91 series, a super-ambitious project that replicates the most sought-after instruments in the company’s history.
It is impossible to overstate just how big a deal this is. This is Martin making history in real-time, making 91 forensic replicas of its golden era archive specimens – and it has just unveiled the first four acoustic guitars in the series, a quartet of pre-war D-45s.
The asking price? A cool $150,000. It’s a lot of outlay. But we would bet good money that these one-of-one replicas will only appreciate in value, and whoever picks one up is going to have one stunning guitar.
“To me, Project 91 is recreating 91 of the greatest guitars ever built,” says Jason Ahner, museum and archives manager at Martin. “Going about it, we have limited information on a lot of these guitars, and so we’re trying to do our best to replicate how we think they would have been built back in the 1930s, early 1940s.
“If you try to get one of these guitars now, they’re insanely expensive. These are going to be pricey guitars, but they’re gonna be a lot less than an original pre-War D-45.”
Solid abalone with multi-stripe top inlays, grained Ivoroid binding tying it all together – and of course you’ve got the Abalone 45 star inlays on that ebony fingerboard.
The first four instruments comprise a pair of ‘small-body’ 12-fret 45s with 1933 and 1934 specs and a pair of ‘large-body’ 14-fret 45s from 1936, and show the subtle evolutions in a model that many – players and Martin employees alike – consider to be the finest model to come out of Nazareth, PA.
“The D-45 represents the absolute top of the line for Martin guitars,” says Dick Boak, former museum and archives director at Martin. “The amount of work, the amount of detail in laying not only the top sides, back, neck, headstock, but also around the edges of the neck, as well as the end piece – the tremendous amount of detail work just sets them apart from all the other instruments.”
Over the years, the Martin D-45 has been played by the likes of John Mayer, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Steve Miller, but it’s history goes back to the undisputed star of the stage and screen in the 1930s, Gene Autry. Ahner says the very first D-45 was made for the Singing Cowboy. He liked a bit of flash.
The 45 has always been the culmination of our best work.
However, the DNA of the guitar is a little older. Martin’s executive chairman, Chris Martin IV, says the 45 evolved out of the custom appointments people were requesting on their smaller-bodied 42s.
“The style 45 goes back to, I believe, 1902, and it was kind of a custom order,” says Chris Martin IV. “We had been making 42-style guitars, small, right? The dreadnought did not exist in 1902, but people wanted fancy guitars, and so we would put all the pearl on the front.
“And I believe the first couple of 45-style guitars were basically modified style 42 guitars, where we put the pearl along the sides, and the back, and around the heel, the end piece, and people were like, ‘Oh, that’s really attractive.’ The 45 has always been the culmination of our best work.”
“There was a certain magic about guitars that were built in this building at North Street here,” says Boak. “Maybe the workers weren’t even aware of it, but they were at the top of their game, building incredible instruments.”
Project 91 is in keeping with Martin’s year so far. Yes, it has been offering acoustics at various price points, teaming up with Jason Isbell for one high-end, one accessibly priced signature guitar (and a set of acoustic guitar strings), making a pair of Johnny Marr signature models – one with a seventh string (an octave G) – but most notable, most expensive, were those it unveiled at NAMM 2025, with its stunning, ornate D-3 Millionth celebrating the production of its three-millionth acoustic.
With its abalone sycamore tree inlay on the back and on the fingerboard, it’s one of those instruments for which the price is available upon request.
Also marking those moment in Martin history was the D-300, a $300,000 collector’s item, limited to 30 units worldwide, again, ornate, opulent, a museum piece, it features a ruby-inlaid pickguard map.
For more on Project 91, head over to Martin.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
