Elvis Presley’s 1975
martin D- 28
BY CHRIS KIES
“Before Elvis, there was nothing,” declared John Lennon. “If there
hadn’t been Elvis, there wouldn’t have been
the Beatles.” While few would dispute
Presley’s place in pop-music history, Elvis
never had killer chops on the fretboard or
the ability to play any of his songs’ signature
riffs. Those duties were left to guitarists
like Scotty Moore, Jerry Reed, and James
Burton. However, that didn’t stop the King
from wielding a guitar onstage—though
sometimes he used it more as a prop than
an instrument. In either case, it was often a
Martin D- 28.
Shown here is Elvis Presley’s 1975 Martin
D- 28, serial number 369735. The guitar was
used by Presley during his last three years of
performing, including the King’s final concert at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis,
Indiana, on June 26th, 1977. Presley passed
away at his Graceland home just two months
after that final show, but this D- 28 didn’t
surface until 1982 when it was discovered
in an upstairs closet. In early 2011, the
Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix,
Arizona, acquired the D- 28 from Elvis Presley
Enterprises as part of the Elvis Presley exhibit
that opened in August of last year. But there
was a catch. The instrument was damaged
in several spots, and EPE asked the MIM to
restore the D- 28 to its former glory.
“It’s Elvis Presley’s guitar,” says Irene
Peters, Head Conservationist at the MIM. “I
YoutuBe it
During the restoration process on Elvis’
D- 28, the Musical Instrument Museum made
a video documenting the entire process.
Youtube search term: Elvis’ Last Concert
Guitar Martin D- 28
removed myself from that just a little bit so
I could actually focus on the work [laughs].”
Peters didn’t just put new strings on the
instrument and dust off the fretboard—she
gave it a thorough going over.
There was a diagonal break from the
nut to the back of the neck. Peters said
this made the instrument structurally
unstable and was the main reason EPE
asked the MIM to perform guitar surgery.
She cleaned the crack with compressed air
and glued it with a 1: 1 mixture of hide glue
and rabbit-skin glue before clamping it and
leaving to dry overnight.
Other big issues included several open
splits on the guitar’s top and sides. Peters used
balsa splints and glue to fill the large cracks
on the top of the guitar. After shaving the
splints and letting the glue dry overnight,
she carefully retouched them with watercolor
paint. Near the strap button on the guitar’s
side, the splits were much smaller and only
required an application of glue. Additionally,
the pickguard had curled up around its edges
because of the adhesive used during a previ-
ous repair, which was also partially smeared
over the pickguard. For this task, Peters made
deft use of a scalpel and dental tools to deli-
cately remove the old adhesive around and
underneath the pickguard until the edges
could lay flat.
A special thanks to Elvis Presley Enterprises and
Erin Kozak of the Musical Instrument Museum
in Phoenix, Arizona, for the opportunity to feature this fine instrument and its story.
Got some gear that would make a great Gear of
the month? then email pics and its story to us at
gotm@premierguitar.com.
