Even though at first glance he doesn't look like a Martin guitar, the Ditson 111 is indeed a Martin acoustic guitar. This guitar is a recreation of the first Dreadnought guitar ever built! The Ditson name comes from the distribution company that bore the same name. They mainly sold sheet music and instruments, and when Martin built the first Dreadnought, it was sold under the Ditson brand name. Martin was already building some guitars for the Ditson company to sell, but when the demand for larger and louder acoustic guitars arose, the Dreadnought was born.
The Ditson 111 is basically the blueprint for the legendary Golden Era guitars and sounds just as good. This reissue features an Adirondack spruce top with aging toner, coupled with mahogany back and sides and a 12-fret mahogany neck with a typical Modified V-shape and grooved headstock.
The Style 18-like features are paired with an elegant rosewood binding, a unique tortoise pickguard and an ebony pyramid bridge with long saddle. Typical of pre-1930 Martins, the grooved headstock features a beautiful piece of rosewood headstock overlay and engraved Waverly Sloane tuning machines with “ivoroid” knobs.