Dreadnought (guitar type)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dreadnought is a type of acoustic guitar body developed by guitar manufacturers C.F. Martin & Company. The Dreadnought style has since been copied by other guitar manufacturers and is now a common style of guitar body. Dreadnought is sometimes misspelt as "Dreadnaught".
The dreadnought guitar body is deeper and larger than most other guitars that existed at the time of its creation. The guitar was named after the battleship HMS Dreadnought, which was considerably larger than existing battleships.
Martin Dreadnought guitars are also known as "D-size" guitars. Martin Dreadnought guitars have model numbers consisting of "D-" followed by a number, such as "D-18" and "D-45".
[edit] History
The Dreadnought style was originally developed in 1916 and was manufactured by Martin specifically for retailer the Oliver Ditson Company. These early Dreadnought guitars carried the "Oliver Ditson" brand.
In 1931, Martin began producing Dreadnought guitars carrying the Martin name. The first two models were the D-1 and D-2.
