Martin’s D-35 simply should not have worked. It’s three-piece back was designed not for any musical purpose but for a pragmatic business reason, as a solution to the dwindling availability of large pieces of Brazilian rosewood.

The suggestion came from Bob Johnson, Martin’s computer engineer, a man with no background in guitar design or production. Against all odds, the guitar with the three-piece back sounded good – not as boomy as Martin’s D-28 but still with the resonance that players would expect from a rosewood-body guitar. With the extra labor required to join three pieces rather than two, the D-35 was more expensive to make than the D-28, and Martin gave it a bound fingerboard so that it would look more expensive, too (although it did not get the abalone soundhole ring that earlier 30-series Martins had).

The D-35 debuted in 1965, and by 1970 it was selling as well as the venerable D-28. Although the three-piece back concept has not successfully migrated to other body sizes, the D-35 remains a mainstay of Martin’s current dreadnaught line.