Midchuck hit it right on the head. I had a 000-28S (custom ordered by the guitar shop in California where I got it) from the early 70s. First played it, really, in the Grand Tetons where we were staying with a ranger friend for a couple of days. Couldn't get the darned thing to sound in tune! Decided it must be the cool night air, etc. Tried to play it for about a year. Finally gave up and had Ray Frank check it out for me. He discovered that the bridge saddle was almost 1.4 inch out of place! Martin wasn't interested in replacing it and having to refinish the entire face of the guitar. "We'd just adjust it," they told him when he called. Well, Ray split the bridge, and got its intonation almost acceptable. At least I could play it, since I never go above the third fret anyway. Rick would have been driven mad by it.

Anyway, I lived with the frustration for a wee while longer, then Michael Cooney offered to buy it from me as a back-up to a 000-28S that he owned. I grabbed his money (a small amount) and ran! Last summer, I asked Michael what had become of that guitar. He told me he had just sold it a few months before I asked -- to a Japanese collector for a $5000 ballpark figure!

Sandy (muttering under his breath)