Martin HD-35 Nancy Wilson Signature Guitar Edition
PROMO GIRLS: You're watching Gearwire.Com. [LAUGHING]
DICK BOAK: So, I’m holding the Nancy Wilson Signature Model. This is a D-35, an HD-35 Nancy Wilson, and I met her several years ago at one of the NAMM shows in Anaheim. And I was struck first by what a beautiful woman she is, it’s hard not to fall in love with her, and second,by just her incredible charisma and her talent. She is a great songwriter, a tremendous performer, and with her sister Ann, they’ve, you know, just really nailed it. They’re out on tour now as a matter of fact.
As we started to work on the guitar, Nancy had a lot of ideas. She wrote many of her songs, most of her songs on her Martin D-35 and also used it on stage. So, we started with that as a basic format. Nancy is a Pisces, and she liked the idea of a Pisces/Yin-Yang symbol, and because of Heart we chose special pretty rare heart abalone, red heart abalone pearl with little coral eyes. She loved the inlay.
We asked her for her signature because we usually put the artist signature at the last fret. She signs her name with a little heart with wings, and we executed that also in mother of pearl and coral. And in selecting tone woods, we had a really lovely batch of figured heart bubinga, a very dense projective wood, and the combination of tone woods on this guitar just makes for a tremendously powerful stage instrument. We sent her the first prototype and she emailed me back right away. She said she’s still pinching herself, and a couple of weeks after that she called and wanted to get a second guitar for her sister Ann’s birthday. We shipped the guitar out and they had a party of about a hundred people with all the members of the band and all the management and crew and presented the guitar to Ann, and apparently it was quite an emotional presentation. Ann cried. Very special for us. Both guitars now are equipped with electronics so they can be used both on the tour and Heart is actively touring and just tearing it up.
So, this is one of my favorite projects and I’m thoroughly in love with her. She’s married to Cameron Crowe though and I don't think she’s going to be leaving him. Nancy Wilson.





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