Martin

Ok, when I as 11... waaaaay back in 1984, my mother found a guitar at a yard/garage/attic sale and bought it for $25. Admittedly, it was in terrible condition, hence the price, but it was, remarkably enough, playable...at least for a novice.  When I was 22, I had it restored and refinished by a professional luthier.  It's a Martin 00-18 and some years ago, I learned one can trace any Martin guitar by looking up the serial number stamped into the neck block. My 00-18's serial number is 245925, meaning is was built in 1969.  
Now....what brings this up is this. In a previous Off topic thread I created, I posted a video by Don McLean on the history of banjos. I then came across another Don McLean video featuring his love affair with Martin Guitars . I'm a bit ambivalent about this video.
Here's the video:
and here's my ambivalence-  McLean's Martin of choice is the D-28 which I've played before and found it has a good sound but felt less comfortable than my 00-18. It also has a longer scale length and felt harder to fret.  McLean likes to use steel fingerpicks (for volume) and listening to him play on this video, I thought they gave the strings a very tinny sound that I didn't care for.  He played a version of Buddy Holly's sweet song "Everyday" and in my opinion, totally ruined it. But someone else might like it, who knows?  Anyway, my point is that his reverence for the D-28 seems unjustified on the basis of this demonstration.  But, as I said, my minor personal experience with a D-28 is that they have a good sound. It may be the fingerpicks that turn me off but an acquaintance of mine plays only using steel fingerpicks and his playing doesn't affect me that way.

I came across a video of someone extolling the wonders of the Martin D-45 1936 authentic replica.  It was interesting to learn the lengths Martin went to order to duplicate the 1936 model (of which only 2 were made in 1936) exactly as the originals, and the $49,999 price tag reflects that.  The guy in the video was super excited about it. I know if I had the chance to play something that expensive, I pass on it because I'd be too nervous. The D-45 has a nice sound, and the sound one hears in the video far exceeds that in McLean's D-28 video, but the price is justified only by the manner it was created and not by any super sound improvement. If you watch the video, note that he doesn't start playing until slightly after halfway through.

Now, I looked for a video of a 1969 00-18 (my model) and the best I could do is a 1968 00-18. I would guess hat there was little change during that one year difference -they look similar and the guitar in the video sounds a lot like mine. Notice it's a smaller bodied guitar which means less volume. 

I thought the sound comparisons were interesting.... also felt the 1968 00-18, probably considered the least among them, at least from the videos, sounds the best of the three.  Go figure.

Speaking of inexpensive.. early 70s

my dad had friend moving out 

town and needed money..

for less four hundred my dad 

got a fender amp and Gibson 

hollow body E335

which he still has 

LoL I did the math too 😅

47. My birthday's on Pearl Harbor Day (another math problem).

How much would that $400 be in today's currency?  

Batgirl  why don’t you create your own video of your instrument  to have a direct comparison.  I won’t hold my breath though…😁

That's neither in my skillset nor in my bucket list.

Q. When you hear a song on the radio can you distinguish what type of guitar wood is used? or brand of guitar used?  Once owned a Martin HD-28. very nice.

Nope.  Not at all.

Thanks

Like Vito Corleone. Mine is the day that circle was closed, Hiroshima day. I'm older, though.

Hiroshima Day.... ouch. 
Do you like mushrooms?