Here is a rare and beautiful 1989 Martin Custom Shop D-45 in Brazilian rosewood with an Alpine spruce top, built for Elliot Easton of the Cars. The Brazilian rosewood is gorgeous, straight-grained, the kind of Brazilian you rarely see these days, at any price. The neck is a custom carve based on a pre-war 34-35 Martin with specs provided by Elliot. The bracing is scalloped, 45-style inlay in the Brazilian veneered headstock with a custom Elliot Easton signature inlay by Dave Nichols, 45-style snowflake inlays on the fingerboard, gold Gotoh “waffle back” tuners, ivory nut and belly bridge with an ivory short saddle. The guitar was signed on its 10th anniversary Martin Custom Shop label by Chris Martin IV, who also signed the underside of the top. The guitar is overall in excellent condition, with light play wear and some minor scratches, one small ding in the top, and a short top crack just to the side of the center seam between the sound hole and bridge which does not emit any light. At some point the original under-finish black acetate pick guard was replaced with a beveled tortoiseshell celluloid guard, and a 4-inch crack near the back seam was repaired, along with two small side cracks — common with Brazilian rosewood — and the finish was oversprayed. It is believed this work was done at the Martin factory under warranty. The guitar plays nicely and the action is fine. It sounds great, of course. There is extensive provenance with the guitar, including the original build sheet off the order from Matt Umanov Guitars, a letter from Umanov to the Custom Shop thanking them for the terrific job they did, and a signed letter from Elliot himself affirming that he owned the guitar and used it extensively on all his recordings from 1989-1992. Elliot sold the guitar to noted lefty collector Dugald Stermer, who held onto the guitar for almost 20 years. The guitar is in a period-correct late 80s pebbled black Martin case with a copper-colored lining. Certainly a unique Martin with an interesting provenance and the best of everything.