Aspen AD-35

Looks very much like the Martin D-35. I wouldn't say it sounds as sweet- but very close. Has a 70s looking Aspen logo with an aspen leaf- actually looks pretty sweet. The fret board is rosewood, sides look rosewood too with a spruce top.

This guitar sounds amazing- it really sings and does not get stuck in the mud. I have been really surprised by the resilience this guitar maintains. I put in fishman pickups a few years back and it sounds great plugged in too.

Nice action- I have never adjusted the truss rod- or anything of that manner.

I have pretty much abused this guitar- played out with it, dropped it (on accident of course) and have not treated it with the utmost care that I usually do with my other equipment and this thing never has lost a beat. It will continue to stand the test of time.

This guitar is something of a mystery. It was given to my father-in-law when he was a pastor in SF. A lady came in to his office and said, "you're supposed to have this guitar" and walked out leaving it to him 25 years ago or so. He handed it down to me 10 years ago when I was caught up in the brand names...I kind of slagged it off but as the years have gone by- I have really learned to appreciate this and I consider it to be my top acoustic now. Really has opened up and "cured" well. Sounds much better than my expensive Gibson- and looks great too. I never have worried about it going out of tune with the Gotoh tuners- which must have been stock- as I have read others have the same. It was a joy to find some info about this guitar- as it is really hard to find on the web even. If you run into one of the Aspen guitars, I would definitely consider it an investment. I actually just purchased a ES-335 copy from Aspen online- hopefully, it will be as good as its cousin.

Bought the guitar new circa 1978 for about $300 or a little less.
The finish is beautiful. The spruce top is nice but the sides and 3-piece back are even nicer. Someone told me it's Brazilian rosewood. I kind of doubt it but it is pretty.
The tuning pegs are Grover and have held up well for almost 30 years!

Well, I borrowed a mid-line Taylor cutaway from a friend and it did sound better than the Aspen. However, I've also played cheaper Martins that don't sound as well. The sound is loud, rich (especially when finger picking) and full. Let's see $300 in 70's money would have to be about a grand in 2006 dollars... I guess. Could you buy a better sounding guitar for $1,000 now? I'm not sure.

The action was a little high so I lowered it and it plays fine.

This thing went through hell and is still as pretty as a $2,000 Martin. The one negative thing was that the bridge has split but (at this point) is still usable.

Never needed it and, in 2006, probably impossible to get.

I would have to give this guitar an overall rating of 9. It is a beautiful guitar but they could have done a better job setting the action (lower) at the factory.

I bought my Aspen A35-G new from a shop in San Francisco in 1980.
Labelled: Made in Japan, Inspected by K.Saigo, Serial number 35774454

In fact I bought an Aspen classical at the same time but it is long gone.

The AD35 uses beatiful timber. I don't know the type of timber but it has a 3 piece dark grain timber back. Same timber on sides and a tight grain spruce top. Very dark fretboard with hexagonal pearl inlays. I've been told it is a dreadnought shape/copy.

Gold "Grover" tuning heads are original.

It's a big volume guitar. Even louder with heavy strings.
The sound is nicely full and balanced, good bass and bright at the top end. Not muddy at all

I have played guitars that sound slightly better (far more expensive ones) but that is because they seem to be a bit more polished or smoothly restrained compared to the robust sounding Aspen.

It was beautifully made, well setup and has never been modified. Still plays very well after nearly 30 years, despite some fret wear.

repeat - nearly 30 years old.
Hardly changed from new except for some fret wear and fretboard finger wear.

Still very glossy finish.

Tuning heads are tight and smooth.

never used it

They don't come up much there isn't much info online about them.

Given that I bought mine in USA and brought it to Australia, I think I must have the only one in this country.

It's been a very reliable and satisfying guitar that compares well with all but the very top guitars.

I don't remember how much I paid, but i couldn't afford anything too expensive at the time. It was a mid range guitar. Better that any student ones but way below the top pro guitars.

photos available if you email me.

Made in Japan clone of the Martin D-35, acquired on ebay early 2005 from a German guy, likely produced in the 1970ies, has a serial number 357/0756 which might help insiders to specify the year it was built, but neither am I an insider, nor, from what I read here on H-C, does anybody know much about this producer: The more I dig into the web, the more I get the impression that Aspen is kind of the "phantom of the lawsuit era". Anyway: Essentially this is a big, proud classic dreadnought guitar with the usual 14 open frets, back and sides rosewood, top beautifully aged, tight-grained spruce, a bit wider in the bottom than the usual dreadnought shape, and all in all a very flashy copy of the legendary D-35, right down to the beautiful hexagonal mop fingerboard inlays, a three-part back with nice inlay strips between the parts, sevenfold black/white binding around the top, single white binding on the bottom, and a psychedelic/yellow submarinish/seventies pop-art font "Aspen" logo plus an aspen leaf from greenish mop-like material beautifully inlaid in the head. Original tuners have obviously been exchanged for golden gotohs that compliment the styling nicely. All said, this baby looks like 1500 dollars and cost me only 200 plus a fret and neck reset job, because the frets were pretty much played to kingdom come and the neck needed some attention, too. I rate that a ten, because I can?t think of anything more one could put on this guitar without making it top-heavy. ;o)

I play blues, folk stuff, some country, and that 30 per cent with a pick and 70 per cent fingerstyle. I love playing that Aspen fingerstyle, because it has such a wonderful, well-defined bass that makes smile every time I am "walking the blues". That said, judging sound is a difficult one: I have long made a mental note of the fact that in the Harmony Central universe average guitars do not exist and bad guitars are an endangered species: Only roughly one out of one hundred instruments is rated crap, 99 out of 100 are way above average (so where the hell are those average guitars???), and nearly every single non-Martin Dreadnought either "holds its own against my friends?expensive Martins" - or even "beats the s..t out of all my friends?Martins". Folks, I will NOT play along with this song. Instead, let me quote the guy who did the above mentioned fret/neck job on my Aspen. He is a mature professional who services instruments for Vienna?s Music Conservatory, is one of the last luthiers who can build a decent doubleneck Viennese Schrammel guitar, wears his grey hair in a ponytail, and has a way of very quietly stating very conservative views about what to do and what not to do with a guitar. When I brought my Aspen in, we talked guitars for about an hour, and he told me that he could do the job in about three, four days, because he had to finish a service on a vintage Martin D-41 first. I told him no problem, take your time, and came back a week later to pick up my instrument. We talked guitars for another two hours, and inevitably I asked him how the D-41 had worked out. And here comes the big one: He was silent for a second, and then he said, quote: "Quite O.K., it?s a great guitar. But in all honesty, your Aspen sounds way better." Any more questions? No? O.K. Here comes another ten :o)

No way to judge a factory setup in a 30 year old third- or fourth hand acquisition, but the thing arrived set up nice and low, is perfectly set up now, the wood is a beauty to look at, wears a few minor battle scars with dignity, and if there were any production flaws, they have eroded away along the road. Nope, everything is cool with that baby. But I give it a no opinion.

Well, let?s see: This guitar has been around the block pretty much since the impeachment of Richard Nixon, has outlasted five or six generations of well-built cars and still shows no signs of letting up, apart from having had a tuner replacement somewhere along the road, and a fret job lately, likely the first one ever. It holds together perfectly and I would take it pretty much everywhere, as long as it is not a hostile environment, which blues clubs in Vienna definitely are not. Gigging w/o backup? Well, I figure the guitar will hold together forever, but D- and G-strings have a habit of breaking, so...

To contact Aspen customer service and wave a warranty card at them, you would have to hop on a time machine. I would be immensely grateful if some collector or insider would put some information on the web. These are miracle guitars and I would love to know who exactly built them!

I taught myself to play guitar around the time the Aspen was built, went electric around 1978, played punk and new wave, which was the rage back then, quit the band for a carreer in advertising, and have been a hobby player ever since, mostly acoustic alone or with a couple of friends. I own a Martin D-16, a vintage Aria Dreadnought, a a very nice roundshoulder Washburn Dread, a Lang jazzbox, a Strat and a nice chinese LP clone. Comparing? Shure - all the time. But every one of my guitars has something special I love it for. Else I would sell it. Replacement of the Aspen? They are dang rare. I?d buy a second one as a reserve in case I stumble upon another one. Anything I wish I had? Yeh, shure! Please give me a Breedlove King Koa for christmas! ;o)