FENDER’S PRINCETON 26 COMBO gets an upgrade as the 8-inch Utah field coil speaker is replaced by a fixed magnet type Jensen for improved tone and response. It’s a positive move for this most basic of amplifiers that has two inputs but no controls at all or even an on-off switch so anything has to be an improvement. The earliest models are part of the ‘Woodie’ series, so called because the cabinet is polished wood. The front features vertical chrome strips and the grille cloth varies in colour.
MARTIN GUITARS PRODUCES THE LAST D-28 to feature Herringbone body binding and marquetry. Their stock of this purfling, manufactured in pre-World War II Germany, has finally run out and there is no alternative American source. As of now all style 28 guitars are presented with alternating black and white celluloid binding as used on their archtop C-2 model. This last D-28 features quarter-sawn Brazilian rosewood back and sides, Cuban mahogany neck, red spruce top and an ebony fretboard.