Serial number 55622 was stamped on February 27, 1934 and cleared final inspection on May 22 that year. It was shipped to Carl Fischer Inc in Boston MA on July 19, 1934.
This is one of the three guitars from the batch of six that were made with gut strings. That does not means the guitar was constructed for gut strings , just that it was set up for gut strings when it was shipped. This guitar was made with the ebony bar neck reinforcement and bar frets, so it was quite easy to adjust the guitar set-up by changing a few frets.
The tuners are clipped plate G-97 machines with seamed butterbean buttons.
Style 42 features:
Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood
Top: Red spruce (Adirondack)
Purfling: Abalone (on top only)
Binding: Ivoroid
Backstripe: Style 45 purfling strip
Other period features:
Scalloped X-bracing
Ebony fingerboard
Ebony belly bridge
Originally ebony neck reinforcement (currently has square tube neck reinforcement)
Originally had bar frets
1-29/32" neck width at nut
24.9" scale length
Tortoiseshell celluloid pick guard
Non-original style 42 pearl fingerboard inlays
Decal on front of headstock
C. F. Martin stamp on back of headstock
Style stamp
Photos courtesy of Elderly Instruments
At the time of writing (August 20, 2019) this guitar is available at Elderly Instruments (https://www.elderly.com/collections/flat-top-acoustic-guitars-used/products/martin-00-42-1934)
5 thoughts on “1934 Martin 00-42 Guitar, Serial Number 55622”
Hi. I’m curious how you learned of the changes made to this guitar?
There were no construction changes made to the guitars sold with gut strings. At the time, the more expensive Martins (think style 21 and above) could be ordered with either gut, steel or Hawaiian strings, at the customer’s choice. To Martin it was only a matter of “regulation” (or set-up). Since this is an early 1934 guitar it was made with an ebony bar neck reinforcement and bar frets. The batch of six 00-42 guitars were probably all originally set-up for steel strings but with bar frets it would have been easy to change the set-up to accommodate gut strings.
Hi Grieg, Do you know if this fingerboard replacement was done by the factory? It’s at the shop now for sale.
Eric
I don’t have a repair record for this guitar. Of course, there is a gap in the records (1936-1966) so a repair may have been done in that period.
Greig
Greig,
There are better photos on our site if you’d like. It’s now for sale here:
https://om28.com/ProductDetail?product=P230823002
Eric