Martin Guitars

1938 Martin 000-45, Serial Number 69899

Serial number 69899 was stamped on March 25, 1938 and cleared final inspection on October 27 that year.

This guitar was once owned by Smiley Burnette who was Gene Austry's sidekick in many western movies.

Like all style 45 guitars it has thin abalone strips inlaid around the top, back and sides as well as the style 45 backstripe.

This guitar is early enough in 1938 to have advance-X bracing and a 1-3/4" wide neck.

The tuners are G-98G gold-plated machines.

At the time of writing this guitar is availabe at Lark Street Music (larkstreetmusic.com)

Photos courtesy of Lark Street Music.

One thought on “1938 Martin 000-45, Serial Number 69899

  1. One of its batch mates, #69896, has a rear-braced top, vestigial notches for a forward-braced top, and is now at Dream Guitars and the subject of a current thread on the UMGF.

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