Serial number 99590 was stamped on April 2, 1947 and cleared final inspection on August 1 that year.
The tuners are probably three-on-a-side D & J (Dinsmore & Jager) #31 machines.
Style 18 features:
Back and sides: Mahogany
Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) - Although Sitka spruce was the norm for Martin guitars at the time, Martin obviously still had some small pieces of Adirondack spruce that could only be used for small body guitars
Binding: Tortoiseshell celluloid
Purfling: Lines
Dot inlays
Brazilian rosewood fingerboard
Brazilian rosewood straight bridge
Other period features:
Ebony neck reinforcement
Nickel silver T-frets
Non-scalloped X-bracing
Style stamp
"C. F. Martin & Co." decal on headstock
No "Made in USA" stamp on back of headstock
Dimensions:
Lower bout: 11-1/4" Upper bout: 8-5/16"
Body length: 15-7/8" Scale length: 21-5/16"
Body depth at neck block: 3-3/16" Body depth at end block: 3-15/16"
Neck width at nut: 1.64" String spacing at bridge: 2.14"
Bridge 5.50" x .096" x 0.34"
Photos and dimensions courtesy Ted Hutson
4 thoughts on “1947 Martin 5-18, Serial Number 99590”
Is this for sale? If so, what’s the starting price?
Sorry, this is not a selling site and the guitar is not available. Occasionally I make an entry for guitars that are for sale. In those cases I make a note at the bottom of the description with a link to the dealer’s site.
I have no affiliation with any of the dealers. This site is only meant to document Martin guitars as a reference to collectors and dealers.
Greig Hutton
im so sorry sn is 621117 and the quality appears better than cf martin the 3in1 tuner has phillips screws like this martin
Bruce
I don’t have a lot of info on Levin guitars produced under Martin ownership. However, I did find a few warranty records from 1970 to 1977 but the serial numbers only range from around 525400 to about 538000.