Serial number 72686 was stamped on May 23, 1939 and cleared final inspection on September 24 that year. The guitar has rear-X bracing but retains the 1-3/4″ wide neck. Style 18 guitars usually had black celluloid binding but the binding on this guitar is tortoiseshell celluloid. The tuners are Grover G-98 pointed plate machines with […]
Serial number 74767 was stamped on April 11, 1940 and cleared final inspection on October 8 that year. The tuners are Waverly 5038 mchines with rounded metal buttons. These tuners have a distinctive backing plate and are sometimes called “Yoda head” machines. Style 18 features: Back and sides: Mahogany Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Binding: Tortoiseshell […]
Here is one of the rarely seen 12-fret D-28 guitars. It is also one of the very last regular 12-fret D-28s made (although a few more 12-fretters were made on special order in subsequent years). Serial number 55082 was stamped on December 29, 1933 and cleared final inspection on January 23, 1934. This might also […]
This guitar can be identified as one of the earliest OM-28 guitars because it has an original pyramid bridge. A total of 102 OM-28 guitars were made with pyramid bridges between late 1929 and April 1930. However, existing pyramid bridge OM-28 guitars are even rarer than the 102 production figure would suggest since many were […]
Serial number 52348 was stamped on November 28, 1932 and cleared final inspection on August 25, 1933 (a very long time in production for the period). The OM-18 guitars made in 1932 were called “Model 32” and all had a “dark top”, in Martin terminology. These are now commonly known as amberburst, honeyburst or teaburst […]
Martin made Ochestra Model (OM) guitars from 1929 to the end of 1933. Beginning in 1934 the OM designation was dropped and these guitars reverted to the 000 designation. (It should be remembered Martin also used OM when referring to 0, 00 and Dreadnought guitars with 14-fret necks.) However, for a time in 1934 continued […]
This is one the earliest fancy grade guitars made by noted luthier TJ Thompson. The guitar is a re-imagining of a 1930 OM-45 Deluxe but with a pyramid bridge (and a little extra abalone inlay). Two OM-45 guitars were originally made with pyramid bridges but neither of these were a Deluxe model. The fingerboard and […]
This guitar was finished in 2001. It started out as a 000-18 12-fret guitar but received some style 28 features; herringbone purfling, white celluloid binding and a volute on the back of the headstock. Back and sides: Mahogany Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Photos courtesy of Folkway Music
Serail number 65086 was stamped on December 16, 1936 and cleared final inspection on January 8, 1937. The special features of this guitar are the 12-fret body and the fact it was originally made for seven strings, with a banjo tuner mounted near the top of the headstock for the seventh string. The tuners are […]
The first documented 000 size guitar was this 000-21 shipped to Henry Spahr on November 7, 1901. This guitar was discovered by Eric Schoenberg about 35 years ago. The top was in very poor condition. Dana Bourgeois attempted to save the severely thinned top but it eventually had to be replaced by TJ Thompson to […]