In the late 1920s tenor guitars became a major part of Martin’s product line. Initially, Martin mostly based their tenor models on size 5 and 2 guitars. Putting the short tenor scale on a size 5 guitar worked reasonably well but the short scale on the relatively long body of a size 2 guitar resulted […]
This guitar is a special order 1-18P guitar with a 5-string neck. Only two 5-string Martin guitars were ever made, this being the earlier example. The second 5-string, a 1-17PS, was made in 1939. It will be noted that the guitar has a neck that joins the body at the 15th fret. Serial number 38979 […]
The August 19, 1916 edition of Music Trade Review contains the following article on page 47: NEW USE FOR STEEL GUITAR Instrument Found to be Excellent for the Making of Talking Machine Records – Another Hawaiian Instrument Soon to be on the Market A new steel guitar called the “Dreadnought” and said to produce the […]
Serial number 92250 was stamped on August 24, 1945 and cleared final inspection on November 30 that year. The tuners are Kluson 502N machines with white celluloid buttons. The guitar still retains the war-time ebony neck reinforcement while the top is now braced with straight braces instead of scalloped braces. Style 21 features: Back and […]
This very interesting advertisement was posted on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum (UMGF) website. Wittich’s Musical Shop in Reading PA was a regular Martin customer from 1929 to 1962 and made frequent orders for a briad range of Martin instruments. This advertisement was published in the May 8, 1944 edition of the Reading Eagle newspaper. […]
Here is a guitar from the very beginning of the Dreadnought era! Serial number 175 was part of the very first batch of Ditson Dreadnoughts shipped to Charles H. Ditson & Co. of New York on December 30, 1916, the first batch comprising three D-111 and three D-222 guitars. (To be exactly correct, a prototype […]