Serial number 54286 is a round sound hole R-18 guitar. It was stamped on September 12, 1933 and cleared final inspection on December 22 that year. This guitar has the lovely “amberburst” finish that appeared on Martin guitars during 1932 and 1933. It was shipped to the Charles E. Wells Music Co. in Denver, Colorado […]
Serial number 49756 was stamped on January 14, 1932 and cleared final inspection on May 3 that year A total of 225 Martin 5-17T guitars were made in 1932, the last year of regular production for the model. As this guitar was made in early 1932 it did not receive a C. F. Martin […]
Serial number 38521 was stamped on May 1, 1929 and cleared final inspection on June 13 that year. As a 1929 guitar it would have originally been made with a pyramid bridge. However, 1929 was also the year that the OM guitars were introduced and once that genie was out of the bottle the demand […]
Here is a very interesting Martin & Coupa-labelled guitar with some unusual features. The Martin & Coupa label, based on my latest theory, was used from about August 1839 to May 1850 and, based on its the design features, this guitar is from the earliest part of this period. This guitar has the “transitional Spanish […]
Serial number 52189 was stamped on November 9, 1932 and cleared final inspection on May 8, 1933. For the time period, a production of more than 6 months meant that this model was not in high demand. This guitar displays the lovely “amberburst” finish that was in use during 1932 and 1933. It appears that […]
Here is an interesting ca. 1870 Tilton Model 1 (Serial Number 2165). The silver medallion in the sound hole indicates the guitar was made by Zogbaum & Fairchild of New York. William Tilton began manufacturing guitars in New York in 1853. Tilton had two guitar patents (U.S. Patent #10380, January 3, 1854, and U.S. Patent […]