The popularity of 12-fret 00-28 guitars began to waver in 1929 as the first Martin 14-fret six-string guitars appeared on the market. The 00-28 models had been a very popular up-market guitar for some time and were what Martin considered one of their best sounding guitars they made, being in their opinion better balanced than […]
Serial number 33002 was stamped on September 15, 1927 at the beginning of the production process. The tuners are Waverly G-32 chrome plated machines with ivoroid buttons. Style 45 features: Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Purfling: Abalone Binding: Ivoroid Back Stripe: Style 45 Other period features: Scalloped X-bracing Ebony fingerboard Ebony […]
Serial number 39272 was stamped on April 4, 1929 and cleared final inspection on October 22 that year, just two days before “Black Thursday” of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and truly marking the very end of the “roaring 20’s”. The tuners are Waverly G-30 machines. Style 18 features: Back and sides: Mahogany Top: Red […]
Serial number 73066 was stamped on August 10, 1939 and cleared final inspection on November 6 that year. The tuners are Grover pointed plate G-98 machines with unseamed butterbean buttons. Style 18 features: Back and sides: Mahogany Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Purfling: Lines Binding: Black celluloid Other period features: Rear-X scalloped braces Ebony fingerboard Ebony […]
Serial number 26709 was stamped on October 2, 1926. The brass tuners are probably Waverly G-2 machines with white celluloid buttons. The ebony straight bridge is a replacement. Style 18 features: Back and sides: Mahogany Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Purfling: Lines Binding: Rosewood Backstripe: Single line of rosewood purfling Other period features: 12 fret neck […]
Serial number 14308 was stamped on October 31, 1919. Style 45 features: Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Purfling: Abalone and lines on top, back and sides Sound hole decoration: Abalone and lines Binding: Ivory Style 45 snowflake Japan pearl inlays Style 45 abalone “flowerpot” headstock inlay Style 45 backstripe purfling Other […]
Serial number 8972 is an uncommon 00-30 guitar. A total of 102 Martin 00-30 guitars were made between 1898 and 1921. This guitar is dated August 27, 1900 under the top and is signed with a small rubber stamp “HLK”. Harry L. Keller worked for Martin from 1898 to 1901 and it probably a relative […]