Serial number 93211 was stamped on November 23, 1945 and cleared final inspection on February 11, 1946. The tuners are probably Kluson 502 machines (this is still a little up in the air because the celluloid buttons come in either white or black) and document the reappearance of bushings on the front of the headstock. […]
This guitar is a great example of an early high-grade Martin guitar. Styles 40 and 42 were the two fanciest grades of Martin at the time with style 40 being slightly commoner than style 42. The main difference between stlye 40 and 42 is that on style 42 the abalone purfling extended around the fingerboard […]
This guitar made before serial numbers were instituted but “3/92”, for March 1892, is written in pencil on the underside of the top near the soundhole. The guitar has three-strut fan bracing typical of the less expensive models Martin offered during this period. All Martin guitars from the period have back and sides of Brazialian […]
Serial number 156914 was stamped on August 21, 1957 and cleared final inspection on December 2 that year. The guitar has a Sitka spruce top and the mahogany back and sides expected with style 18 guitars. The machines are Kluson K-324 tuners. The MADE IN USA stamp indicates the guitar was exported, almost certainly to […]
The guitar in this entry is a 1941 D-28 “herringbone”. It has rear-X bracing and the neck is 1-11/16″ wide at the nut. Typical of other D-28 guitars of the period is has the scalloped braces,”zig-zag” back stripe and the distinctive herringbone purfling. The tuners are period correct Kluson 511 machines. These early Klusons have […]
Serial number 73128 is one of the 91 pre-war D-45 guitars made by Martin. It was stamped on August 23, 1939 and cleared final inspection on October 18 that year. Since it was begun in August 1939 it displays the features typical of the period; rear-X bracing, 1-11/16″ neck width at the nut and scalloped […]
This guitar must be considered the rarest of the rare! It is well known that Martin made 91 D-45 guitars between 1933 and 1942. Of these only ONE was left-handed. The D-45L was ordered on June 10, 1940 by Coast Wholesale Music Co. in Los Angeles. Serial number 75289 was stamped on June 12, 1940 […]
C. F. Martin Sr. and Henry Schatz had been employed together at Stauffer in Vienna in the 1820s. Schatz left for America a few years before Martin and opened a musical import business in Philadelphia. From early 1835 until about September 1836 the two luthiers formed a partnership under the name Martin & Schatz. The […]
The F-9 guitars were the most expensive guitars offered by Martin in the pre-war period, surpassing even the price of D-45 guitars. In 1941 the F-9s had a retail price of $250 compared to $225 for the D-45. A total of 72 F-9 guitars were made between 1935 and 1942 but sales in 1935 and […]
The first 14-fret D-28 guitars were made in 1934, a total of 70 being made that year. Serial number 58275 was stamped on November 13, 1934 and cleared final inspection on February 15, 1935. Being made after October 1934 it was among the first D-28 guitars made with the steel T-bar neck reinforcement and T-frets. […]