One enduring controversy of Martin lore are the “mystery top” guitars of 1953 and 1957. These tops are theorized to be made of either Adirondack spruce or Engelmann spruce. The Martin purchasing records indicate that from late 1949 to 1952 and again in 1955 Martin did buy quantities of “Vermont” spruce from Eaton Lumber Co. […]
Some of the loveliest Martin guitars made in the 1930’s are the small-bodied, size 0 and 00, instruments, and here is a perfect example. Serial number 42235 was stamped on April 23, 1930 and cleared final inspection on August 18. This guitar is from the first batch of 0-28 guitars made with a belly bridge. […]
The year 1929 was the last time that Martin made 0-45 guitars. Through much of the 19th century and well into the 20th century, Martin had considered 0-size guitars to be their best sounding instruments; believing them to have the best balance between base and treble notes. From the beginning of the 20th century the […]
Here is an example of a very early Martin & Coupa guitar that displays design features associated with the instruments from the first part of the 1840’s. (Strictly speaking, it is not a Martin & Coupa guitar, as it lacks the M & C label, but I will use the terminology regardless as it is […]
The instrument in this entry is a very rare Martin 2½-40 guitar made before C. F. Martin & C0. was formed in August 1867. As such it has a “C. F. Martin” stamp on the back strip instead of the “C. F. Martin & Co.” seen on guitars from late 1867. Only four Martin 2½-40 […]
This guitar has the serial number “0558”. In T. J. Thompson’s terminology the first two number indicates the year (2005) that the guitar was ordered and “58” represents this as the 58th guitar he has made. As with many of T. J.’s guitar it is made to exacting standards to emulate a 1930 Martin OM-28, […]
Serial number 49621 was stamped on January 5, 1932 and cleared final inspection on July 3 that year. The tuners are Grover G-97 clipped plate machines with seamed metal butterbean buttons. Style 21 features: Back and sides: Brazilian rosewood Top: Red spruce (Adirondack) Purfling: Lines Binding: Celluloid Back stripe: Herringbone Other period features: Scalloped X-bracing […]
Serial number 48807 is one of the few known “dark top” OM-28 guitars. Only ten can be accounted for in the Martin records or have appeared on the market. All ten come from the one batch of twenty-five OM-28’s stamped on October 28, 1931, which leaves open the possibility that the whole batch were made […]
Serial number 45303 was stamped on December 31, 1930 and cleared final inspection on February 21, 1931. As this guitar was made after April 1930 it has a belly bridge and retains the small OM pick guard that wasn’t replaced by the larger size guard until March 1931. The tuners are Grover #89 Deluxe banjo […]
Serial number 39944 is a 1929 00-28. It was stamped on October 16, 1929 and cleared final inspection on March 5, 1930. Being almost 5 months in production was very unusual for the time, especially since it appears the batch the guitar comes from were out of the finish shop on November 12, 1929. Clearly, […]