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. […]
A total of sixteen 000-45 guitars were made in 1936, in three batches of 6. Serial number 62276 was stamped on February 7, 1936 and cleared final inspection on June 23 that year. This guitar has an insteresting set of gold-plated and engraved Grover G-98G tuning machines. The Grovers are a late use of the […]
1932 Martin 0-18S Guitar, Serial Number 50053 This guitar is one of the very rare and much sought after 14-fret long scale (25.4”) 0-18S guitars from 1932. A total of six 0-18S guitars were made in early 1932 (stamped between. The first five had the long scale neck and the last had a “0 scale” […]
A completely unknown style of early Martin guitar came to light in 2017. Even in a period when C. F. Martin Sr. was continually experimenting with the design of his guitars, this guitar illustrates a number of unique features. The most obvious feature is the shape of the guitar. Rather than the more familiar Stauffer […]