Henry Schatz first became known to C. F. Martin Sr. when they were both working for Johann Stauffer, the famous Viennese guitar maker, during the early 1820’s. Schatz emigrated to the United States some time between 1826 and 1830 and settled in Philadelphia. It is very likely that he encouraged Martin to emigrate to the […]
Most Martin guitars made between about 1885 and the beginning of serial numbers in 1898 are dated under the top of the guitar in pencil or blue crayon. Occasionally initials are also seen under the date. This guitar is one of the few instruments that are dated prior to 1885. In this case the guitar […]
The guitar is certainly one of the most pristine 1940 D-28 guitars extant. This guitar is still in the family of the original owner. The serial number of the guitar is 76288. It was stamped on October 23, 1940 and cleared final inspection on March 25, 1941. The tuners are Grover G-111 machines. The owner […]
Martin regulated, or set up, their guitars depending on the type of strings being used on their guitars. Steel strings were set up to be nearer the frets than f0r gut strings. Before 1927, when a customer ordered a guitar to be used for Hawaiian playing, the instrument would be set up as for gut […]
One subject of interest to collector and dealers of Martin guitars is when the bracing of guitar changed from forward X-bracing to rear X-bracing. With forward X-braced guitars the distance from the bottom of the sound hole to the main X-brace is about 1″ while for the rear X-braced guitars the measurement is about 1½”. […]
The making of “adern” or purfling was, and still is, a craft industry in Germany, with many colorful patterns being available. The term purfling also covers plain strips or “lines” of wood that make up much purfling used on Martin guitars. Martin made these line purflings in-house using dyed maple for the black lines and […]
Mandolin Pick Guards Until now it has generally been assumed that the early Martin mandolin pick guards were made of genuine tortoise shell. However, period records and correspondence paint a different picture. In fact, Martin used both celluloid and tortoise shell for pick guards although celluloid was the more commonly used option. Martin approached William […]
The name of this chapter is a bit misleading. Although Martin referred to both pearl and abalone in company records, all shell used on Martin guitars came from various sub-species of abalone, large sea snails of the family Haliotidae. Martin purchased pre-cut ornaments for inlaying in fingerboards and often referred to these as being made […]
A letter from Martin to Steffens Music House on August 12, 1935 nicely covers the topic of neck widths used on Martin guitars: “Mr. Markley reports that you have a prospect for a Martin Guitar who wants an extra narrow fingerboard. We would make up one for you, for delivery in three or four weeks, […]
Martin’s first salesman was Herbert K. Martin (December 5, 1895-January 3, 1927), the second son of Frank Henry Martin. Herbert began his role as salesman on June 20, 1920. He apparently enjoyed his job and continued in this role until his untimely death on January 3, 1927, at the age of only 31. Figure […]